Today’s companies are saying goodbye to employee performance management and turn to a less cumbersome process – informal feedback.
The big players like Microsoft, General Electric, Deloitte and Adobe are following this new trend. According to the CEB management research firm, 49% of human resource managers intend to do the same during 2018.
“Research shows that annual reviews do a poor job in terms of the promise of improving employee performance in modern workplaces,” was explained in a study published in 2017 by Glassdoor, a site for assessment of companies by their employees.
Employee performance management usually consists of establishing a dialogue to strengthen the employer-employee relationship. However, many managers tend to see this exercise as a chore. This is what at least 51.7% of the 1,100 respondents said in a survey conducted by the Ordre des conseillers en ressources humaines agréés in 2015.
According to the Glassdoor report, performance reviews are not frequent enough, focus too much on the past rather than the future and often have the effective of demotivating the troops. The results are therefore the opposite of the desired effect. “It is a tedious ritual that is often cumbersome and ineffective compared to other options,” the research report continues.
Informal feedback
Informal feedback would do better to boost productivity, engagement, team building and employee retention. For their part, workers would welcome it with less distrust.
It also helps to focus on career opportunities, corporate culture and the development of employee leadership. “More employers are deploying workplace learning programs, providing workers with creative means to improve their skills and get a new role in businesses,” says Glassdoor.
Finally, in the age of video clips, newsletters and open-plan offices, informal feedback now takes place daily, or at least more regularly than once a year.
Informal feedback – how to implement it?
Although, as the name implies, informal feedback is less formal, it still requires some control in tone and form. Here are three tips for setting it up successfully.
Informal feedback should also be… formal
Informal feedback is intended to be spontaneous. This allows for a more friendly and less stressful and distrustful exchange between the interlocutors. On the other hand, it is not a trivial discussion! In order to maintain the frank character of communication, it is better to retain a certain formality.
An informal meeting… prepared for!
Even if the discussion is spontaneous and more friendly, it is better for both parties to agree on a time to meet. This makes it possible to be better prepared, to have questions prepared, and to make sure everyone has their mind on the same topic of discussion.
Be open to new ideas
Feedback is not just an opportunity to list the strengths and weaknesses of the employee or company. By proposing new ideas or being open to them, the discussion will be much more relaxed. Employees will see feedback as a form of progression in their development rather than just an annual assessment.
In this sense, the success of informal feedback resides both in the place, in the tone and in the frequency and in its content!