Performance management: how bad practice is stifling engagement

Performance Management in the 21st Century explores how a combination of bad management and rigid, outdated practices, such as annual appraisals and performance ratings, are stifling employee engagement and forcing people to quit their jobs.

The paper includes findings from research carried out in 2017 by YouGov on behalf of MHR into two key areas in the performance management process: annual appraisals and bad management. Fifty-four percent of employees described annual appraisals as “pointless” or “time-consuming”, and half labelled the process as “stressful” or “difficult”. While 80% reported experiencing poor management, of which a staggering 55% admitted they left their job as a result. Worryingly, a number of respondents said they had experienced bullying, micro-management, aggressive and threatening behaviour from their managers during recent employment.

Michelle Shelton, Product Planning Director at MHR and author of the whitepaper, says: “While the world of work has evolved at a phenomenal pace over the past decade, in many cases management practice and organisational culture have not. This has led to endemic employee engagement issues. The whitepaper highlights a widespread failure in the way businesses operate, uncovering the need for changes in processes, styles and supporting technology.”

MHR provides solutions to help aid better management and support the future of work, such as new Talent Check-in technology that helps assist with real-time conversations and is a step towards a more fluid performance management process; and the UK's first HR Chatbot, combining AI and bot technology to deliver a personal assistant facility for managers and employees.

Mark Williams, Research Director at MHR says: “In order to stimulate employee engagement, productivity and satisfaction we need to reassess the pessimistic view of AI in the workplace. Rather than perceive it as a threat, we need to consider how human-centred AI provides new ways of working that encourage and promote our best qualities, freeing us from the distractions of mundane tasks to spend more time on meaningful and fulfilling work.