I always felt surprised after a performance review. Maybe it was my imposter syndrome or managers that weren’t trained, but it caught me off guard. All of a sudden in the middle of a random month, I was sent an automated message with a really long spreadsheet or a link that started 1/22 indicating I was at the beginning of a 22 screen process. 

I couldn’t even remember what I did in Q1 let alone rank myself for it by Q4. Then, to add to the chaos - people could choose who they ask for 360 feedback from so in addition to making up some high level “where I can improve” lines for myself, I had to do them for 5 of my friends while walking the line of not hurting anyone’s feelings. 

But the worst part of all was the delivery of that review to me. At the time, my manager literally came into the meeting with two printouts of an Excel spreadsheet. In one column, the ranking I gave myself. In the second column, her ranking and notes. When we sat down, that was the first time I saw the document. I had to read while she was reading it to me. Can you even call that feedback or a performance review? 

Outdated Performance Reviews Are Driving Employees Away

That old, manual way of delivering a performance review is still the worst way to tell anyone they did a good job and the proof is in the data from employees about reviews. But the performance review isn't the problem. It's the process that surrounds it. 

Getting formal feedback one time a year just doesn't work. First, for the go getters. They need feedback to stay motivated. About 1 in 4 employees are unsatisfied with the frequency and quality of feedback coming from their direct manager. But, second, for people who need to change. Getting all the bad news at once is how we end up making people quit, not growing them. Most feedback isn’t frequent enough to help people understand how to improve. (More data on that here.)

We can’t afford to have people quit because they’re not getting feedback. Bad performance review processes are the retention killer no one is talking about. Gallup found that companies who give continuous strength-based feedback can reduce their turnover by almost 15%.

Building A Better Performance Review System

What does a good process look like? The answer isn't one size fits all. But as you probably guessed by the data above, “more” is step number one. 

A few benchmarks of a strong performance review process to keep in mind:  

• Frequency. At a minimum, let people capture information at the end of each quarter. Ideally, I'd love to see more conversations every month. This isn't just about a review cycle, it's about making sure your team gets the endorphins of winning, too. That’s what makes people stay. 
• Multiple perspectives. One person's POV on one person's work allows way too many options for bias. Also, give guidelines on who picks whom. No one’s pay should be calculated based on a score of how many people like them. 
• Customizable. Focus on what matters, not some template created by someone who probably doesn't even work at your company anymore. 22 pages is probably too much. 
• AI. With all these varied and complex data points, this is the perfect use case for AI. Look for a tool that keeps your data private (you do not need this info floating around in the ChatGPT ether) to help you create summaries, identify trends, and analyze themes for growth opportunities. 

Bonus? Use the themes and trends to ask AI to build development plans. We can use AI to make reviews actionable and something that actually helps people grow, not another meaningless system or process we complete to check a box instead of actually using it to be better - for our jobs and throughout our careers. 

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Workleap’s platform helps HR leaders and managers instantly drive top talent retention and team performance with simple tools for engagement, recognition, and performance management. It’s designed to help businesses grow efficiently by offering tools to manage talent, reduce turnover, and improve employee engagement—all without the need for complex systems.

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