Tess Taylor Performance reviews, while not always enjoyable to conduct, provide a unique opportunity to offer insight to your organization. In fact, one study featured in Harvard Business Review showed that 72% of a group of 899 global employees said what would be most helpful in boosting their performance was if their managers provided regular constructive feedback. In order to build a company of high-performers, a consistent performance review process is required.
3 Steps to Ensure Performance Reviews Happen
Ensuring regular employee performance reviews take place is critical to the long-term sustainability of your organization. When employees know they can expect regular performance feedback and support, they tend to be more engaged in their role. Keeping this in mind, how can the HR business partner make sure performance reviews happen and that the right format is used to keep things consistent?
- Shift from annual performance reviews to quarterly.
Once-a-year performance reviews don’t reflect the reality of an employee’s performance. Things change over time with each employee’s skills and knowledge, improving performance. Therefore, a quarterly performance review that focuses on goals that can be accomplished in a few months is a more realistic measure of how an employee is doing. This also reduces the distance bias that comes from focusing on recent events vs. the bigger picture.
- Use a simple online performance rating system.
You can ensure compliance by providing a simple 1-5 rating scale and asking employees to set one performance goal for every quarter. Pare down the performance review to cover areas that are most related to success in each job type. Data-driven performance metrics should include areas that matter to the business, such as team collaboration, customer service, adaptability, and professional development.
- Get and give regular employee feedback.
A performance review doesn’t have to be an elaborate, time-consuming effort. Facilitate it by providing employers with ways to give regular meaningful feedback to employees. Ask employees to share their ideas and concerns too. Recognize employees who go the extra mile for the company and their teammates. There are many rewards programs that can allow employees to recognize their peers too.
When used collectively, these steps can ensure that regular performance reviews and feedback are taking place. Employees will get on board when they know their great performance is appreciated. Simple performance review systems offered by the HRBP can make this a regular part of the culture of your organization.
