A Goal of Frequent Reviews: Heading off Trouble

When it comes to employee reviews, less is not always more. An overwhelming number of companies provide annual performance appraisals. But is there a better way? Certainly, some changes can provide a breath of fresh air to managers and employees. Why not start with more frequent reviews?

Project-Based Reviews

If an employee’s job can be easily divided into projects, then try evaluating job performance after each one. This make it easier for reviewers to pintpoint specific instances of strong action, or areas that need more work. For example, try offering feedback to credit analysts after each credit analysis, or to bookkeepers after each monthly set of books.

frequent peer reviews

Kids do peer review in school for a reason: Because it works. Flickr/MsH_ISB

Project-based reviews can be overwhelming if projects are of a shorter nature, but that’s an easy problem to overcome. If it’s more feasible, try having reviews after every project of a certain size, or after every five, ten, or even twenty projects.

Project-based reviews make it easy for employees to see where they’ve gone wrong before they repeat the same problems on multiple projects, which helps them be confident that their hard work will be valuable and appreciated.

Monthly or Quarterly Reviews

Simply shortening the time between performance reviews can make all the difference. Set up a schedule of monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly, or even bi-annual reviews. Quarterly evaluations can work wonders for newer employees, or even for older employees in new positions.

Frequent reviews help employees gain and understand feedback, implement suggestions immediately, and capitalize on strengths that have been newly developed.

Peer Reviews

If management and HR simply can’t make the time for more frequent reviews, you can utilize peer reviews instead. Peer reviews are often best if they’re anonymous, so that any criticisms don’t affect morale or employee relationships. Anonymity promotes honesty, too.

People who work closely with each other can be assigned a new co-worker each month for whom they should complete a simple peer review survey. Even the assigning process can be automated. Before employees receive copies of their reviews, a manager of HR officer can review them to clarify any issues and offer solutions to any problems.

Feedback is a poweful motivator. Of course, it’s important to have a healthy mix of positive feedback and productive criticisms. Waiting a whole year for them, though, will only hurt job performance. People thrive when they know they’re doing a good job; Those who need guidance can’t improve until they know what to change.

Waiting for reviews wastes time and effort. Frequent reviews head off future problems.

 

Track projects, review performance, get feedback, and build a culture of success. Use HR software from TribeHR: Learn more.

 


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