The best type of performance review for your company

 Are you trying to decide which type of performance review is best for your business? We are here to help! In this article, we will look at the different types of performance reviews. Every company has its own requirements, so there is no "right" or "wrong" review structure, only the review structure that works best for your company.

1. Annual performance review

This is still standard in many companies, and as the name suggests, it is opened once a year. Managers meet with subordinates to discuss performance, highlight opportunities for improvement, and plan for next year. You may be asked to evaluate team members based on performance, against goals set in the previous year, and review against departmental or role-based goals. Individuals may also request to perform a self-assessment prior to meeting their manager.

While annual performance reviews can be verified by managers and direct staff, there are still some drawbacks. From a business point of view, scarcity makes it difficult (if necessary) for people to revise and change career development as priorities change from year to year.

It also puts a lot of pressure on the manager and his teammates. Both spend a year breathing. So, the manager can summarily the performance review for a while and the employee knows how he has done it. Not to mention the difficulty in remembering what happened.

Finally, annual performance reviews tend to be top-down, where managers review team members. This is a missed opportunity for a manager performance review or 360-degree feedback from colleagues.

2. Semi-annual performance review

This follows a process similar to an annual review, with the slightest difference being that there are two ways to discuss performance throughout the year. This increases the ability of employees to revise the course and discuss changing business priorities. However, there are still not many ways to do more than diversify the nature of the question or review previous work.

Both managers and direct employees are under pressure to call back six months of work and devote time to the review process that affects daily productivity. In both annual and semiannual performance review formats, people will not have the opportunity to discuss career development goals or anything other than productivity and performance.

3. Quarterly performance review

This is the optimal frequency for most businesses. The reviews are regular enough to give you easy access to your project, but not so frequent that it becomes burdensome. Since most companies operate on a quarterly basis, they follow a natural business cycle, making it easy to assess a project, its impact on the business, and an individual's contribution to success. You can also fine-tune your employees' goals and specifications with your company's goals.

Quarterly reviews give you the opportunity to diversify your question types. For example, you can use a stop, start, and continue the model of an employee's actions and actions to understand what employees should double as and what they should not do as a whole. This will improve the efficiency of the entire team and help managers develop individuals.

It can also open the door for executive or manager performance review and create opportunities for upward feedback. This can eventually develop managers and support their roles, ultimately increasing the productivity and synergy of the entire team.

4. 360-degree performance review

This type of performance check can be used at any time, regardless of frequency. However, doing regular performance reviews can make it easier to collect 360-degree feedback, reducing the burden on managers writing feedback and those contributing to the review.

The advantage of 360-degree feedback is that it allows managers to gather comments from a variety of sources. This means co-workers, executives, and junior employees can all play a part in gaining a broader view of an individual's skills and capabilities. Peer feedback is often the most valuable because people who work closely every day are in the best position to provide accurate feedback. The 360-degree review relieves managers of their responsibility as the sole provider of feedback and helps them gain a broader view of individual performance.

5. Attend five performance checks

take-five is a simple approach to performance management that can be hosted temporarily. The goal is to coordinate manager and direct reports on success, company values, development, support and general well-being. It doesn't have to be as thorough as a quarterly or annual performance review to make it easy to check your pulse.

Ask up to 5 questions and cover 3 different perspectives. Manager -> employee; Staff -> manager and self-assessment. You can ask questions about fulfilling your commitments, realizing company value, investing in team member development, needed team support and job satisfaction.

This provides an opportunity for managers and direct employees to have a conversation, allowing them to discuss urgent issues and quickly find solutions. The answer from "Take-Five" may support further performance discussion.

6. Create your own cadence

Depending on how you work, annual or quarterly performance reviews may not apply to everyone. For example, development teams usually work with sprints or work on a project basis.

In this case, you can do a brief performance review at the end of each project cycle or sprint. This way, you can quickly find out what worked and what didn't work during your project, which team members might have had problems, or what could be done differently for your team's success.

Which type of performance assessment is right for you?

While each process described has its pros and cons, it is not possible to effectively measure performance, engagement, and overall job satisfaction at the same time. Instead, we recommend a combination.

For example, quarterly or semiannual reviews can be combined with 360-degree performance reviews to keep employees engaged while fostering a culture of feedback, learning and development for the company.

You can also combine participatory surveys with the executive review, or even support a once every two-year review cycle with check-in for 5 people. Regular check-in makes the manager's performance review process less difficult because the information is immediately available.