If there's one thing employees could change about performance reviews...

It's the time of the year when you can get your holiday wish lists out - and if there's one thing employees could change about performance reviews, it's to make the process shorter (22%).

And they wouldn't mind making them more metric-oriented either (19%), according to a survey of of 200 employees by TINYpulse on opportunities to change performance review processes.

What is the one thing you would change about performance reviews?

1. Shorter - 22%
2. More goals/metrics oriented - 19%
3. Ability to update more frequently with supplemental materials - 17%
4. Less recency bias - 12%
5. More often - 9.5%
6. More tech-savvy, including use of mobiles - 4%

Dreading a performance review remains one of the stereotypical images of life in the workplace, and this survey compiled the top three themes around why employees hate them so much:

1. Too time-consuming: This whole process is supposed to provide feedback that benefits the workforce, helping employees improve and helping managers strengthen their teams. Instead they’re seen as a waste of time, a detriment to the workplace.

2. One-way conversation: Half of the conversation is missing in the current performance reviewprocess. It’s likely that employees don’t even have a chance to speak up until the final meeting when their boss tells them the results of their review.

3. Managers can be biased: It’s a scary prospect — but performance reviews have consequences on an employee's salary, promotion path, and even whether or not they keep their job. But both reviewers and reviewees admit that managers could be evaluating their employees unfairly.

Interestingly, the employees surveyed did not mention abolishing ratings, which companies such as SAP, Accenture, IBM, and Maybank have done in the past couple of years.

Photo / 123RF