Many high profile companies, including General Electric, are in the process of getting rid of annual performance appraisals all together. Many of these companies, including their HR departments, are under the impression that these annual performance evaluations create mistrust in the work place and don’t yield correct information. Many people think that using numerical scales for performance are more objective, but the problem with this is that it doesn’t’ highlight specifics or give examples of behaviors. Annual evaluations are also very time consuming for management and employees. Their time could be put to better use within the organization instead of on evaluations that don’t seem to help. If management didn’t have to spend as much time on these annual evaluations, their time could be used to give more ongoing informal feedback. A solution to this problem is to do more frequent evaluations on employees. These evaluations can be done directly after they finish their job instead of at the end of the year, in order to give employees better feedback. This would better reflect employee’s contributions to the company and give them a better sense of what to work on specifically.
What does this mean for your business?
Take the time to really give your employees feedback that is useful to them. You can do frequent check-ins or meetings with employees and let them know what they are doing well and what they can work on in the moment so that they can adjust accordingly. This may increase productivity and also employee satisfaction. Get rid of numerical evaluations! These don’t correctly portray information on employee’s performance and they may feel like their work isn’t being acknowledged. Don’t forget to include intangible behaviors when giving feedback. These behaviors, such as leadership qualities, are often not given as much credit as they should. Noticing these behaviors will make your employee feel more appreciated and satisfied at work.
