It is important to remember that from a performance and motivation point of view, most people desire to do a good job, and take pride in making a positive contribution. They also want the acknowledgement of those things that they are doing well, and guidance in areas where they can be better. Unfortunately, companies all too often neglect or postpone performance appraisals to offer this kind of feedback, especially when layoffs, salary decreases or furloughs are happening.
Some employees report that during these tough times, if they did get a review, they may have received flat, mediocre or downgraded reviews from their organizations to justify lack of raises due to financial constraints or salary freezes. And because performance reviews and raises have been so closely intertwined, managers did not know how to otherwise address the good and excellent performers when there was no money in the pot to reward them.
Some managers even admitted and apologized to the employee that while they thought that he or she was doing a good job, they could not acknowledge this on the company’s performance review document.
Valuable employees have been furious to have their efforts and accomplishments unfairly minimized or dismissed, especially on their official personnel record. Feeling manipulated and frustrated, these talented employees have either started low-level job searches for when opportunities open up, or have downshifted their discretionary effort in a time when their organizations need their full engagement and impact more than ever.
Performance feedback has historically been a source of discomfort anyway for many managers and supervisors, regardless of the state of the business or the economy. For some, it is uncomfortable because they have felt “forced” into the process by their employer, oftentimes without adequate training and support about how to give objective, balanced feedback.
For others who lack the interpersonal skills, giving feedback is downright painful regardless of whether they have been trained for it or not. So they avoid or procrastinate.
In addition, over the years performance appraisals and raises have become skewed. As politics entered into the equation, some bosses would “massage” the reviews in favor of employees they liked best or wanted to help to get ahead. This created a skepticism about the whole appraisal process, particularly for those who were good performers, but not on the favorites list.
As the economy has had its up and downs, performance appraisals were either shelved or postponed to adapt to the changes in business climate, rather than utilized as a necessary business and career development tool that it is intended to be.
Companies have been too slow in recognizing that, while very important, money is not the only factor that motivates people to stay and to do a good job. Employee surveys continue to provide evidence that meaningful work, challenge, diversity of projects and tasks, opportunities for collaboration and being appreciated are all high motivators as well.
While performance reviews and raises are related, they should be kept as separate issues, so that despite economic conditions, employees can have the important feedback that they want and need to stay motivated and to do their best possible job. Feedback, and feeling valued and appreciated despite organizational challenges, can be the “fuel” that keeps people going during tough times.
