Tips for effective employee performance reviews [4 HR experts weigh in]

I see performance management in a more organic, natural way. Weekly cycles of team meetings that facilitate activities to results is, in itself, the most effective form and practice of performance management. I’ve been a proponent for some time that formal performance management, as we know it and practice it, should be reconsidered. My clients use weekly cycles tied to specific business objectives because it’s a way of practically leveraging simple human behavior science.

I am, personally, not a fan of the traditional performance evaluation. Typically these reviews focus too much on the past. I had one where my manager admitted that most of my areas for improvement were things we had already discussed and improvement had been made, but because the review was for the past year they had to be discussed again. It left me feeling deflated as if none of the improvements I had made even mattered. You should have regular touch bases with your employees, talk about issues as they arise and then, unless things don’t change, don’t bring them up again.

Performance reviews are not the same as the check-ins managers should be doing with their teams during this time. Because of the pandemic and the change for many to remote work, it is more important than ever that managers talk with the people who report to them about how they are doing as people, not as employees. This should be separate from the performance review process.

I also believe that performance reviews should continue as normal. For many employees, sadly, their annual review is the only time they get specific feedback about their performance and discussion about goal setting and development. Removing that simply because we are in a pandemic is unfair to the employee, who is usually hungry and anxious to hear this feedback.

Managers should absolutely take COVID-19 into consideration with employees given the psychological and emotional implications of the pandemic. Managers, partnering with team members, need to adjust the goals for the performance review to make sure they are fair and achievable given new limitations. Employees can be evaluated through the pandemic, but the manager might be looking at softer skills like teamwork, communications, conflict resolution, etc. Managers will need to adjust what they review and should do so in partnership with their human resources department and their team members.

I recommend evaluating the employee up until the pandemic. Most of us switched into a new mode of working very quickly and without a lot of planning or support, resulting in hiccups with our work product. These are not normal circumstances. It would be unfair to the employee and to the manager rating the employee to try to assess performance for that time period in the current review. Now that a few months have passed it is likely that those working from home have found a better routine and managers have reset expectations. Now, evaluating the work done at home is a more reasonable choice. However, it should still be noted in the evaluation that these times are unusual.

Actually, through the lens of effective management, all situations all the time should be considered. There are always things happening within a team. Within weekly management cycles new situations are considered and planned for as goals / outcomes are identified. I wrote a blog post that suggests that, no matter what’s happening, the fundamentals of successful management don’t change.

First, you shouldn’t be comparing your employees during an assessment. You should be evaluating them based on their work, your expectations as addressed to them, and how well they have done. Especially now, this is so important because we all have different home environments that we had to quickly adjust.

The best way to be fair-minded…is to be fair-minded. That means looking at the individual circumstances of each employee and asking, “what level of performance is reasonable to expect, given these circumstances?” That answer may be slightly different for employees dealing with some of the issues mentioned. We have to get comfortable with this. Fairness doesn’t equal sameness.

Also, I want to note that just because an employee is young or childless doesn’t mean that they will not have difficulty coping while working during the pandemic. Many people who live alone are struggling with the inability to have social contact with others, resulting in depression and other mental health challenges. Young and / or childless people still have friends, family, and loved ones that they may be responsible for, or who they simply miss terribly because the pandemic has left them so alone and isolated. We must be empathetic and compassionate toward everyone.

The most important skill that a manager can have right now is empathy. If we put ourselves in other people’s shoes, then fairness is easier to land on. Right now, managers will make or break the relationships they have with those they lead. It is tough work. Nonetheless, we have to meet people where they are, in their shoes, and take time to problem solve around their individual needs.

When you work within teams, and are effective at team management, you create a team culture in which everyone feels that they are in it together. There is an attitude and atmosphere of collective support and understanding. I call it Team EQ (emotional intelligence). This diminishes the possibility for competition and resentment to arise. With weekly collective collaboration towards goals and results everyone makes collective agreements to achieve specific outcomes. There is also flexibility on how they are achieved. The focus is on results rather than volume of activity.

Managers should be evaluating performance using as much objective, metrics-based data as possible in all circumstances. Other than visibly being able to see the person while they are working, I am unsure what metrics cannot be obtained from the individual whether they are working at home or in a traditional office. If the pandemic revealed that this was lacking from the evaluation process, the manager should focus on setting up these metrics rather than looking for new ways to evaluate virtual work. Trying to evaluate virtual work performance alone often leads managers to falsely believe that they can’t manage the person without having eyes on them, which then leads to unnecessary camera-based meetings or returning to the physical office before recommended or necessary.

I think this depends on the type of business. If they have re-evaluated goals then they can probably use the sources they used before, but adjust downward. Also, this time requires that managers pay more attention to untrackable types of behavior to determine maturity, readiness for promotion, etc.

If performance reviews cannot be done in person, video is the next best option, as you are still able to see the employee’s face. Phone would be acceptable and email should be done only as a very last option. I would rather see the reviews completed later than by phone or email.

Performance reviews should never be done via email or phone. Neither should layoffs. Managers should do the next best thing and utilize video. The performance review process is an anxiety-producing event for employees. There is too much lost in translation via email and phone.

Certainly the best option is visual, for relational rapport. I don’t think email should ever be used. Second to visual would be a phone call. And the key point is, if you’re doing weekly organic performance management feedback, input are naturally ongoing anyway. So something a bit more formal would only be a summary of something that’s already been talked about and addressed. No surprises, just a summary discussion.

Compassionate candor is the best way to provide feedback to employees who are underperforming. We should note to the person that we’ve observed a drop in their performance and ask if there are any challenges that we can provide support with. We should cite specific examples of issues and negative trends observed, as well as provide objective data to support this if possible. We should let them know that they are failing to meet expectations and, if they’ve said there are no mitigating factors, request that they recommit to being diligent.

If the person does cite issues in their home life, health, etc. that is contributing to their performance issues, we should ask them what would help them. It is important to empower the employee to ask for what they need rather than jumping in to rescue them. If the employee has no immediate suggestions, give them time for self evaluation and set a deadline of when you will follow up to discuss their ideas.

The cool thing with organic, natural weekly performance management via team activities and goals is that underperformance is naturally addressed. It’s built into the process. Either the person will be able to respond and contribute to weekly goals, objectives, and outcomes or they won’t. It’s within this weekly cycle that issues will surface to be addressed. They then can be coached forward and up or coached out. Also within a team, there can be a temporary collective agreement regarding needed, legitimate accommodations. It is very poor, ineffective management to allow prolonged, unaddressed underperformance.

Is the underperformance recent or something that has been on-going, just not addressed? If it’s new, I think you need to give a little grace and work to figure out why there’s a change in performance. What was your relationship with the employee like before? Is your employee comfortable sharing any troubles that may be preventing them from working to their full capacity? Are there ways you can change how you are supporting that employee to get them back to full performance? If this is an ongoing issue and has been addressed in the past, you still need to address it. It may be harder because you aren’t in the same room, but you cannot let the performance linger.

One key takeaway is that being attuned to the human needs of a team has never changed. COVID has just made us more aware and more compelling. Another takeaway is that any substantial crisis gives leaders an opportunity to consider what’s more important – to refine operations, be more focused, and strengthen human bonds that transcend a specific place (the office). They now can focus on stronger connections of heart, mind, and spirit. This means that ultimately the most successful leaders will be those whose influence comes from personal influence through rapport and meaningful relating versus positional power. Business operations will be more informal and community oriented than formal and corporate oriented. This is the real business and social shift.

There is nothing that will replace the need for employees to feel connected to their managers and coworkers. Managers and leaders will need to continue to check in with their people. Even more now. Leaders need to actively listen and empathize. While they are not therapists, leaders will need to help those they lead work through the many challenges and become more resilient in the process.

The key to success during this time has been flexibility, which means different things to everyone. I hope leaders spend time talking to their employees about what works and continue to work with them to make work work.

Work as we knew it before the pandemic is over. The future of work is going to require more agility and flexibility by organizations to adapt and accommodate the needs of employees. I hope the pandemic teaches leaders to look at the employees they lead as whole people with unique needs and motivations. I hope leaders seek to get to know and understand their employees as people, then use that knowledge to provide personal support and develop their employees’ professional potential more consistently than what we have seen in the past.