Annual Appraisals: Questioning the future of performance management

There is currently plenty of controversy within the industry regarding the success of annual performance reviews.

Every business will have its own opinion on how it handles monitoring the performance of their employees. But every business will have some sort of performance management structure in place.

This is why it might come as a bit of a surprise to learn that Accenture, along with Microsoft, Deloitte and Google, have decided to scrap their current annual appraisal system.

The consulting giant has opted to move away from annual reviews and a ranking based approach, joining the many companies believing the current appraisal system is too controlled, too rigid and ultimately backward thinking.

Accenture will also move away from a numerical based approach starting in September of this year, a movement that suggests that forced performance rankings could become a thing of the past.

Research from PwC, published in July of this year, into performance management has fuelled this belief as data they have complied estimates that two thirds of large companies are considering making changes to their current annual appraisal process.

Why you need an appraisal system in place

Appraisals are a strong factor in monitoring employee performance, but also in ensuring that they are being correctly utilised as well as how they can be developed.

At the end of the day your staff is your key link to your customer base. When implementing the ISO 9001 Quality Management System, staff is a crucial area of the continued process.

Evaluating the role of your staff is one way of identifying team members who will be involved in delivering the standard and assess any factors that need to be monitored to provide affective results.

If not annual appraisals – what works instead?

Recent data from the Top Employers Institute shows that companies are moving towards a process of continual improvement based on frequent dialogue and development.

Based on the study, top performing UK employers are moving towards a model focusing on goal setting and more regular feedback in a movement towards less “formal” performance reviewing.

Millennials are a big driving force spurring this change as this new generation of workers look for continuous development and expect frequent feedback after assignments.

Regardless of your workforce, it is how performance management is carried out that really matters, giving feedback and forward looking action plans needs to be more frequent than just once a year to procure the best results – it’s not hard to imagine the benefits!

This is the most effective way of nipping small problems in the bud before they escalate into something worse, which could see a detrimental impact in business performance.

Accenture are opting instead for ‘Performance Achievement’, leading the way in a new breed of performance management designed to encourage creative thinking and freedom.

The future of the performance appraisal as we see it

Each business is different; implementing ISO 9001 Quality Management System is one way to ensure your evaluations are focused on core areas and are steered towards delivering the standard.

The research observed goes on to show that the majority of employees still see value in the clarity of a formal annual appraisal in designing their career aspirations.

The way forward seems to be clear – have a formal review but don’t wait for then to iron out issues that have already become habit by integrating continuous development into everyday life through a ISO 9001 Quality Management System.

Interested in finding out more about conducting appraisals within the ISO 9001 Standard?

Sources: HR Magazine, PwC, CIPD, The Independent

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