Performance Reviews a Major Source of Workplace Stress
At a time when job satisfaction is at an record breaking low in the United States, one psychologist says that performance reviews are adding tremendously to the stress in the workplace. Samuel Culbert, of the Anderson School of Management at UCLA, expounds on this theory in his new book title Get Rid of the Performance Review!
Culbert claims that the customary annual reviews don’t only stress out workers but actually make both the bosses and employees less effective at doing their jobs. Reviews are very subjective and depend quite a bit on the relationship between the worker and the boss, so Culbert’s contention is that they are relatively meaningless and just cause needless worry and stress.
There are a number of experts who agree with Culbert’s findings including director of Workplace Bullying Institute, Gary Namie. He says he has seen office bullies use reviews to tear down workers and refers to it as “a very biased, error-prone and abuse-prone system”. Namie recommends getting rid of reviews and replacing with with managers who can coach workers, instead.
Stanford University management professor, Robert Sutton, disagrees on the idea that reviews should be completely done away with but at the same time, admits that often reviews are “done so badly, it’s better not to do it all”.
In Get Rid of the Performance Review!, Culbert recounts stories of numerous employees who say that their life on the job was ruined by unfair reviews. He tells of the psychological stress created in an atmosphere where the annual review holds prominence as a factor in salary decisions and promotion opportunities.
“There is a very bad set of values that are embedded in the air because of performance reviews,” says Culbert.
One executive, Mark Shahriary of Lucix Corporation, agreed and said he had stopped doing reviews because he had seen the emotional consequences in the past. Shahriary says that often people hear “you’re not effective at work” as “you’re not effective as a person”.