General Electric did it! Microsoft did it! And so did Adobe! Each of these companies canned the age old format of Performance Appraisals. GE has a reputation of having the yearly Performance Appraisal and then ranking all staff and letting those who are the lowest 10% fired. They got rid of this formal forced ranking about 10 years ago, however, they did carry on with Performance Appraisals.
Recently Ray lost his job in one of those fields affected by the downturn in the economy. He was given a good severance package and he began to look for new work. He knew it would not be a hardship as he had worked hard in his career and his performance appraisals had all be good. He called his former manager for a reference. His manager said no as he had some issues with his performance. As Ray said, “I was gobsmacked.” At no time had there been any hint of challenges from his boss. How unfair to Ray and to the organization he worked for.
Add to this the fact that in 2014, Canada had more Millennials in the job force than Baby Boomers. Millennials want to be recognized and for this bulging part of our workforce the old way of doing Performance Appraisals once a year just does not cut it anymore. On top of this, this could be a major reason millennials leave your workplace for another company. Why? Let’s address this:
Reason 1 – Timing
Millennials in particular want feedback NOW, not next week, next month and definitely not next year. This loses them as they want to know what they are doing well and what they need to do to improve their present position.
Reason 2 – Goal Setting
Who has a year’s goal these days? Almost no one – a goal is broken down into smaller tasks so people can see the end result and accomplish the steps in a more realistic manner.
The younger the person the greater the NEED for instant feedback! Regardless, all people like to know when they are doing things right. Don’t wait a year to see whether or not your employee has reached a goal.
Like Ray above, this feedback needs to provide the good as well as the areas for improvement. By not telling an individual what needs to improve, there is very little opportunity for them to find out.
Reason 3 – Time
Yearly Performance Appraisals require one to two weeks of preparation as well as at least an hour of face-to-face time. Regular Performance Appraisals based on results/goals allow you to have frequent, less time consuming meetings where you can quickly assess the outcomes.
Conclusion
Performance Appraisals do have value – ONLY if they are used to help individuals reach the corporate goals. People want to know how their abilities fit into helping the corporation reach its goals. What are you doing to help your staff add to the corporate goal set?