Performance appraisals don’t serve any purpose, say 43% of job seekers, latest Bayt.com online poll series finds
Despite 71% of workers receiving some form of appraisal, 50% receive no feedback on how they’re doing
Bayt.com, the Middle East’s number one job site, has revealed a trend towards inadequate and irrelevant performance appraisals in the region’s workplaces, following a series of polls carried out on employees across the Middle East. Interestingly, despite 71% of all workers receiving either a quarterly, half-yearly or yearly performance appraisal; 50% stated that they had no real feedback on how they were doing, while 14% stated they had had an informal meeting with their boss, but ‘that was it’.
What’s more the polls found, 43% said that performance appraisals served no purpose, compared to 35% of respondents who thought that their company’s system was effective, while 22% believed that some changes in the process were required.
The performance appraisal online poll series conducted by Bayt.com sought to gauge the levels of employee satisfaction towards their workplace’s appraisal system.
According to the poll, the respondents didn’t believe that appraisals in their company necessarily led to improved performance, with 46% stating that it didn’t, and 31% said that appraisals occasionally do. This is set against a backdrop of the majority of employees who believe that regular performance appraisals were important to help supervisors evaluate an employee’s performance factually and objectively, compared to 11% who said that it made no difference.
“Performance appraisals are a hugely important element of career development and progression and can go a long way in addressing an employee’s individual issues or concerns about the workplace, and can act as a tool for both employer and employee to address such issues and deal with them head-on,” stated Amer Zureikat, Regional Manager, Bayt.com
“It is well known that performance appraisals are an intrinsic part of employee development, and in the Middle East’s dynamic work places, employers can gain a competitive edge by nurturing and mentoring their staff, through regular discussions and meetings about their progress. The fact that 28% of employees do not receive an appraisal – especially in today’s economic climate – seems unthinkable. This kind of data can be very useful for HR professionals and industry stakeholders, by serving as a relevant indicator of what employees really think about something as simple as an appraisal,” he added.
The polls additionally looked at the reasons why employees have changed or will change their jobs. Interestingly, the majority at 26% cited that they quit their last job for a better salary, and 28% said they would change their current job in search of better wages.
“The discussion about salary is a highly important part of the performance appraisal, so this data suggests that better, more frequent and more relevant discussions about salary in terms of performance, may encourage less workers to seek different employment if they’re clear about what benefits and raises they can look forward to in the future, if their performance improves,” commented Zureikat. ‘Bad management’ and ‘to gain more career development opportunities’ also featured highly as main reasons why people do and will continue to change jobs.
Despite the present economic situation or perhaps because of the resulting uncertainties, when asked how long they intend to stay in their current jobs, the majority of respondents at 37% said they would like to move in the coming 12 months and another 11.5% indicated they expect to remain between 1 to 2 years only. Only 20% indicated they expect to remain in their current jobs ‘’indefinitely’’. By contrast, a separate poll that asked respondents what is the maximum length of time they ‘’expect to stay with any company’’ saw the vast majority, 32.5% of respondents, indicating that the expect to stay ‘’indefinitely’’ Another 25.5% indicated they expect to stay ‘’at least 5 years’’. This data suggests that while professionals ideally aspire to long-term positions, they are not satisfied in current roles and are not finding the combination of variables, circumstances and conditions they need to settle down in their roles for the long term.
Zureikat explained the relevance of the data. He said; “These figures can be of huge benefit to all employers, HR practitioners and recruitment websites, as it offers a general overview of what companies can or should be doing better to not only develop and train their employees, but also to retain them at the company. In the future, this could mean the difference between having high attrition rates within an organisation, and having a loyal workforce that are ready to stay for the long-term,” concluded Zureikat.
Data for the performance appraisal series of polls was collected online between the period of 27th October 2008 and 4th January 2009. This and other Middle East human resources research is available online at www.bayt.com.
