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Deloitte dumps Performance Reviews (1 Viewer)

enoilgam

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http://www.afr.com/business/accounting/afr23accdeloitte-20150728-ghq5wu

Thoughts?

Personally, I think this is a huge step in the right direction, but Im surprised to see Deloitte leading the way considering the Big 4 usually have quite elaborate and ingrained performance management cultures. Ive always thought the anti-PM view was perceived as being quite out there and very new age thinking within HR.

I pretty much agree with everything in the article from a strategic standpoint, Ive always believed that PM is a huge waste of time and money besides being a culture killer. Managers and HR support spends excessive time preparing for it and staff spend excessive energy worrying about it. Besides, in a lot of businesses, there is usually a spike in turnover around that PM season. Managing performance to me is an everyday aspect of a managers role - they should be providing regular feedback to staff. I think when staff have a better idea of where they stand it reduces anxiety and fear, which is a driving influence on satisfaction, engagement and ultimately turnover.

Beyond that I also think it's much better from a risk management standpoint. So many managers use PM to raise issues with staff which should be raised over the course of the year. Some organisations forbid managers from introducing new issues into PM sessions, but quite a few dont. It creates a problem when PM is relied upon for reviewing remuneration, because employees often turn around and claim "if I was told earlier, I would have corrected the behaviour" and that can cause all sorts of nasty IR problems.
 

Schmeag

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Sounds good and well-intentioned. I'm not anywhere close to literate regarding management, but isn't this still a performance management system? Is this move considered revolutionary in the management world? What would be the alternative to performance management (or anti-PM)?
 

enoilgam

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Sounds good and well-intentioned. I'm not anywhere close to literate regarding management, but isn't this still a performance management system? Is this move considered revolutionary in the management world? What would be the alternative to performance management (or anti-PM)?
It's a question of semantics, but yes it is. Performance management is sometimes used interchangeably with performance reviews and appraisals. What Deloitte is doing technically involves removing formal, review sessions and replacing it with an ongoing, rolling process.
 

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This is kinda of implying that a lot of organisations don't have regular one-on-one discussions between employee and manager about how things are going?
 
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enoilgam

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This is kinda of implying that a lot of organisations don't have regular one-on-one discussions between employee and manager about how things are going?
In my very limited experience, a lot either dont or the discussions arent productive. What Deloitte is doing is really great, but many organisations couldn't pull it off because leadership capability isn't high enough. In many business, managers just cant handle an ongoing process which is why they still need clunky, formal reviews.
 

Trebla

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In my very limited experience, a lot either dont or the discussions arent productive. What Deloitte is doing is really great, but many organisations couldn't pull it off because leadership capability isn't high enough. In many business, managers just cant handle an ongoing process which is why they still need clunky, formal reviews.
At my workplace, I get quarterly performance reviews and annual performance reviews (which determines ratings and bonuses) is just a look back on the past quarterly performance reviews.

Managers are required to have regular one-on-one meetings with their staff so I have enough regular contact with my manager for performance feedback on certain tasks. The quarterly performance reviews are then more about looking back overall (in bigger picture terms) on the progress throughout the quarter rather than feedback on specific tasks at the point in time. So in my view, having both regular feedback (which is more informal) and a formally documented performance review (which is handy to determine ratings, bonuses, keeping that memory over a whole year so it isn't lost) works best.
 

enoilgam

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So in my view, having both regular feedback (which is more informal) and a formally documented performance review (which is handy to determine ratings, bonuses, keeping that memory over a whole year so it isn't lost) works best.
Regular feedback should be documented anyway. Ratings are a 50/50 one - I cringe at the notion of rating people with numbers, but from an IR standpoint it is necessary. I guess Im pretty new age with the way I think.
 

Trebla

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Regular feedback should be documented anyway. Ratings are a 50/50 one - I cringe at the notion of rating people with numbers, but from an IR standpoint it is necessary. I guess Im pretty new age with the way I think.
Not sure if managers are too keen to document their feedback so frequently though. Unless there are serious performance issues, I think just giving it verbally is enough. I kinda agree that the notion of rating employees is a bit cringeworthy, especially when you reveal it to them, but it is necessary to determine who gets the bonus pool, promotion or pay rise.
 

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At my workplace, I get quarterly performance reviews and annual performance reviews (which determines ratings and bonuses) is just a look back on the past quarterly performance reviews.

Managers are required to have regular one-on-one meetings with their staff so I have enough regular contact with my manager for performance feedback on certain tasks. The quarterly performance reviews are then more about looking back overall (in bigger picture terms) on the progress throughout the quarter rather than feedback on specific tasks at the point in time. So in my view, having both regular feedback (which is more informal) and a formally documented performance review (which is handy to determine ratings, bonuses, keeping that memory over a whole year so it isn't lost) works best.
This is pretty much the same at my firm, expect we get feedback on every client we take which is basically every few weeks instead of quarterly. I'm sure Deloitte follows a similar process with job appraisals so what they're doing now is something they've already been doing expect the annual ones will be dumped.
 

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As someone who has historically been very involved in the process both from perspective of career counsellor and also the moderator for rankings/promotions (in my office we moved to a single independent point of view rather than managers battling it out with each other), I think this sounds like a step in the right hypothetical direction. That being said, I don't know if abolishing the annual performance reviews altogether is necessarily the right answer (or what they'll even end up doing) - you still need to have some sort of 'period' to align with your annual increases/changes/promotions/etc., but I do support the notion that the whole annual process should be ongoing rather than waiting for period end to summarise one's feedback/performance. I know in my office we also moved towards the regular quarterly catch ups and put more focus here, and removing the time needed to complete the paperwork for feedback and annual performance reviews, etc...but what's the right model? Hard to say. There is no one size fits all.
 

seremify007

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Not sure if managers are too keen to document their feedback so frequently though. Unless there are serious performance issues, I think just giving it verbally is enough. I kinda agree that the notion of rating employees is a bit cringeworthy, especially when you reveal it to them, but it is necessary to determine who gets the bonus pool, promotion or pay rise.
No documentation = no evidence. Especially in industries with high turnover.
 

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