Are performance reviews effective? It’s a question both employers and employees no doubt find themselves asking from time to time. And the answer?
Yes.
If done the right way, performance reviews can be pivotal to the success of a business. So, what is the best way of recognising the achievements of your employees and helping them understand where they can improve? Let’s take a look at current performance management trends and how they can increase employee happiness and strengthen the productivity of your team.
Employee Wellbeing Matters
Traditionally, the focus of a performance review is on the business or organisation and the employee’s place within it. This approach doesn’t allow much room for discussion of the individual. However with work-related stress, depression and anxiety on the rise, more companies are starting to take the mental health of their employees seriously.
Leading HR, business and leadership analyst, Josh Bersin, recently gave a speech addressing the importance of making wellbeing a priority.
“Wellbeing is still a big part of HR. It’s not surprising that productivity is suffering when stress levels are high; employees feel overwhelmed and they’re getting less work done. We’re losing approximately £42 billion a year because of stress at work, much of which manifests itself in presenteeism.”
He argues that managers should see themselves more as coaches rather than bosses or superiors. Incorporating wellbeing questions into performance reviews is one way of evaluating mental wellness in your workplace and detecting workplace stress early on. Early detection allows employers to address issues and implement measures to promote mental health and empower employees.
Continuous Feedback & Coaching Conversations
Often, manager feedback can be misconstrued by the employee or written off as personal opinion. This is especially true when performance appraisals occur infrequently, such as on an annual basis. Conversely, current performance management trends lean toward a continuing conversation.
In other words, ongoing learning through coaching style conversations that allow the employee to develop both personally and professionally. Microsoft is just one of the many large multinational corporations rethinking how they evaluate their employees, having recently adopted a continual feedback approach with more frequent “connects” between manager and employees (source).
Authentic Performance Conversations
Emerging trends in performance management are also heavily focussed on meaningful interactions. Rather than traditional box-ticking and discussion of KPI’s, performance reviews are becoming more authentic, incorporating conversations about performance as well as personal development. Showing an interest in the day-to-day lives of employees, rather than just how competent they are, makes appraisals more relevant to the employee and helps develop a healthy company culture.
Read more about ways to improve performance reviews or if you’re looking for new talent to add to your team, or are in search of your next career opportunity, contact On Line Recruitment. Let us match you with the position or candidate you’ve been looking for.
