Google, Meta Struggle to Figure Out Employee Reviews

Last year, Google cut the number of employee performance reviews it conducts annually from two to one, responding to complaints that twice-a-year reviews consumed too much time. In the new system, managers were asked to talk more casually—but more frequently, once a quarter—with their subordinates about their performance. And Google wanted managers to record the results of the conversations.

But the new system hasn’t worked as intended, according to one current and two former employees. Some managers delivered their quarterly performance summaries late or wrote only brief, one-sentence recaps of the conversations. In at least one case, a manager labeled the calendar invites for some of their meetings as performance discussions but instead used the meetings to merely assign or receive updates on tasks.