1: Everyone hates them.
That’s a generalization and not true. I agree that a lot of managers – maybe even “most” – dislike this task when it’s “that time of the year again”. However in my opinion that is mostly because a) the review system their company uses is a nuisance and b) they were never taught how to do a review properly and how much easier, pleasant, productive and less time consuming it is when you meet with your employees regularly instead of just once a year.
I don’t think “all employees” hate them, either. Especially if they have managers who never give them feedback throughout the year. I think many employees will be happy to receive feedback at least once a year.

2: They overemphasize the quantifiable/qualities don’t fit into little check boxes.
I agree, most of them do. There’s change in progress, though. A good review system is transparant to all parties involved – employee, manager and HR. It is specific enough for all parties to interpret it in the same way and on top of that it leaves enough room for additions/extra comments – anything that *doesn’t* put an individual in a (check-) box.

3: If you don’t give your employees regular, specific, timely, and relevant feedback (good and bad), you should not be a manager at all.
Agree. And in my opinion a good performance review system/application should *support* the regular dialogue between manager and employee. Neither should replace the other. I believe it’s good idea to have an annual written record of “what I already knew throughout the year”. Especially in a work environment where your managers might keep changing and valuable information on achievements, talents, qualitites and skills might get lost if they’re not documented.

So, no, don’t stop formal performance reviews. Just distribute the “weight” of them by making sure the employee knows at all times during the year how their performance and behavior is being perceived, so they can own it and adjust it whenever necessary and don’t get surprised when the formal review comes.

Maybe that’s it – just do whatever it takes so the outcome of the annual review is never a surprise to the employee, but an “agreement”.

Anja

What bothers me is that I think you know all too well that it’s in bad form to propose the existence of a problem without articulating a solution. Even in the older post you linked to, the “solution” is incomplete and left me feeling it I had no idea how to solve this problem you propose. Performance reviews have a lot of positive uses if done right, and I don’t hear you making many constructive insights into how to truly replace them.

What I’m really trying to say is that I’d much appreciate some helpful suggestions on exactly how to fully replace performance reviews without losing most of the benefits they offer.