A performance review, or appraisal, is when a manager assesses your work and talks it through with you.
Many employers are moving from one big annual appraisal to more regular conversations. Research suggests that what helps most is feedback about the work itself, goals that suit the task, and a review people feel is fair and useful.
AI-generated image, not a photograph of a real person or place.
1/3+ of feedback efforts backfired
Talk about the task
Fit goals to the job
Check in afterwards
What the evidence suggests
THE SHORT ANSWER
Regular talks, about the work.
Three findings from UK and international research on appraisals and feedback.
THE TREND
Less annual, more often
The CIPD reports a shift away from annual appraisals towards ongoing, flexible reviews, and says the main focus should be regular performance discussions.
A major meta-analysis found feedback helped on average, but over a third of feedback efforts lowered performance. It worked less well as attention moved from the task to the self.
CIPD's evidence review found employees' reactions especially influential: whether they feel the judgements are fair and useful. It recommends checking in after any performance conversation.
Pick a frequency to see how many UK organisations held their performance one-to-ones that often, in a survey for Acas. The bar shows how common it was.
From a March 2018 online survey of 1,003 UK HR and general managers, carried out by NatCen Social Research for Acas.
TWO NUMBERS WORTH KNOWING
Feedback helps, but not always.
One finding from a classic meta-analysis, one from a UK survey of employers.
1/3+
Feedback interventions that lowered performance
Pooling 607 effect sizes and 23,663 observations, the authors found feedback improved performance on average, but over a third of feedback interventions decreased it.
FEEDBACK · KLUGER & DENISI 1996
6%
Respondents who wanted fewer performance meetings
In the survey of 1,003 HR and general managers, 53% said meetings should continue with the same frequency, and only 6% wanted them less often.
UK EMPLOYERS · ACAS 2018
Kluger and DeNisi found feedback became less effective as attention moved up from the task towards the self. The Acas study is an independent research paper, not Acas guidance.
FOUR THINGS TO TRY
Before, during and after.
Whether you give reviews or receive them, these habits follow what the research and the UK studies suggest.
Keep notes through the year
Workshop participants in the Acas study suggested filing records of achievements as they happen, so they can feed straight into the review.
Keep feedback on the task
Feedback works less well when attention shifts from the work to the person. Ask, or say, what to do differently next time.
Ask what the review is for
CIPD recommends separating development conversations from those used to decide pay and promotion, as they work differently.
Check in afterwards
Because reactions matter so much, CIPD recommends that employers check in with employees after any performance conversation.
AI-generated image, not a photograph of a real person or place.
ABOUT GOALS
Hard goals suit simple tasks.
AI-generated image, not a photograph of a real person or place.
CIPD's review of the research found that specific, challenging goals work well for relatively straightforward tasks, but not for complex ones that involve interrelated steps, unfamiliar cues or learning new skills. Feedback is crucial for goal setting to work at all.
Some popular ideas are less well supported. CIPD notes that involving employees in setting their own targets is not backed by research, while a strengths-based approach, building on what has worked well, is one change it views positively.
Questions
Questions people ask
What is a performance review?
CIPD describes performance reviews, also called appraisals, as the process by which managers assess workers' performance and discuss it with them. They can also be a chance for learning and improvement.
Are annual appraisals being scrapped?
Some employers have reduced or scrapped them in favour of regular conversations, CIPD says. In a 2018 survey for Acas, 33% of organisations still held performance one-to-ones annually and 32% twice a year.
Does feedback always improve performance?
No. A 1996 meta-analysis found feedback improved performance on average but that over a third of feedback interventions decreased it, with effects weaker when attention moved from the task to the self.
Should pay be discussed in the same meeting?
CIPD's evidence review found ratings in developmental appraisals tend to be stricter and based on more examples than in appraisals used for pay and promotion, and recommends keeping the two kinds of conversation separate.
Is there a written policy I can see?
Often. In the Acas survey 65% of organisations had a written statement of what their system is for; 62% of those made it available to all employees and 21% on request. Ask HR.
