One of the main gripes of annual performance reviews is that employees rarely get enough feedback because usually, performance reviews come around only once a year. A lack of feedback impacts many aspects of the review process.
And further, it has been established that by the time the annual reviews rolls around, managers are hard-pressed to remember a year’s worth of work and instead depend on their memories for the most recent opinion they have on the employee’s performance. This is but a common issue because it’s not easy to pull up a year’s worth of information if the only place you are storing the information is in your brain. Besides, even if it is possible for a manager to accomplish this for one employee, it does not make sense for them to expect it from 5+ employees and more.
It is possible to keep performance reviews annual and make them relevant. This can be accomplished through continuous feedback or real-time feedback.
Feedback that is delivered throughout the year and is real-time can go a long way towards fixing the damage caused by annual performance reviews. This way, the performance review at the end of the financial year becomes a quick and short meeting because most of the groundwork has already been laid before.
However, if you are still not convinced of the many ways in which continuous feedback improves performance reviews, here are a few additional benefits as well.
When feedback is shared or received throughout the year, it helps managers visualize an accurate image of an employee’s performance. Managers can make note of significant achievements, or issues that are negatively impacting an employee’s performance. They can even record their own reaction to the employee’s performance. And over a period of time, it can paint an impressive picture of performance.
One of feedback’s biggest plus points is that it is instantaneous and does not require much fanfare. As opposed to an annual performance review, which conjures up a much more formal and stiff image. Besides, it’s not easy to share as much feedback during an annual review. Both the manager and employee are conscious of the time spent on the meeting, with the manager being aware that she does not have the luxury of addressing the employee’s performance completely, even if she really wants to.
Feedback, on the other hand, can be as easy as quick five-minute chat in the cafeteria, or a congratulatory email about a job well done.
Also read: 10 Best Feedback Tools To Track Employee Performance
The worst thing about traditional annual performance reviews is that they wait till the last minute to let employees know that they have veered off course, have wasted their efforts or are not doing well. Time is precious in the context of performance and of course, money as well.
Real-time feedback can help employees course-correct as and when necessary, can help them fix mistakes that were holding them back and in some cases, it can even help them revamp their goals or increase their targets.
Engagedly is an employee feedback software that makes the process of sharing feedback so much easier. To learn more, request a live demo from our experts!
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