It's almost that time of year again.

Up and down the country, companies are engaging in one of the most important review processes for their business. The annual performance review. This process can have a profound impact on employee engagement and your business in many ways such as increased productivity, improved employee retention, better health and wellbeing and reduced absenteeism. The benefits to business are so wide ranging and each element impacts your bottom line by driving profitability and growth.

Yet, for many, this process can feel like another tick box exercise – adding to an ever-expanding to-do list. This response tends to signify that the company does not have the right process in place and the employees therefore struggle to see the value in completing the reviews. Having the right tools to complete this is essential.

So how can Brave help set you up for success with this process?

Firstly, it is critical that your appraisal process is linked to your brand and employee value proposition as this helps to ensure a strong and consistent company culture and alignment on delivery of company values and goals. When employees see that their performance is being reviewed against behaviours and achievements that align with the company’s values – they are more likely to feel engaged and motivated. And it ensures that your brand is brought to life and demonstrated through every employee in your business so that your customers feel your brand at every touch point.

Secondly, we will work with you to develop your own bespoke appraisal process framework based on years of experience and understanding of the key factors which drive organisational performance. We will talk you through the process with examples – drawing on references from business, sport and the wider world.

Thirdly, we can work with you and your managers with coaching to help not only ensure that the process is as robust as possible but to help your managers to maximise the outcomes from the sessions. Empowering your team and ensuring your investment in this process sets you up for success for the following year.

We have implemented this process with one of our large financial clients. Ensuring clarity on the objectives for the business formed the basis of the review process. We then designed a framework which measured against these objectives and other metrics for high performance. We then trained the managers on the new process and coached them on conducting effective reviews. And the results speak for themselves. Over the course of a year, the company saw a 14% increase in sales – a record high.

Another key consideration in all of this is employee mental health, something we passionately advocate for at Brave. A recent study by Leo Burnett takes a deep-dive look into the mood of the nation and is summarised by people feeling as if they are living in a perpetual "limbo land". The life and certainty they had has gone and they don’t have a clear view of their future. This is anxiety inducing and brands and organisations can help alleviate some of this anxiety by focusing on the present and providing, as much as possible, a view of the future. A well conducted review following the right process will anchor the employee in the present with an outline of goals to aim for and their future at work – calming some of their fears and provide a sense of security for the future.

And if you still need convincing of the importance of getting this process right, you don’t have to look far to find companies who have got this process so spectacularly wrong – such as a US energy firm or leading UK financial institution that incentivised short-term profits and excessive risk taking which led to one of the most infamous corporate scandals in history and a near collapse.

If you would like to speak with one of our team about how we can best support you, then please drop us a line at [email protected] and we would love to work with you to empower your people and empower change.