Many employees joke about their dislike or even dread annual performance reviews. Here at EG, we don’t blame them. Trying to think back over what an employee did during the past twelve months isn’t productive and won’t lead to a meaningful conversation about professional growth and goals. Instead, we subscribe to the idea of holding frequent performance reviews – in fact, we hold bi-weekly check-ins with our team. We’re sharing our four reasons you should be doing frequent performance reviews and why this approach will benefit your employees’ professional growth and development.

You Can Set Strategic Goals

Employees with goals are motivated and engaged employees – especially employees who have leadership backing up those goals! By having frequent reviews or check-ins with your employees, you can set strategic goals that help them grow professionally and personally while helping your company’s bottom line. When employees get to be invested in their goals, they are far more likely to be motivated to complete them.

On the leadership side, you’ll gain a better understanding of your workers’ strengths and growth areas. You can see how their performance is progressing over relatively short periods of time. This is much easier to track than trying to look back at their growth over the past twelve months.

You Can Identify Training Needs

While you take time to onboard an employee when they first join your company, the training shouldn’t stop there. Sometimes, multiple employees will struggle in a particular area of your business. There could be several reasons why; the processes they created may not be working well, they may be lacking the necessary tools or software needed, or this may have been an area that never had proper training on.

By checking in with your employees frequently, you can identify training needs. When there is regular communication, your employees will be more likely to bring up areas where they may need additional training or resources to perform their job. This can also help fill gaps for new hires as they onboard since you’ll gain insight on pain points your current employees are experiencing.

You Can Keep Your Employees Engaged

Frequently checking in with your employees allows you to evaluate their level of engagement. While employee engagement seems like a “buzz word” thrown around a lot these days, it’s actually one of the top HR concerns. Low levels of employee engagement can cause ripple effect problems in your workplace, including reduced productivity, negative attitude among employees, and growth and development will slow or even stop. This all hurts your company’s bottom line, so, having engaged employees is crucial to your business success.

You Can Gain Insight on Your Own Leadership

These check-ins will give you insight into your own leadership. At EG, we believe frequent performance reviews should be a two-way street between the employee and manager. During this time of open and honest communication, take the time to ask your employees to provide feedback on your managerial skills. It’s important to know how you stand as a manager since a Gallup Poll found that 75% of people will voluntarily leave a job because of their boss. Employees will rally behind good leaders, which will lead to higher productivity, engagement levels, and healthier company culture.

It’s time to re-think annual performance reviews. These check-ins are regularly scheduled meetings; we do ours bi-weekly at EG, which provides time for managers and their direct supports to have an open dialogue on any questions, concerns, or ideas they have. These meetings are designed to keep managers and workers engaged and on the same page.

About EG Workforce Solutions

We’ve been in this business for decades and have developed a deep network of professional connections. Whether they’re companies looking for talent, job seekers looking for work, or an up-and-coming store in need of some temporary help, we know the right people to bridge the gap between the hiring and the hired.

But what’s more, we get to know people. From employers hiring to candidates looking, we take the time to listen and learn. We hear your likes, talents, and needs. We gain an understanding, and with it, we’re able to facilitate lasting relationships between businesses and people.