Only 8% of employees think that their company's performance management system works. Why?
Many employers still leverage stilted, periodic feedback processes. There's a distinct lack of transparency in this process. Sometimes, employees have no idea they are doing anything wrong until they get fired or put on probation.
This impacts employee feedback, slows real-time recognition, and impacts productivity. It also reduces employee morale, too.
That's why we've assembled a guide to why real-time recognition is the future of workplace feedback. Let's get started!
1. Periodic feedback is archaic
Many employees don't stay in jobs long-term anymore. Even in great workplaces, most people don't stay in a job for thirty years. Instead, the workplace is fluid and agile.
That's one reason why annual performance reviews don't work. A year is too long to wait. In fact, many people don't stay at a job for longer than a year.
This denies employees the chance to improve, iterate on their performance, and adapt their approach to work. It's also not an effective way to work.
If an employee's process, behavior, or attitude needs to change, why wait an entire year? That's a waste of time and energy.
Periodic feedback also builds distrust between employees and employers. Think of it this way. Many employees live paycheck-to-paycheck. Losing their job could ruin them financially. They could lose their car, their home, and more.
Why feedback matters
Negative feedback feels like a threat to their entire life. Everything could come crashing around them. The solution isn't to avoid negative feedback. It's to give transparent feedback in real-time.
Employees should always know where they stand. They shouldn't constantly review their performance mentally, searching for issues that may not even exist.
Periodic feedback impacts employee performance. Remember when your boss puts a meeting on your calendar without an explanation? Or sends the infamous 'we need to talk' Microsoft Teams message?
Those actions spark serious anxiety for many people. Since their entire lives are dependent upon consistent employment, it sparks a fight or flight response. Living in this state of extreme stress is not conducive to high-quality work.
2. Invest in your employees
Unless an employee does something truly heinous, like an HR violation or stealing company money, there's no reason to build up to a yearly disciplinary session that could feel like a personal attack.
Instead, invest in who they are as people. As employees, they have a vision for their career, what they want to learn, the projects they want to be on, and who they want to collaborate with.
The goal is to democratize the feedback process. Top-down communication can often come off as one-sided and biased. Instead, invite employees to participate in the feedback process with you.
For starters, real-time feedback makes the process more accurate. Are you really tracking every project or contribution? The work an employee did ten months ago might get swept under the rug, even though it was the highlight of their career so far.
It also improves the quality of their work. If there's something they should stop doing (or continue doing!) telling them about it is crucial. Bringing up an attitude issue from eleven months ago does no one any favors.
Real-time feedback also encourages a conversational approach. It's an opportunity for employees and managers to chat about issues and resolve them.
3. Revolutionize your company culture
It's been said that people don't leave jobs. Instead, they leave poor managers and toxic company cultures.
Real-time recognition helps transform these issues. People need to feel like they can trust their managers. If people feel like they aren't being recognized and respected, they will leave.
Real-time recognition will improve employee morale because it empowers managers to praise publicly and criticize privately. This builds a culture of trust.
One issue with periodic feedback is that it often leverages 'anonymous' feedback. This presents an issue because it's often easy to tell who is who.
Who threw you under the bus and stopped you from getting a perfect feedback score? Who is blaming you for something that's really your fault?
Sometimes, it's all too easy to see between the lines of periodic, 'anonymous' feedback forms. This breeds a culture of misunderstandings and distrust.
4. Improve employee morale
There are lots of benefits associated with employee recognition. The best real-time recognition feedback software will allow you to leverage positive reinforcement across all teams.
Want to celebrate a quick win? Give an employee a shoutout through your recognition feedback tools. Want to share a success story? Go for it!
People love to be recognized for the hard work they do. While financial compensation is crucial, social recognition is also a powerful form of reinforcement.
5. Develop self-awareness
Most people want to bring their best selves to work. They want to hit OKRs, carry the team to victory, and succeed at work and at home.
Sometimes, though, people need a little nudge in the right direction. Free-flowing recognition and feedback can help employees self-identify their own strengths and weaknesses.
Improving self-awareness about different skillsets and behaviors helps drive change. It also serves as a valuable investment in your employees.
Employees are more than just the work product they bring to the table. Instead, they are multi-faceted human beings. Investing in their character, life story, and personalities is one of the most rewarding parts of having employees in the first place.
Embrace real-time recognition
When you embrace the power of real-time recognition feedback, it can transform your workplace. You can build a culture of transparency, trust, and change.
With the right tools, you can empower employees through regular positive feedback, coaching that builds self-awareness, and so much more. The right tools will also save you a lot of work on the administrative end, too.
That's why we offer the right performance management tools for you. Contact us today so that we can help you on your growth journey!
