ALT-5 Should Employee Performance Reviews be Abolished – No
Employee performance reviews are absolutely necessary for both management and employees. If done at least twice a year and without prejudice on either side of the interview table, the sessions can be of great value.
For more than two decades, I was manager of a public relations and advertising division of a major insurance company. Working with that staff was different than it would be with traditional shop or office employees. Most were college graduates, with attitudes and work styles that were based on creativity and effective communications. Because my education and career experiences were similar, my prime intent was producing our assigned tasks effectively and within very strict deadlines. All other aspects of our division had to be secondary to those goals.
Throughout my management years, I used semi-annual performance reviews as a very effective way to discuss how well the employee completed assignments during those months. The one-on-one private session also gave each employee the opportunity to respond freely, whether it involved making suggestions for improving our work, to complain about work conditions or anything else.
Without regular performance reviews, poor communications situations between management and employees could continue, or actually become worse. Of course, I didn't rely only on just the scheduled six-month session to air all problems. If anything had to be discussed immediately, whether I needed it or the individual employee required a review, I was always willing to do a fair, face-to-face session in the privacy of my office.
Performance reviews are also critically useful in helping an employee who may be failing in completing the assigned work. The periodic meeting can be a time to discuss the problem and suggest ways for the person to improve, as well as for the manager to offer encouragement. For example, if the employee's daily attendance or lateness record is below company standards, the manager can emphasize the need to improve.
In the most serious situations, the employee's attendance, attitude, on-the-job relationships and/or work continue to be below expected standards and are not improving. Whether at a scheduled or special performance review, the session gives the manager the option of issuing a warning to that person of reduction in pay, loss of promotion or potential dismissal.Some year-end performance reviews, particularly those involving promotion, bonuses and salary increases, give the manager opportunities to make final assessments about how to make the appropriate and fair decisions about each person.If employee performance reviews were to be abolished, a valuable and often critical method of management-employee communications could be lost.
