End of Year Reviews, Do We Need Them?
Reviews are a necessary part of any work organization where progress and growth are expected.
However, I have come to believe that the “end of the year” review is something that employees dread and are often detrimental to staff moral. So let’s get rid of them.
Wait, stop…before you stop reading give me a chance.
The reason that most employees dread the end of the year review is because they don’t know what is going to be said about them, their attitude, skills or job performance.
I have believe a much better solution is a continuing conversation with employees that
- define their main job functions
- lay out expectations and outcomes
- collaborate on goals
- schedule follow-up meetings, at least monthly, to discuss progress.
During these meetings I also want to ask the employee:
- how are you doing?
- what resources do you need?
- how can I help?
- what’s next?
Early this year I made a career move that has given me the opportunity to set I’m motion an on-going employee/supervisor conversation. As the year came to a close I was able to sit and talk individually with the team I lead and we did go over a written review/evaluation of the year. But I hope they came away thinking there were no surprises in our conversation.
We are now into our second year of this plan…so far so good.
What has been your experience with end of year evaluations?
