It’s believed that the practice of workplace performance evaluations dates back to the 1920s. While business operations and practices have certainly evolved over the last 100 years, for many, the performance evaluation process has remained surprisingly static over the last several decades. Regardless of position or industry, the annual performance evaluation continues to be a staple for assessing employees among organizations.
With hybrid workplaces and renewed definitions of what constitutes successful performance, is it time to give the traditional evaluation process a makeover?
Rethinking Annual Goals
Traditionally, annual goals are set and discussed at year-end performance meetings, with the previous year’s goals evaluated on their completeness and the next year’s goals outlined and documented. A large part of the employee’s evaluation consists of how they were able to meet or exceed the goals that were set the previous year.
Organizations are in a constant state of change. As processes change and departments are restructured, static annual goals may quickly become obsolete, leaving little to show in regard to performance come evaluation time. This can easily be solved by introducing quarterly or trimester goals that can be adjusted throughout the year as priorities and responsibilities change.
Another downfall of an annual discussion is that feedback will be harder to source for those projects and goals that were completed early in the year. By meeting quarterly, teams can provide more valuable input on performance and identify areas of improvement in a more timely manner, which provides the employee the opportunity to improve continuously throughout the year.
A Shift in Criteria
The workplace has changed a lot, so it’s no surprise that evaluation criteria should also change. Many companies are including additional elements that allow employees to set goals that are more important to their personal growth, and not necessarily tied to company initiatives. Similarly, soft skills and employee involvement in organization committees, events, or projects outside of their existing scope of work are being considered in the overall evaluation.
Many traditional assessments have a quantity approach to evaluations, as opposed to quality. Time spent “in office” is an important criteria of performance in these cases, rather than personal contributions to the organization. For many home-based or hybrid team members, this can put an emphasis on just “showing up” and logging the proper amount of hours, and less focus on how they performed.
360 Evaluations
Collecting feedback from team members and peers who worked with an employee in different capacities can provide a holistic, thorough view of the employee’s contributions to the organization. Direct reports, peers, and managers should all provide feedback to accurately show the employees’ performance as well as bring to light any areas for improvement.
With a change in our working environment, we’ll naturally begin to see a shift in organizational processes like the annual performance evaluation. By adjusting and providing flexibility to these antiquated systems, companies will begin to see a positive shift in employee involvement, culture, and output.
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