Why More Frequent Employee Reviews Matter
Many employers perform employee reviews yearly. This is because it can take a lot of time to evaluate an employee’s performance and then conduct a review with that employee and their supervisor. However, while it may seem time consuming to do these reviews, there are many benefits to performing them more frequently. Many experts recommended doing employee reviews at least once a quarter, if not every other month. There are benefits to both you as the employer and your employee for having more frequently reviews. Here are a few of the reasons why more frequent employee reviews matter.
Helps to Nip Problems in the Bud Quickly
One of the benefits to having more frequent employee reviews is that it helps to identify problems and nip them in the bud faster. When you have employee reviews annually, it can take a year before an employee’s work is checked and looked at in depth. An employee may inadvertently be making mistakes that no one else is catching or may not realize where the mistakes are being made. This can affect your company’s productivity and accuracy. It can also feel unfair to an employee who gets dinged for making the mistake multiple times over the course of a year when they did not even realize they were making a mistake. This can be a huge morale decrease to employees. When more frequently reviews are done, a supervisor is checking the work of the employees more frequently, which may help to catch some of these overlooked issues. This also gives the employee the opportunity to catch and change these issues before they become a habit that is much harder to change.
Helps to Identify Employee Growth
Employees often feel like the positive changes they are making in their work life are overlooked unless it is review time. As such, employees may lack motivation to make positive changes to their work until they know that annual review time with the company is rolling around. They know supervisors are watching more closely then and may pick up on it, whereas it may be something that is overlooked if review time is not near. However, if reviews are more frequent, employees have more motivation to make positive changes, as the employers have a greater opportunity to notice and point out positive employee growth. Positive feedback helps to motivate employees to be more productive, and may encourage upward growth in the company. Positive reinforcement has been shown to be a morale booster to employees, helping to boost their productivity and make employees happier with their employer. This is a positive for both parties, as it prevents you from having to bring in an outsider to train, and it gives employees something positive to strive for and work towards.
Helps Increase Productivity
When reviews are done more frequently, productivity increases. Employees can get in a rut and start to slack off, especially when they don’t feel like they are being watched or evaluated. This can decrease productivity. But when employees are watched, they get their work done and become more productive. Another reason why more frequent reviews matter when it comes to productivity is because employers are better able to find the weak links in the system. It may be an employee, or it may be the work flow. When they are looking at their employees and their tasks more frequently, they can figure out what isn’t working and what needs to change. Those changes can then be implemented and properly evaluated, which in turn, helps to increase productivity.
Helps to Establish a Pattern for Disciplinary Action
Unfortunately, at this time, we live in a litigious society. And whether or not it is warranted, you always run the risk of being sued when you discipline or terminate an employee. When you have more frequent reviews, you are able to establish a pattern with your employees and document this pattern. This can help in a lawsuit should you ever be sued because of disciplinary action against an individual or because you are forced to terminate an individual. Many employers make the mistake of monitoring an individual with performance issues more closely only once they have been identified as a problem. However, the employer may be able to say that you were watching them because you were harassing them or picking on them. Treating all employees fairly with frequent reviews lays this argument to rest, which can help you should this occur to your business.
Decreases the Amount of Time Employers Spend on Employee Reviews
The last benefit to more frequent employee reviews is that employers may spend less time on employee reviews when they are done more frequently. It takes a lot of time for a supervisor to review a years worth of an employees work and employment actions. The employer may have to dig through their file to find out how many times they called in sick in the past year or were late. However, when employees have frequent reviews, a lot of this information is still fresh in the supervisor’s mind. They can remember both positive and negative interactions they have had with the employer and can give a thorough, in-depth review, without having to dig through paperwork or old files. Frequent reviews help to streamline the process and cut back on the amount of time they take.
More frequent employee reviews are beneficial to both you and your employees. And the happier your employees are, the easier it is to retain them, which can help you decrease your training expenses for new employees. However, finding the time to fit these reviews in and managing them can be challenging. Reviewsnap can help with the process. Our employee evaluation software can help you to better track when employees are in need of review, what issues need to be addressed and keep track of their growth from one review to the next. To learn more, schedule a demo today.