No one — especially HR pros — likes performance reviews. They are time consuming, ineffective and dreaded by managers and staff. But because they are the basis for compensation and promotions, they live on.
How did we get here? Hierarchical performance reviews — the most common type used today, where managers record their opinions of staff — were created by the military after World War I. This technique has hardly changed in the 80+ years since, even though it seems to many to be arbitrary and heavily influenced by individual biases and company politics. The 360-degree review style emerged in the 1930s, but all it really did was add more subjectivity to the process. Candidates generally picked who reviewed them, so politics and popularity still played a big role.
