Nonprofit HR’s Blog

At study by Achievers found that virtually all the companies use some form of annual evaluation as their chief means of giving performance feedback to employees, but only 2% think these reviews accomplish anything useful!

The study also found a big disconnect between what CEOs think is going on below them and what employees say actually happens. Fifty-seven percent of CEOs believe their people are “regularly recognized” for their hard work and contributions, but only nine percent of employees agree.

The study also states that 61percent of employees say they would welcome immediate, on-the spot feedback from bosses and peers about how they’re doing, but only 24 percent say they get it. Meanwhile, 54 percent of CEOs believe they do.

“That gap may be because CEOs are projecting, based on their own behavior,” notes Achievers chairman Razor Suleman in an article with CNN Money. “Chief executives usually give their own direct reports frequent feedback about their job performance, so they think everyone is doing that all down through the ranks.”

Suleman went on to say, “The annual review is a relic of the pre-electronic past. It persists mostly out of inertia. If you ask, ‘Why are you doing this?’ the response you usually get is, ‘Because we’ve always done it this way.'” A far more productive way of giving feedback, he adds, is “having coaching conversations every day, instead of once a year.”