Dive Brief:
- Employees desire feedback that's delivered frequently and face to face, according to Joblist survey results.
- The workplace has moved to accommodate this desire, shifting away from the annual performance review, but a third of full-time employee respondents said they still want more feedback from their supervisors. Respondents who were new to their jobs reported receiving feedback most frequently; those who had been on the job for many years said they only heard from their managers about twice a month.
- Employees said they most like to receive feedback through private, face-to-face discussions; informal meetings and either email or written notes followed.
Dive Insight:
The traditional annual performance review can't provide the culture of feedback that many HR professionals are striving for, a 2018 Betterworks study concluded. Check-ins on progress and periodic feedback should be used to manage and continuously motivate employee performance, the group said.
Employers appear to know this: Performance reviews are getting shorter and more frequent, a recent OfficeTeam survey found. More than half of HR pros surveyed said they had changed their review process in the past two years, with 39% making the process shorter and 36% increasing frequency.
But such efforts also require manager training. After all, when employees feel their reviews are unfair, they often consider leaving, research shows. Central to an effective performance management program is a real-time development plan for each employee, experts previously told HR Dive. Among other things, development programs should address workers' needs without overwhelming them, they said. And feedback should be a balance between providing necessary critiques and setting future goals for improved performance.
