Dear Santa....now, about these performance ratings...

I both sighed and smiled as I penned a festive note of sorts yesterday, for the final time (at Swiss Re at least). The note was not to Santa (although my present may already have been delivered) but to my business. ‘Dear Colleagues,’ I began. ‘The first cut of the distribution curve demonstrated a positive skew and....’ Here I paused for a groan-like sigh and continued. 'As we expect a normal distribution, please review the ratings in the system before the calibration meetings next week.' I sighed, if it isn’t obvious, at how little value this exercise would really add to my colleagues or to the quality of feedback they would ultimately share with their teams. It also felt like a throw-back to a bygone era, which is why I smiled. Grinned, you might say.

During the past two years, we have been piloting and experimenting with continuous performance management without ratings for significant parts of our business. We approached this experiment as any good risk knowledge company would, scientifically and with lots of data. The results (statistically significant, so I'm told) showed that without ratings and with a focus on regular feedback, we maintained a pay for performance philosophy, the line manager and employee experience was better. Employees felt the process was fairer and their contributions better aligned to the feedback received. Line Managers felt more empowered and perceived fewer constraints.

So, we are rolling out continuous performance management without ratings across the whole company from January 2020.

I might permit myself one more sigh as I navigate the murky waters of calibration next week as we trade a 4C for a 3D but secretly I will be smiling. Smiling, as I will not have to do it again next year and because Santa has delivered a brilliant gift already. The opportunity to give and receive qualitative, regular feedback throughout the year without the dread of 'waiting for the rating'.

Now, that's what I call a Merry Christmas.