Performance Review System

A performance review system is usually built around an annual cycle, and the cycle itself is the problem.

Twelve months is long enough for a small correctable habit to become an entrenched one. It is long enough for the person to have no idea anything was wrong. And it means the conversation carries a year of accumulated observations at once, which is why these meetings go badly.

The alternative is not more reviews. It is short, regular check-ins during the year, where a concern is raised in the week it happens, and a lighter periodic review that summarises rather than reveals.

A useful test is whether anything in a review is a surprise to the employee. If it is, the cadence is wrong regardless of how good the system is.

The Fair Work Commission considers whether concerns were raised at the time. This is general information rather than legal advice, and obligations vary by state and territory.

See Sentrient’s performance review software and performance management system.