Why 2020 End Of Year Performance Reviews Should Be Canceled

Summary

The article argues that due to the unprecedented challenges of 2020, companies should cancel end-of-year performance reviews.

Abstract

The article emphasizes that the year 2020 has been incredibly tough for everyone due to the pandemic, social issues, and political turmoil, which have negatively affected productivity and mental health. It suggests that some employees have been more affected than others, and the playing field has not been level for all employees. The article questions the morality of conducting business as usual with end-of-year performance reviews, arguing that it would send a strong message that companies genuinely care about their employees if they were to cancel them. The article also points out that not all employees could focus due to multiple confounding factors and that some people couldn’t actually do their jobs as effectively as before.

Opinions

The author believes that the collective psyche has been put to the test more than ever in 2020 and that it has affected everyone’s productivity in some way.
The article argues that it would be morally questionable for companies to move ahead with end-of-year performance reviews as if this year was no different.
The author suggests that canceling end-of-year performance reviews would alleviate anxiety and stress for employees and send a strong message that the company cares about them.
The article points out that some employees could not actually do their jobs as effectively as before due to factors such as lack of real face-to-face human contact.
The author argues that profit at all costs is a social construct and that too much profit will lead to our extinction.
The article suggests that we should learn from the lessons of 2020 and reconsider our priorities and values as a society.
The author suggests that we have the power to slow down and switch to a more sustainable work-life balance, which could lead to a better future for everyone.

Why 2020 End Of Year Performance Reviews Should Be Canceled

It’s been a tough year folks. Covid-19, frequent lockdowns, the traumatic on television murder of George Floyd, Karens in action, the insidious reality of systemic racism on display in corporations and humanitarian organizations, more Me Too, more emboldened white nationalist groups, the unsettling US presidential election, and a lot more.

Our collective psyche has been put to the test this year more than ever. If anyone tells me that they were able to focus 100 percent on work in 2020, I would doubt their sincerity. Seriously, 2020 must surely have affected your productivity in some way, shape, or form. And the harsh reality is that some of us have been more affected than others. Some have had to take care of sick parents, others were unable to say a proper goodbye to their loved ones, parents have had to become improv teachers, isolation and loneliness have resulted in soaring mental health cases and suicides around the world. 2020 has been really rough.

So keeping this in mind, I don’t think that companies can go about end of year performance reviews like business as usual. There needs to be a global reckoning that this year was just too hard and that many employees are not okay — and may not have been able to meet objectives set at the start of the year when all was fine and dandy.

Organizations need to also realize that 2020 provided even less of a level enough playing field for all employees to function at par. Some clearly got an unfair advantage — whether it be no illness at all or the privilege of being able to hire someone to clean their homes, make their food, or tutor their children. For some employees, it was easy to get access to a home office, for others, lack of a robust internet connection or even space at home made it impossible.

This year showed in no uncertain terms the disparaging inequalities between rich and poor, and in some countries between skilled and unskilled laborers. Amongst other things, it also showed that it takes little effort from human beings to reverse some of the nefarious effects of global warming. A short stop in human activity in some of the world's sprawling metropolises showed much cleaner air in a matter of days. As a civilization, we need to take stock of and acknowledge the lessons 2020 has taught us. We can’t simply write them off and move on — but that is a story for another post.

Moving ahead with the end of year performance reviews as if this year was no different is morally questionable. It shows that companies don’t genuinely care about their people. I suspect that there are a lot of performative employee well-being programs out there that look great in the corporate brochure, but are they really making a sustainable positive difference to employees’ lives?

In my opinion, the one announcement that would really alleviate anxiety and stress would be letting employees know that there will be no end of year performance reviews in 2020. This has been no ordinary year so we will not treat it as such.

I know that this would most likely cause a stir — a revolution almost, but it would send a strong message to employees that the company they work for genuinely cares about them. This message that they will not be punished for failing to meet their objectives in 2020 is like saying: let’s take a pass on 2020 folks. Wouldn’t you love that?

Apart from the fact that not all employees could focus due to multiple confounding factors, some people couldn’t actually do their jobs as effectively as before. Take for example people that work in externally facing roles, people that need to network or to lobby. Would they have been able to meet their objectives without ever leaving their homes in 2020?

Yes, Microsoft teams, Zoom and Google Hangouts let you interact with others, but they will never be able to replace real face to face human contact. I find that I make some of my most valuable connections at break time during a conference or while waiting in line at the lady's room. How would the likes of Zoom ever be able to capture that? So in reality, there are many people who simply couldn’t work as well as they normally do this year.

I recently wrote about how a white supremacist mindset is the reason we find ourselves over-consuming and overproducing. The notion of profit at all costs is a social construct. It is not needed. If we wanted to, we could all collectively decide to switch to a 3 day work week or 10 weeks of holiday and leisure time every year. You see, we write the rules — and we should be bold enough to throw out conventions that force us to spend almost all of our days at work generating profit for companies that are depleting the earth’s resources and further destroying our planet. Too much profit will lead to our extinction.

We have the power to say, in 2020, we slowed down because profit and even more profit cannot be the underlying reason for human existence. There needs to be something more than that. 2020 brought us closer to our very humanity and to our vulnerability. Let us learn the lesson and learn it well — for, without humanity, we, humans, simply cease to exist.

Thanks for reading my perspective.