Performance Review Peril: Adobe Study Shows Office Workers Waste Time and Tears
January 11 2017 - 9:56AM
Business Wire
Adobe open sources “Check-in,” an approach for companies
seeking a change in managing employee performance saving more than
100,000 Adobe manager hours per year
Most U.S. office workers participate in annual traditional
performance reviews, but a large majority call the process
outdated, time-consuming and stressful. “Performance Reviews Get a
Failing Grade,” a survey of 1,500 U.S. office workers issued today
by Adobe (Nasdaq:ADBE), details how traditional performance reviews
are considered unproductive and irrelevant by employees and their
managers who go through them.
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Eighty-eight percent of U.S. office workers surveyed report
going through structured performance reviews, which include written
reviews, often with rankings and ratings, on a mandated frequency.
Many respondents say these reviews drive competition among
coworkers, increase personal stress, and result in dramatic
reactions such as crying and quitting.
“The findings from this survey show how time consuming,
cumbersome and demotivating performance reviews are for many
employees,” said Donna Morris, executive vice president of Customer
& Employee Experience at Adobe. “That was our experience at
Adobe as well, prior to 2012. We abolished the review process and
instead focused on ensuring employees and managers set priorities,
gave and received feedback and charted career growth on an ongoing
basis. The results have been higher engagement, improved retention
and stronger company performance.”
One of the first companies to eliminate the formal annual
performance review, Adobe introduced the “Check-in” in 2012.
Through this new approach, workers and managers have regular,
informal conversations to set clear expectations, give frequent
feedback, and talk about career growth. Adobe is open sourcing its
tools and materials, along with sharing key tips for making the
shift away from the annual review, as part of a new website
launched today.
Key Survey Findings
According to U.S. office workers whose current companies have
structured performance reviews:
Traditional reviews are a waste of time, especially for
managers
- Office workers and managers consider
performance reviews an unproductive use of their time.
- On average, managers spend 17 hours per
employee preparing for a performance review.
- Close to two-thirds of office workers
(64 percent) and managers (62 percent) agree that performance
reviews are outdated ways of managing performance.
- More than half of office workers feel
that performance reviews have no impact on how they do their job
(59 percent) and are a needless HR requirement (58 percent).
Performance reviews cause stress
Structured performance reviews can elicit dramatic reactions, as
rankings and ratings create competition and breed stress.
- More than half of office workers agree
that performance reviews put them in competition with one another
(57 percent), and their manager plays favorites (61 percent).
- Close to two-thirds of Millennials (61
percent) would switch jobs to a company with no formal performance
reviews even if pay and job level were the same.
- One in three Millennials has cried
after a performance review (34 percent), 47 percent have looked for
another job and 30 percent say they’ve quit outright.
- Men report especially strong reactions.
One in four men has cried after a performance review (25 percent
men vs. 18 percent women). Men are also more likely to have looked
for another job (43 percent men vs. 31 percent women) or quit (28
percent men vs. 11 percent women).
Workers want a change
Workers are looking for a collaborative process with regular and
qualitative feedback.
- A vast majority (80 percent) of office
workers wants feedback in the moment rather than delivering
aggregated feedback after a period of months.
- More than half (55 percent) of office
workers and 66 percent of managers wish that their companies would
get rid of or change the current performance review process.
- Office workers believe companies that
have abolished traditional reviews are more likely to be flexible
(46 percent), have happier employees (44 percent) and have a
collaborative culture (38 percent).
Adobe open sources its “Check-in” approach to
performance
Adobe made a dramatic move in 2012 to eliminate its annual
performance review, which had included employee ratings, rankings
and a rigid process for writing and submitting performance reviews.
In the first year, the company estimated it saved 80,000 manager
hours, the equivalent of 40 full-time employees, required by the
previous process. With headcount growth since then, the company
estimates it now saves more than 100,000 manager hours per
year.
Since the change, Adobe has demonstrated higher employee
engagement and retention and stronger performance management
through a model it branded the “Check-in.” This process focuses on
two-way dialogue between manager and employee on an ongoing basis
rather than heavy process and formal rankings.
“We love talking to other companies who are considering a move
away from structured performance reviews, and many have adopted
some form of Check-in already,” said Morris. “Now we want to make
it easier to share our experience with people who are exploring a
model like this – whether they’re in technology or a totally
different industry. We thought we would apply the software
open-sourcing concept to our own HR practices by sharing what we’ve
developed.”
Adobe’s open source website includes the company’s Check-in
toolkits and resources such as Adobe’s discussion guides and
worksheets for managers and employees, which companies can draw
from in order to implement similar programs of their own. The
website also offers best practices and detailed FAQs about
Check-in, as well as links to external case studies that provide a
framework for launching a process similar to Check-in.
About the “Performance Reviews Get a Failing Grade”
Report:
The “Performance Reviews Get a Failing Grade” study findings
came from an online survey of 1,500 U.S. office workers who have
been through at least one performance review. Research was
conducted from November 28 to December 2, 2016. The research was
commissioned by Adobe and produced by Golin. The margin of error
for the sample is +/- 2.5%.
For more information and graphics on the research results, see
the blog, infographic and full report.
About Adobe
Adobe is changing the world through digital experiences. For
more information, visit www.adobe.com.
© 2017 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved. Adobe
and the Adobe logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks
of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other
countries. All other trademarks are the property of their
respective owners.
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AdobeColleen Rodriguez, 408-536-6803corodrig@adobe.com
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