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Considered by many a waste of time or a last-century practice, performance reviews have a less-than-great reputation. That’s because if not performed properly, they may get employees stuck in the past instead of improving their performance moving forward.

However, organizations can’t afford to remove performance reviews altogether, not with the current performance and engagement levels. As of July 2024, employee engagement in Asia Pacific stands at just 72%, placing the region in the bottom 46% globally. While the current numbers are below expectations, there’s significant potential for improvement with the right strategies in place.

Perhaps the problem with this HR practice is the approach, and the solution is a performance review for engagement with a future-focused approach. Keep reading as we walk you through the purpose, benefits, and impacts of such performance reviews and how you can properly implement a performance review for engagement.

What is the purpose of a performance review?

A performance review for engagement aims to keep employees engaged, encourage them to grow, and serve as a means to communicate the company’s goals to them. To illustrate, a performance review should help you evaluate your employee’s strengths and weaknesses, set ambitious but achievable goals, track their progress, and offer constructive feedback.

Why are performance reviews important?

Performance reviews are important because they keep your employee engagement and performance levels high and facilitate reaching your business’s performance goals. They also provide a platform for employees to give feedback and communicate their career goals, making performance reviews mutually beneficial.

Impact of Performance Review for Engagement

Understanding how your company will change when you conduct a performance review for engagement enables you to make informed business decisions and determine how well the practice is working. So, here are its effects:

Clear expectations

In a performance review, you set clear expectations for employees to meet by their next performance review or within a specified timeframe in relation to their job scope. This helps employees across the organization focus their efforts on the right goals, increasing the likelihood of achieving them.

Recognition and appreciation

With a performance review for engagement, you provide managers with the opportunity to highlight your employees’ strengths, improvements, and accomplishments. Also, they can share feedback about them from other managers or peers.

Such gestures can make employees feel productive, valued, and engaged and give them insights as to what to do more of. Not to mention, appreciation strengthens manager-employee bonds.

Development opportunities

The feedback shared in a performance review for engagement makes for a great growth opportunity. By identifying points of weakness and framing them as areas with growth potential, you promote a growth mindset. Managers can then empower employees to develop their skills and grow with the necessary resources and courses, which makes them more engaged and invested in your company.

Open communication

During employee reviews, you can communicate your expectations with each of your employees and explain a given project’s timeline and process. It’s also crucial to note that these reviews promote two-way communication, as they enable employees to discuss obstacles that they’re facing, share their achievements, and ask for guidance.

As a result, you can connect with your employees and keep them engaged. You can also be proactive about any concerns that they have, which maintains high employee satisfaction levels.

Learn more: Create an Impact with These Tips for 1-on-1 Meetings

Fairness and transparency

When you conduct an employee performance review for engagement, you should rely on standardized evaluation criteria across the organization.

For instance, you look at current performance, accomplishments compared to the role’s expectations, employee self-evaluations, and observations from managerial discussions with employees.

Additionally, you can track these using predetermined key performance metrics (KPIs). And you’d administer bonuses and implement penalties fairly with the insights you gain from such reviews. With that, you can assess and treat employees on an equal basis, and they can trust in the fairness of the review process.

As for transparency, establish clear communication channels when you conduct performance reviews. This gives employees honest feedback, which breeds trust.

Tips on Implementing Performance Review for Engagement

Conducting an effective performance review for engagement requires more consideration and care. Here are some tips on how you can accomplish just that and reap the most out of your review cycle:

1. Make reviews a collaborative process

Collaborate with employees when creating your performance review for engagement. Practice active listening, and pay attention to your employees’ concerns, goals, and opinions.

Before ending a performance review, open up the floor with questions like, “Are there any questions, comments, or concerns that you’d like to bring up about the review? Is there anything I can do to better support you?”

With a collaborative process, employees will look forward to these reviews as they have a safe space to open up and take ownership of their career development, boosting engagement and promoting trust.

2. Focus on employee’s development and growth

Although an employee’s development is pivotal for company success, more often than not, it doesn’t get the attention it needs.

In a study by INTOO, 44% of 1,600 full-time workers revealed that “their employer does not value their career development,” and 54% felt that they were “on their own at their organization when it comes to their career development.”

How can you drive employee development and growth during performance reviews for engagement? Your feedback should guide skill development and improve performance. Managers should actively track each team member’s career progress, offering the support and resources needed for continued growth.

Collaborate with employees on setting goals, creating a development plan, adjusting existing performance targets, and identifying and solving problems. Provide them with direction, structure, and accountability to support their career path, and follow up with continuous employee development programs.

3. Recognize and reward employee’s performance

A performance review for engagement should highlight both strengths and areas for improvement. This includes recognizing employees' efforts, achievements, and growth while also rewarding them with merit increases, promotions, or other incentives to acknowledge their contributions and drive continued development.

These strategies not only enhance engagement and satisfaction but also provide clear direction on what employees should continue doing while fostering a constructive environment for receiving feedback.

For example, you might say, "You've been a valuable contributor during brainstorming sessions for the Stratford project, and many of your ideas were approved. Great job!"

4. Make reviews more meaningful

You’re probably wondering why are performance reviews important and how you can make them more meaningful.

One way that helps is to provide context for your feedback using current and past performance examples. This gives your reviews more weight, making your employees more likely to understand the specific actions that they’ve done right or should do differently.

Alternatively, you could show how each employee's targets align with the organization's overall goals. Remember that it’s your responsibility to help them see the full picture and how they fit in. This way, they can feel that their work is meaningful and valuable to your company.

5. Use HR tools to enhance engagement

Performance review and tracking software can be invaluable HR tools for performance review for engagement. These systems streamline the review process, making it more efficient for both you and your employees.

Continuous performance tracking software enables you to monitor employee progress and satisfaction in real time, providing the right tools to stay on top of performance.

Even better, comprehensive performance management employee engagement softwares often include additional features like goal-setting and continuous feedback, helping standardize and optimize the review process. This makes evaluations not only more efficient but also more engaging for employees.

6. Provide ongoing feedback

If businesses rely on a yearly or semi-annual performance review, issues with an employee’s productivity, work output, or overall work ethic can persist and potentially worsen until they’re finally addressed in the performance review.

This is why many organizations are shifting toward continuous, real-time feedback instead. For example, Adobe has replaced the traditional annual performance reviews with what they call “check-ins.” These regular, two-way conversations allow employees and managers to discuss performance and career growth and exchange real-time feedback, focusing on what’s working well, areas for improvement, and the next steps to drive business impact and employee development.

Inspired by this model, you might consider establishing your own cadence of check-ins and reserve more formal performance reviews for engagement on a quarterly basis.

To further streamline this process, use performance management software to facilitate ongoing feedback. This approach will help foster a culture of continuous improvement, ensuring optimal employee engagement and performance year-round.

Building an Engaged Workforce Through Performance Reviews

performance management employee engagement

Performance reviews shouldn’t be daunting; when done correctly, they can be a powerful tool for boosting employee engagement. By conducting performance reviews for engagement, you provide valuable learning opportunities that align individual progress with business goals. By employing a well-structured framework and effective review strategies, employees are empowered to reach their full potential, fostering both personal and professional growth. With the right approach, performance reviews for engagement purposes can transform into a catalyst for increased satisfaction, driving motivation and long-term success for both employees and the organization.

Omni’s customizable performance review feature allows managers to design performance review templates to apply to various employee performance assessments, track employee submissions, and derive critical insights to drive business decisions all on one centralized platform. Pre-set performance review templates further guide teams on how to write a performance review.

Our automated system helps managers schedule reviews, track submissions, and send reminders to ensure a complete review cycle without the administrative burden.

For more resources on creating performance reviews for engagement purposes, download our free performance review kit!

Join the 83% of Omni customers who have unlocked new, actionable insights after using our performance management module, and start your free trial today!

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