Why Employees Hate Evaluations

According to a study by Gallup, traditional performance reviews and approaches to feedback are often so bad that they actually make performance worse about one-third of the time - only 14% of employees strongly agree their performance reviews inspire them to improve.

In recent years, ongoing performance reviews and increased engagement with employees are emerging as effective ways to support employee development. While companies need formal, consistent benchmarks, performance evaluations can be more robust to help employees know their strengths and opportunities for growth.

Here are a few tips for improving performance reviews so that employees value them instead of dread them.

1. Make the evaluation interactive

   - One of the reasons employees hate reviews is they feel sterile and impersonal. A random checklist of character traits and basic performance skills evaluated on a scale is generally not helpful. There is no context to explain the reasoning behind the scores. In some cases, employees don’t even have the chance to actually meet with their supervisor to discuss the review – they simply receive an email notification.

   - Evaluations can still be submitted electronically, but they should include room to make notes, and criteria should be tied to the employee’s goals. Evaluations should be reviewed with the employee with the opportunity for them to ask questions and discuss ways to improve. This communication can help a manager better understand the employee’s experiences, perspectives and interests which can better inform their role within the team and company.

   - The Truvelop app allows for real-time communication between the employee and manager. Managers can add comments and employees can respond all within the app providing yet another set of data to inform employee development and increase engagement.

2. Eliminate annual reviews

   - Annual reviews are an outdated policy for companies to update an employee’s official record and determine raises or bonuses. However, most managers find the annual review a burden and either rush to complete without much thought, or struggle to complete because they didn’t keep detailed notes throughout the year.

   - Ongoing, frequent evaluations are helpful to the manager as well as the employee. Addressing challenges and issues as they arise not only prevents frustrations, but provides an opportunity for improvement immediately. Overlooking issues as they occur can affect team morale and productivity. The employee may not even be aware of the issue to have the chance to address it.

   - More frequent evaluations also allow managers and employees to reassess goals as they relate to the employee’s skills and capacity. In the Truvelop app, managers can track employee performance all year long, aggregating the data to create reports as needed. Truvelop also helps managers to encourage employees based on performance as well as recognize good work.

3. Make evaluations goal-oriented

   - While most companies have standard criteria for equitably evaluating employees – ie. punctuality, appropriate attire, communication – these rarely have any correlation to the duties and responsibilities associated with the specific role.

   - Evaluations should be based on performance required to achieve the goals of the position. Ongoing performance reviews allow the manager to consider if the goals are appropriate – perhaps there is an opportunity to adjust based on the performance of individual employees and the team as a whole.

   - With the Truvelop app, managers can monitor trends and help employees work towards their goals with assistance from manager cue cards which provide tips for ways managers can communicate with employees based on evaluation scores.

Contact us today to learn more about our modern approach to performance management and development that actually improves the manager and employee relationship. Don’t just take our word for it, see what our Customers have to say.