Cyber Monday Sale! 50% Off All Access

To Make Your Employees Happier, Lose This HR Policy Turns out, employees are more likely to cry after a performance review than improve.

By Rose Leadem

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Alina555 | Getty Images

Employee reviews are meant to be helpful and constructive, but many workers say that they have the opposite effect.

In fact, a recent study commissioned by Adobe found that 80 percent of office workers would prefer on-the-spot feedback rather than periodic formal reviews. Researchers surveyed 1,500 U.S. office workers and found that nearly two-thirds of employees and managers believe performance reviews are an outdated practice.

Related: 4 Ways to Avoid the Worthless Annual Performance Review and Give Valuable Feedback

For one, they take a lot of time to organize. The researchers found that managers spend an average of 17 hours planning for each individual employee's review. Talk about a waste of time -- especially when more than half of employees say that reviews have no impact on how they do their work.

Performance reviews are also pretty rattling for employees. One in five workers admit to crying after a review, 37 percent say they have looked for another job and 20 percent say they have quit. To avoid the stress and heartache, more than 60 percent of millennial workers say they would switch to another company with no performance reviews.

Related: 5 Positive Ways to Constructively Critique Employees

Both office workers (55 percent) and managers (66 percent) say it's time to change or get rid of reviews. By doing so, workers believe there would be more flexibility, happiness and collaboration in the workplace.

Adobe no longer conducts performance reviews with its employees in favor of informal "check-ins." Other companies that take a similar approach include General Electric, Accenture and software startup RetailNext.

Should you change up your company policy on reviews? Check out the infographic below to help you decide.

Rose Leadem is a freelance writer for Entrepreneur.com. 

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Business News

'Something Previously Impossible': New AI Makes 3D Worlds Out of a Single Image

The new technology allows viewers to explore two-dimensional images in 3D.

Franchise

Subway's CEO Steps Down Amid a Major Transition for the Sandwich Giant

John Chidsey will step down at the end of 2024, marking the close of a transformative five-year tenure.

Business Ideas

63 Small Business Ideas to Start in 2024

We put together a list of the best, most profitable small business ideas for entrepreneurs to pursue in 2024.

Business News

'I Stand By My Decisions': A CEO Is Going Viral For Firing Almost All of the Company's Employees — Here's Why

The Musicians Club CEO Baldvin Oddsson fired 99 workers at once over Slack for missing a morning meeting. But there's a catch.

Side Hustle

She Started a Side Hustle That Earned More Than $1 Million in Year 1: 'Manifest Your Best Life'

Nadia Liu Spellman, founder and CEO of Dumpling Daughter, wanted to honor her parents' success.