I recieved in my inbox an article on Adobe’s experience on abolishing their annual appraisal process. One reason was cost, they calculated it took the equivalent of 40 FTEs to run the process which illustrates the distraction of management time. The article quotes quality guru W. Edwards Deming who says,
It nourishes short-term performance, annihilates long-term planning, builds fear, demolishes teamwork, nourishes rivalry and politics.”
They replaced their previous stack ranking system with a more flexible and empowered system, divorcing formal performance from salary/bonus decisions.
It proved to be more popular with managers and staff, with one employee reporting
… that a feeling of relief has spread throughout the company because the old annual review system was “a soul-less and soul crushing exercise.”
One side effect was that involuntary terminations increased but voluntary terminations reduced, It ought to be a happier place to work.
I revisited how I diarised this important intiative and found this, Death to the Performance Review: How Adobe Reinvented Performance Management and Transformed Its Business which seems to be the original white paper that provoked this blog.