8 Excuses for avoiding performance reviews and what to do about them
A few months ago we shared an article on the risks of poorly managing salary reviews during this period of Covid uncertainty, and today we’re following through considering the risks associated with poorly managing employee performance reviews, and suggesting why and how to minimise such risks to your business.
avoiding c-19 Performance reviews - 8 excuses that will come back to bite you
Excuse #1: Use C-19 as an excuse not to discuss employee performance and satisfaction
Excuse #2: Pretend Covid has broken the cycle of all normal practices
Excuse #3: Not talk about your organisation’s performance
Excuse #4: Use C-19 as an excuse to accept poor performance of individuals and side-step difficult conversations
Excuse #5: Set Job Descriptions aside as there’s no “BAU” during Covid
Excuse #6: Pretend that your “One to Ones” are enough
Excuse #7: Ignore performance reviews because there’s no pay rise
Excuse #8: Avoid them because there’s no Christmas Bonus this year
You may recall that Sin #7 in the salary review article was “Use C-19 as an excuse not to discuss employee performance and satisfaction” so let’s start there.
Excuse #1: Use C-19 as an excuse not to discuss employee performance and satisfaction
We’ve seen the impact of C-19 on business vary dramatically this year: maybe you’ve lost some staff, have many on Job Keeper, some on reduced hours or temporary tasks, others working remotely: it doesn’t feel fair to carry out reviews in such circumstances. Right? Wrong!
Remember that, at any time, the primary purpose of the performance review should be to improve performance and satisfaction. It is a mechanism for managers to provide feedback to staff and continue to encourage increased performance and satisfaction. It also gives managers a chance to share key messages about how the business is faring.
For many, this may be more critical to business performance and retention of key talent now than in any other period. It would be unfair on all parties not to do performance reviews.
A key rationale of the government’s Job Keeper program was to maintain the relationship between employer and employee: you have a responsibility to do your part in maintaining that relationship, and with all of your other employees too.
You owe it to yourself and to your employees to set up time with each one to hold essential conversations. Such conversations might be in a different format from usual and goal setting may be more challenging but it’s worth remembering the importance of the basics.
Don’t make it too hard: just do it.
Excuse #2: Pretend Covid has broken the cycle of all normal practices
So Covid happened…then Easter still came along, every birthday, every work anniversary, and other life milestones be they happy or sad. Even the AFL and NRL grand finals still went ahead only a couple of weeks behind schedule. Christmas is coming. BAS returns, Monthly Accounts, P&L, Cash Flow reports, Debtor Days, Stock Takes…The cycle of events and good business practice continues and so should your employee performance review cycle.
It is not a one-off thing, it is a critical business process and it is not fair on anyone – managers, employees, the business or its shareholders – to bypass it. Nor is it prudent.
Organisations have responsibility to manage performance and to let their employees know how they're going. Just sending regular pay through is not enough feedback in and of itself. As many of us sadly know…even the worst employees still receive a regular pay cheque sometimes for far too long (but that’s a subject for another article…).
Would you have watched the grand final if no one was keeping score? Recognition matters. If they don’t get it from you then they might go elsewhere to find it.
Babies cry for it and young men die for it.
Show leadership in this strange time and give confidence – your employees need a sense of security and stability and recognition that they matter.
Excuse #3: Not talk about your organisation’s performance
Some businesses are really struggling during this pandemic: others are going gangbusters and are almost embarrassed by their success. Whichever category your business falls in, or even if you are simply enjoying a period of stability, you owe it to yourself and your employees to share this information.
We know that the longer a period with no information, the more people will make up their own stories.
By choosing not to have performance reviews and not mention your business progress to employees, and their role in it, you risk missing a wonderful opportunity for managing the message you really want to communicate – and there is a good chance the grapevine will be resounding with messages you don’t want.
Maybe the word will be that the business is really struggling (we’d better start looking for other jobs); or that the business is keeping all that stimulus money for itself (they don’t care about us); or that you’ve committed Error #2?
Take the lead, engage and communicate – you have an opportunity to influence individual contributors to continuously improve your organisation’s performance.
Excuse #4: Use C-19 as an excuse to accept poor performance of individuals and side-step difficult conversations
Tempting as it may be, it’s no good pretending poor performers don’t exist.
Maybe it is your own doing and perhaps you’ve already committed Error #5 and set aside your JDs during Covid and not shared with employees what you are expecting of them during this period, so they don’t even know what good performance looks like? Or maybe the employee has just decided they care about other things more than work during this time; or perhaps they are unable to cope with the new demands of remote working? There could be many and varied reasons.
It is your job to find out why performance is poor and to do something about it – in fairness to you, your business, the employee and the rest of your staff. The PMD process is the perfect opportunity to do this.
Look at the possible outcomes: improved performance of an employee – or the opportunity for them to be better satisfied in someone else’s business; improved satisfaction and productivity of colleagues working with that employee; and improved performance of your business.
Take responsibility – ask good questions, set clear expectations and follow through.
Excuse #5: Set Job Descriptions aside as there’s no “business as usual” during Covid
In times of stress it is tempting to default to “head down other end up” and assume everyone knows what’s needed of them.
As our clients develop new ways of working together (or apart!) we’ve been asked: “Should we throw our JDs out of the window during this time of Covid?” Our answer is “No. Quite the opposite: bring them out, dust them off, review them, tweak them and then use as a powerful framework to help guide team leaders and their teams through this challenging time.”
How can we do this?
In a recent article we identified 7 simple steps to help make this a productive exercise which focus on clarifying what is important, what results employees are responsible for and how success will be measured.
Investing time with each employee to discuss their performance and satisfaction can be much less daunting and much more useful if you are both working from the same set of expectations. Your employee is more likely to be able to share examples where they are finding satisfaction in their work – or not – and any development they need. You can clarify your expectations and standards; and you both may learn that some parts of the job may no longer be needed or new responsibilities should be added.
Even if you cannot manage a full performance review with your staff at present, at least work with them to do a “Covid Marie Kondo” tidy up on their JDs and everyone will benefit.
Excuse #6: Pretend that your “One to Ones” are enough
“I’ve been checking in with everyone regularly during this period so I don’t need to do a full performance review.”
Whilst we agree that regular catch ups are invaluable, and we certainly encourage them, on their own they are not quite enough. They need to be supplemented by a sense of closure and reset.
We talk of the performance review process being a cycle. Maybe you feel your cycle has been interrupted this year and you’ve committed Error #2?
By missing the opportunity to set time aside with each employee for reflection and planning, you miss an important chance to fully understand each person’s degree of performance and satisfaction, their development needs and more… Just as importantly, you also miss an opportunity to acknowledge their contribution – or their gaps – and share your own expectations for the next period. After all, the Grand Finals were delayed but they did have a final score line, and all teams have celebrated or bemoaned this past season and are now planning for the season ahead.
Take every opportunity to know your staff and help them to help you succeed.
Excuse #7: Ignore performance reviews because there’s no pay rise
For years we have reassured clients that the performance review is only one element contributing to any pay review and they agree with relief. So, we smile when clients now say: surely there’s no point doing our PMD reviews because we can’t give a pay increase right now.
As with several of the errors identified above, for many organisations, our response is that performance reviews may be even more critical to business performance and retention of key talent than any salary adjustments right now.
This is a very important opportunity to take action and communicate very important messages.
Try viewing it as an unexpected benefit to set aside the distraction of pay reviews and have discussions focussed on helping each individual become more effective in their job and gain greater satisfaction from their work; and consequently, improving your organisation performance.
Excuse #8: Avoid performance reviews because there’s no Christmas Bonus this year
As with Error #3, this is an excuse which can come back to cause more harm.
Employee Satisfaction surveys frequently report that the payment of a Christmas bonus has little or no impact on employee performance or satisfaction – yet many organisations continue to pay them.
Employees report that they don’t know what they need to do to earn them, that they see other employees who don’t work as hard as them also receiving a bonus so why should they continue to put in the effort themselves if everyone is treated the same? A negative motivation.
So, if you can’t pay a bonus this year, treat it as bonus opportunity for you to try something different.
Try sharing time with each of your direct reports, ask them what has been good about the past year, what has been frustrating, what have they learned, what can you do as their boss to make it easier for them to deliver good results, what priorities and standards should you agree for next year, what can you do to support them in their own development and how can you work together to improve their performance and satisfaction. Have the back of an envelope ready – not to slide them a monetary bonus but to jot down your combined ideas so neither of you forget them. Say thank you.
And you’ll just have completed a very effective performance review.