Employees hate to see themselves as a number.
A major irritation for all is the overwhelming need to quantify, rate & rank during performance reviews.
On the other hand, Managers are not often equipped to quantify objectives or rate them without bias.
All this leads to a numerical mayhem, frustration & guilt.
The real issue is that organizations believe the major outcome of performance reviews is to rank employees, dole out increments and thus design their process accordingly.
In reality, the core objective of performance reviews is to help improve the employee. This often gets missed out in implementation.
Key takeaway for Practitioners
If the performance appraisal process is personalized to each employee, then the focus should be more on engaging discussions & constructive way forwards as critical outcomes of the process.
Yes, ratings of KRAs are important - especially on those that have quantifiable targets set.
But so also is the need for free flowing open discussions without worrying about the numerical rating axe hanging overhead.
If this is built in as a core fundamental of the process, then the acceptance of Performance Appraisal becomes an easier task.
