Performance Development Reviews (PDRs) – Why Bother?

Are managers and employees at your business struggling to see the benefits of PDRs? Is there a collective groan when it approaches annual appraisal time? Do you generally feel you aren’t getting much out of them? Are you struggling to find the time to hold them at all? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, it could be time to review your PDR process.

Performance development reviews can bring great benefits, but only when they are done right.

Why are PDRs Important?

PDRs are important because they set aside clear time where employees and managers can sit down to discuss performance and set goals. Providing positive feedback on performance and setting clear goals helps employees feel motivated and engaged because they know their hard work is recognised and they have something to work towards.

On the other hand, PDRs also help you to identify anyone who is underperforming so you can put strategies in place to improve this.

PDRs provide valuable data that can help you to understand how your business is performing as a whole. This allows you to identify skills gaps, pick out top performers for succession planning, and identify areas of development.

Benefits of Effective Performance Reviews

A well designed PDR process can help you to cultivate a high performing workplace culture.

Some of the key benefits are:

• Engaging and motivating your employees leading to increased performance.

• Providing you with valuable data so you can see what is going wrong and what is going right.

• Promoting employee voice by providing an opportunity for two-way feedback.

• Increased job satisfaction resulting in higher productivity and better working relationships.

How Can you Improve your Process?

With 95% of managers surveyed by Culture Amp stating they were dissatisfied with their current PDR process; it is important to refresh your current practices and get everyone on board. Here are some things you can do to improve your process and gain buy in:

• Gain manager buy in: Involve your managers in designing the PDR process and accompanying documents.

• Communicate: Make the process transparent, fair and accurate. Create clear stages for your PDR process and ensure there is regular and transparent communication at every stage.

• Training: Ensure that your Managers and Employees are trained in how to effectively carry out a PDR to ensure it is meaningful and carried out effectively.

• Use appropriate scales: Designing scales that have 4 options rather than 5 or 3 can help prevent central tendency bias (the tendency to select the middle option from a range of choices).

• Goals: Empower your employees by setting SMART goals that are aligned to your business objectives. Aligning individual goals to business goals can increase productivity.

• Ongoing feedback: Don’t leave performance reviews on the shelf to gather dust! Performance reviews should be regularly referenced in 1:1s and progress measured so they have an ongoing purpose.

If you think your performance review process needs a refresh, or you are thinking of introducing one, get in contact with Hallidays HR today for a range of resources and support.

How Hallidays HR can help:

If you would like to discuss any of the above in more detail, then please do not hesitate to contact us on 0161 476 8276 or email hr@hallidayshr.co.uk. And of course, visit our LinkedIn page.