Two Sides: Should Organizations Conduct Annual Performance Reviews or Not?

November 30, 2020
Publication
MRA Edge
Performance Management
Read time: 2 mins

Are annual performance reviews archaic or advisable? We ask two MRA experts to share both sides of the story.

Without a Doubt

Annual reviews offer awesome opportunities for both employees and managers.

  • A face-to-face meeting (virtual or in-person) for a performance review allows a manager and employee to have an open conversation about the employee’s performance and expectations of the role. This anticipated meeting is a time of collaboration and relationship building.
  • It's also a time to talk about goals. During a performance review, goals should be discussed, tweaked, and new ones established. In addition, individual development opportunities can be planned. Employees can express how they see their role evolving and how they are feeling in general about their job.
  • Recognizing successes that the year has brought is a high point of every performance review. Evaluating what went right builds employees’ confidence and helps with engagement.
  • Take this occasion to reinforce the company’s culture. Most organizations want to be open, transparent, and collaborative, which are all components that an annual performance review should include.

 

Not So Much

Once-a-year performance reviews are a thing of the past for several reasons.

  • If a manager doesn’t give feedback in the moment, coaching opportunities can be lost. When situations are discussed as they are happening (or soon after), an employee will more fully understand what is being talked about. A supervisor can’t develop staff by just talking once a year about their performance—coaching conversations should be happening year-round.
  • Arranging more frequent, less formal conversations helps employees feel more connected and more motivated—and it keeps them moving in the right direction.
  • A vital part of an employee’s job is to celebrate successes. When you celebrate only once a year those victories diminish a bit, or worse, they are forgotten about altogether.
  • There’s too much pressure associated around the annual performance review. It can be intimidating walking into a room knowing that your life’s work for the last year is about to be examined.

 

No matter how often you conduct reviews, be sure that they are consistent across the board within your organization. Employees often compare notes about the richness of the feedback they receive, and it may be a drawback if performance management is handled differently across departments.

 

Source: Taylor Teske, HR Generalist, and Janet Kloser, Learning and Development Manager, MRA - The Management Association