How useful are traditional employee reviews in the workplace?

Many businesses rely on annual or semi-annual employee reviews to evaluate employee performance. The traditional employee review consists of a manager or supervisor(s) who complete a series of evaluation questions to rate the employee’s performance, and often times the employee is asked to complete a self-assessment of their own performance. Once the manager or supervisor(s) reviews the two evaluations, the two parties meet face-to-face to discuss results and elaborate more on performance.

This type of evaluation has been recently scrutinized, and many businesses are questioning whether they should continue with the same process, or find an employee review process that makes more sense. Many find the traditional employee review process to be outdated and filled with inefficiencies. And as with many business processes, there comes a time when changes may need to be made.

What are common problems with traditional employee reviews? Continue reading →