Comments on: Annual Reviews Are A Waste

By: The Katana: A Week Long Celebration of Love | Financial Samurai

The Katana: A Week Long Celebration of Love | Financial Samurai — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 03:46:23 +0000

[...] “Annual Reviews Are A Waste” says Lean. I say it’s a necessary evil for legal reasons. What say [...]

By: The LeanLifeCoach

The LeanLifeCoach — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 12:31:37 +0000

@FS – A preview could work just as well! In fact, if there is a performance issue, a preview could be even more effective at supporting why an employee needs to be canned!

By: Financial Samurai

Financial Samurai — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 03:36:41 +0000

Lean – Isn’t the annual review more of a necessary evil for the HR department? They need physical documentation so they can fire or promote the individual. It’s all about the law and not getting sued.
.-= Financial Samurai´s last blog ..The Most Important Tip For Job Hoppers: Join People, Not Firms =-.

By: The LeanLifeCoach

The LeanLifeCoach — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 15:34:12 +0000

@Ryan – again, if management is engaged with associates and there is always clarity on how well expectations are being met, wouldn’t that preclude the need for a review?

I’ve been on both sides. If you have more than one employee its an easy answer, managers dread it more!

By: Ryan @ Planting Dollars

Ryan @ Planting Dollars — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 11:27:40 +0000

I have dodged the annual review bullet thus far in my life and hope to continue to do so…

I agree with David that you should be working close enough and communicating so it really isn’t shocking to anyone. If anything it could be built up through taking a few months each month by the manager so they don’t have to rehash the whole year off the top of their head.

I like your idea of a preview as well… if I had one at the previous job I was at I might’ve stayed. Setting measurable goals is really powerful and a preview would harness that power.

Who do you think dreads the reviews more… the employees or the managers?
.-= Ryan @ Planting Dollars´s last blog ..The Part Time Job Search =-.

By: The LeanLifeCoach

The LeanLifeCoach — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 05:12:54 +0000

@Daniel – Informal maybe, but documented for sure. Routine oversight is managements role isn’t it?
@David – “the annual review should be superfluous” – Agreed but if it is, doesn’t that mean its really a waste of time? All your points are added proof of my beliefs.
@Tracy – Sounds like you have a great plan at work… again if all is “previewed” then is the annual review really necessary?
@Matt – I guess if you have to go through the review process…
@FinEngr – What prompted this post was a visit to a customer. He had a book on his desk titled something like “1200 perfect phrases for employee reviews.” Kinda undermines the whole thing, don’t you think?

By: FinEngr

FinEngr — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 04:40:31 +0000

@ Matt. HA! That’s great – effective management through no management. So you probably got a 30% raise that year?
.-= FinEngr´s last blog ..What’s Wrong With “Green” =-.

By: FinEngr

FinEngr — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 04:38:41 +0000

LLC – Time… We actually have a “game” at work were we calculate the translated $$$ from meetings. One day, we had something starting at 1:00, didn’t get going until 1:30, and because so many people were in attendance – that short delay was easily thousands down the drain.

Another problem is relevance. Hand-crafting unique characteristics is hard with cookie-cutter templates. Being early on in my career, lots of N/As down the line I have to come up with “creative” answers to.

By: Matt SF

Matt SF — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 18:12:22 +0000

I completely agree... total waste of time. In my last job, my boss asked me to write my own review and just signed off on it. .-= Matt SF´s last blog ..If You Have a Blog, You've Got Leverage! =-.

By: Tracy

Tracy — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:03:31 +0000

We just put in a system at work called performance impact. It actually requires us to do a meeting to discuss expectations for the next six months. It also allows us (and my boss expects this) to put log individual events for our employees. I try to log something for the guys that work for me biweekly. Then at the end of the year, the review writes itself. Takes about an hour and is in a boiler plate format, filled with pertinent moments for the last year. At my job good evaluations don't mean bonus pay, but they go a long way towards promotion and specialty assignments. .-= Tracy´s last blog ..Money Saving Tips That Happen To Be Green =-.