Is it time to ditch the yearly appraisal? Three tips for real-time feedback

A trend is beginning emerging among larger companies where the annual staff appraisal is being dumped in favour of continuous performance management. Companies such as Microsoft, Deloitte and Accenture are some of the bigger ones making the move, and so far it appears to be the smart choice.

Globoforce found that 53% of employees say yearly reviews don’t motivate them to work harder. Conversely, Tower Watson found that 43% of highly engaged employees receive feedback at least once a week, and Gallup released a report stating that employees who receive strength-based feedback were 12.5% more productive.

The preferred appraisal method is now one of constant communication – and it makes sense. Why should employees have to wait for one moment each year to understand how they’re performing? How will the employer (or employee) be able to recall all the rights and wrongs of the year past? Traditional annual appraisals have become too unwieldy, and ultimately end up becoming a conversation about pay. The conversations have ceased to be an opportunity to talk about skills gained, or growth opportunities sought, and even when they are, there’s too many topics mixed up, so all you get is a meeting that doesn’t do much.

It’s clear that just the way yearly appraisals are conducted don’t currently work, but that doesn’t mean the continuous feedback model we’re moving into is perfect either, and a proper strategy needs to be adopted to succeed.