Survey reveals strong support from employers to abolish workplace appraisals

Posted: 17/09/2015

According to the results of the Penningtons Manches monthly survey of employers on hot employment topics, 60% of respondents were in favour of abolishing the workplace appraisal system. Nine out of ten respondents said they intended scaling back their appraisal process and only 29% thought that appraisals should be replaced with a less formal system. 

Following publicity about the recent decisions of global organisations such as Accenture and Deloitte to abolish their appraisal systems, Paul Mander and Sarah Johnson, partners in the Penningtons Manches employment team debated the issue in a Head-2-Head and invited employers to have their say.

Arguing for the abolition of appraisals, Paul Mander, said: “When you consider that a significant part of the senior end of a workforce are out of fee-earning action for a large slice of the year appraising staff and that successive studies have shown that appraisals are unreliable and frequently demotivate staff, the argument for ditching them becomes overwhelming.

“That almost two thirds of our survey respondents are in favour of abolishing appraisals suggests that appraisal sceptics are establishing some real traction and it would seem wise, therefore, to start thinking creatively about alternatives to the more conventional appraisal process. 

“The most often cited alternative to annual appraisals is to have a form of continuous appraisal comprising of feedback on work throughout the year. I think this is a very good idea and certainly balances out mood swings (hopefully) and immediacy. It can still be difficult if the person managing just isn’t a good manager, but that is always going to be a problem.”

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