By: Sentry Marketing Group

June 2, 2015

Recent data suggests that employee performance reviews may do more harm than good. An infographic from international employee management service FindMyShift explores the ins and outs of this long-standing tradition.

In service industries, one of the most valuable assets you have is your employees.  After all, it is the faces on the front lines who can make or break customer experience.  While keeping employees on the path you have set out for your business is important, it is just as important to make sure that, in doing so, you are not creating a disempowering, discouraging, or even hostile environment for them.

It has long been a practice of employers to conduct annual or semi-annual performance reviews in which staff are evaluated primarily on the degree to which they uphold company standards. More often than not it is these reviews that determine whether an employee receives a pay raise or promotion or remains stuck in his or her current position.  Frequently, these reviews are conducted by management that, though well-versed in company standards, may not actually interact day-to-day with the employee being reviewed.  It is easy to see how things can go awry, and, in fact, recent data shows that around 30% of employee performance reviews actually result in a decrease in performance.

Employee scheduler, FindMyShift, has recently published an in-depth infographic looking at the effects of employee reviews on employee performance and retention, as well as the views of managers and human resources experts on the usefulness of this approach and some alternatives that are starting to gain ground.