5 steps to performance reviews employees love

Kelsie Scully, Digital Marketing Assistant at breatheHR, shares her insights on how her company is creating an open and supportive work culture through performance reviews.

As I walked into the meeting room and the glass, frosted door closed behind me, there was a small tinge of dread. It was my first quarterly performance review at my new job, and because of the stigma around performance reviews, a part of me was waiting to be torn apart bit by bit.

But here’s the thing, my new job is with no ordinary company. I work for breatheHR, a company run by HR experts who pride themselves on providing HR software that boosts employee performance—among a host of other neat features. If ever there was a company that talks the talk and walks the walk, it is breatheHR.

So despite being a tad nervous, I went into that meeting knowing where I stood and was honestly pretty proud of what I had accomplished—and even better—I walked out of the performance review pumped and ready to tackle a host of new objectives. 

From talking with my colleagues and experiencing the work culture at breatheHR first hand, I think my employers are really doing things right. I also think performance reviews are big part of how my company has created such a motivated and open work climate.

From an employee’s perspective, I’ve outlined the 5 major steps that my manager follows for effective quarterly performance reviews at my company. It is important to note that the performance review process needs to start well before the actual meeting takes place with a clear procedure in place. By implementing a similar process, I am positive you can boost engagement and have performance reviews that your employees will love:​

1. Be upfront about expectations

From the moment I was hired, I have always known what is expected of me. As part of my induction, my manager discussed my first quarterly objectives with me and explained how performance reviews were conducted. Once we agreed on my 4-5 objectives, she entered them into the performance hub on breatheHR with a description of the tasks so that I could access the information at my discretion. Being able to see my objectives at the touch of a button has kept me focused on what is important.

2.  Track performance

At the end of every Monday morning meeting, everyone in my company shares their goal for the week and shares if they were able to finish their goal for the previous week. We call our weekly goals deliverables, and use the breatheHR performance hub to link our deliverables to objectives—which are set during our performance reviews. I love that my deliverables are accessible online and that I get to press a button to complete my deliverable—call me cheesy, but it is such a feel-good moment to reach my goal. When it comes time for a performance review, this feature also comes in handy for both my manager and I because we can look back on what I have accomplished.

3. Get employees perspective

When I walked into my first performance review, my manger asked how things were going. Starting off the meeting with my input put me at ease. It also gave me an opportunity to discuss where I thought I was struggling and share the opportunities that I wanted to pursue for the next quarter. Asking for my opinion made me feel really valued and I got excited when some of my ideas became objectives for the next quarter.

4. Give specific feedback—tactically

My manager focused the meeting on my objectives and reviewing what I had done over the prior weeks. Though I’m sure this part of the performance review can be touchy subject, my manager made sure to start off on a high by complimenting the things I had done really well. This process felt like a discussion to me rather than the stereotypical performance review lecture. We spent the time brainstorming ideas and talked about how some of my projects could be improved.

5. Set future expectations and keep a record of the performance review

After having an open, and honest discussion with my manager, she altered and extended one of my objectives for the next quarter and added new objectives with my input. She then typed up a quick summary of the performance review for future reference and set a date for the next performance review in the breatheHR system so that I could easily access the information.

For more information visit www.breatheHR.com.

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