Could AI Cure Your Performance Review Headaches?
By Judy Kneiszel
Performance management activities are tedious and dreaded tasks for many managers. Could artificial intelligence (AI) come to the rescue?
Employers do see benefits from using generative AI in performance management. Specifically, AI tools can:
- Save managers time in writing reviews;
- Make writing performance reviews less of a struggle;
- Produce reviews that are less subjective;
- Provide feedback to employees in a timelier manner; and
- Improve outcomes of performance reviews.
What does AI bring to the process?
AI tools can collect data constantly, not just quarterly or when employees and managers remember to document milestones. This helps prevent problems like “recent-cy bias” which is a fancy way of saying whatever the manager sees closest to time when they write a review is what is rewarded or punished.
AI can continuously sort through a company’s internal data (called “scraping”) looking for nuggets of information like kudos or corrections employees receive in emails or on company communication channels. This data can then be collected and used to put together performance summaries for managers to review. Basically, AI can connect the dots between all the programs employees use to do their jobs.
Can AI increase person-to-person communication?
By taking advantage of the technical help AI can provide when creating performance reviews, managers should have more time to spend talking with employees and less time sifting through information and writing reviews from scratch. Essentially, AI writes the first draft and managers have more time to review the information, edit the writing, and discuss the findings one on one with the employee.
AI can also help with objectives by creating them based on criteria fed into it. Rather than a vague list of suggestions, AI can take an employee’s performance review and create a customized list of targets and goals. This kind of detailed action plan, based on an employee’s individual objectives, increases the likelihood that the employee will achieve their goals.
Red flags and must-dos
As with any use of AI, there are limitations and risks that employers need to keep in mind. AI has been known to produce false information. Anyone using it for help in creating performance reviews should:
- Understand that AI is only as good as the data it is trained on. Employers must make sure data used for performance reviews is correct.
- Be on the lookout for bias. AI can be biased if the data it is fed is biased. It must be audited and monitored regularly to ensure accuracy and fairness.
- Protect sensitive employee and company data. Goal setting may include proprietary information or financial data. Make sure to establish policies and guidelines to ensure data privacy.
- Carefully review any content produced. Managers should consider what AI produces as a first draft and edit it into a final review that is in their own voice.
- Be transparent. Let employees know how and why you are using AI in the performance management area. Assure them that they are not being evaluated by AI, but rather by humans using AI as a tool to gather information.
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