Just over two-thirds of employees do not believe that the performance ratings they receive accurately and objectively reflect their performance, according to a survey by Accenture Strategy. Three-quarters of organisations believe changes are needed to the performance management process, yet only 34% have managed to move away from a traditional approach based on annual reviews and ratings.
Almost 60% of employees feel that the use of performance ratings creates a negative experience for everyone except the few at the top. Participants also expressed a widespread desire for transparency in the process.
From December 2015 to January 2016 Accenture Strategy surveyed 1,050 ‘leaders’ and 1,050 employees from 12 industries, in 11 countries covering: Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America, and North America. The aim of the survey was:
'To understand how performance management needs to be refined and updated to better support next-generation work practices, as organisations transform into digital, collaborative, networked businesses that need to attract and retain a new generation of workers’.
The survey’s authors – Deborah Brecher, Johan Eerenstein, Catherine Farley and Tim Good – recommend that employers do more to make the process transparent and to personalise it across the workforce.
‘Organisations need to radically rethink the very definition of high performance by taking into account collaborative work, the ability to quickly learn new skills, as well as cultural criteria they want to encourage.’