Globoforce Survey Shows American Workers Seek Reinvention of Reviews
U.S. employees eye future of performance reviews with 76 percent calling for use of crowdsourced feedback
SOUTHBOROUGH, Mass., and DUBLIN, Ireland – August 27, 2013 – For many U.S employees, Labor Day is the “celebration of the social and economic achievements of American workers”*. Yet according to the Summer 2013 Globoforce
® Workforce Mood Tracker**, many workers believe their ongoing achievements are not fully captured by today’s traditional annual performance appraisals.
The latest iteration of the semi-annual survey, announced today by Globoforce (
www.workhuman.com), a leading provider of social recognition solutions, focused on a lightning rod within HR: the employee performance review. The survey exposed what employees feel are the current flaws (frequency and singular viewpoints) and reveals insights about how to fix traditional appraisals with crowdsourced recognition. The findings also support a correlation between ongoing feedback and higher levels of job satisfaction and engagement.
Key insights and findings from the survey:
Satisfaction with performance reviews correlates with job satisfaction
Survey results indicate employees are happier and more productive when satisfied with their jobs. In fact, those who are satisfied with their review process are also more engaged and less likely to contemplate a job change. Highlights include:
- 57 percent of respondents don’t feel their current performance review process is an accurate appraisal of their work. (click to tweet)
- 63 percent cite inaccuracy as the top reason for dissatisfaction with their review process, calling it “not a true indication of performance.” (click to tweet)
- Among employees who are satisfied with their performance reviews, 83 percent are also satisfied with their job. Comparatively, among employees who are dissatisfied with their review, just 55 percent are satisfied with their job.
U.S. employees embrace, trust, and are comfortable with crowdsourcing
Employees welcome crowdsourcing as a desirable addition to the performance review process. Because crowdsourcing is already highly adopted for receiving unbiased, real time information on everything from travel destinations to restaurant choices, employees see its potential if applied to the annual performance review. Highlights include:
- 75 percent of respondents are informed by and contribute to crowdsourcing sites such as Yelp®, Amazon®, and TripAdvisor®. (click to tweet)
- 80 percent think the most accurate view of performance includes feedback from their direct supervisor alongside crowdsourced input from everyone in the organization. (click to tweet)
- 76 percent feel crowdsourced feedback from recognition would be helpful data to improve performance reviews. (click to tweet)
Employees show a strong preference for timely, positive, peer-to-peer feedback
According to the survey, U.S. workers seek the incorporation of peer-to-peer input into the review process. The majority of those surveyed prefer positive, unsolicited, and immediate feedback on their performance. Highlights include:
- 83 percent of respondents would welcome feedback from more people than just their manager. (click to tweet)
- 73 percent prefer unsolicited input rather than forced feedback, and 71 percent seek feedback in real time, as soon as possible following the event that inspired it. (click to tweet)
- 89 percent prefer positive feedback as a source of motivation as opposed to negative feedback. (click to tweet)
- Respondents who already have peer feedback as part of their performance review feel more appreciated (85 percent) and more satisfied with their jobs (88 percent) than respondents who are reviewed only by a single supervisor.
“These results clearly indicate that employees would welcome crowdsourcing to enhance the traditional performance review,” said Eric Mosley, CEO of Globoforce. “The traditional annual performance review is rooted in what could fairly be termed as a single point of failure. Through inspired and objective feedback across an organization, employees can receive the accurate performance evaluations they have long sought.”
*
The United States Department of Labor
**Survey Methodology
The Globoforce Workforce Mood Tracker study was commissioned by Globoforce and conducted from May 16, to June 3, 2013, by independent market research firm MarketTools, Inc., through an online panel of fully employed persons (age 18 or older) at companies with 500+ employees in the United States. There were 708 responses generated for the survey, resulting in a margin of error of +/- 3.9 percentage points at the 95 percent level of confidence.
About Globoforce
Globoforce is a leading provider of social recognition solutions, redefining how companies understand, manage, and motivate their employees. Innovative companies around the world use Globoforce’s cloud-based social recognition software to reveal the true performance and influence of every employee and strengthen company culture. With Globoforce, HR and business leaders can take a strategic approach to recognition programs that result in measurable benefits to the bottom line driven by increases in employee engagement, retention, and productivity. Globoforce is co-headquartered in Southborough, Massachusetts, and Dublin, Ireland.
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