From connecting to caring: Here's how Facebook performance reviews acknowledge employees

From changing the mindset about meeting people online to building an empire that connects everyone across the globe in just seconds, Facebook has come a long way! While keeping their consumers happy, Facebook is doing the same for their employees. With the use of the Facebook performance review system, employees feel motivated to put extra effort into making the company successful.

In order to make the dream work, you need to make teamwork! Facebook has surely proven that this statement has a lot more impact on a company’s success than we think. 

The way your employees feel majorly affects your business! So how did Facebook find their set of happy and unhappy employees? How did they track employee performance, and what were the deciding factors?

Well, Facebook, being a giant with thousands of employees worldwide, uses multiple approaches that emphasize the most on real-time feedback and reviews. While maintaining culture with growth, Facebook uses a performance management system that is structured to promote and retain top employee performers.

About Facebook

The social media giant Facebook started its journey in 2004 with just a couple of employees and fast-forwarded to the present, it has a huge workforce of about 15,000 employees. All their employees speak highly of them, and it got them and the CEO Mark Zuckerberg a solid rating of 4 on Glassdoor.

With a 6-week onboarding process divided into smaller segments, Facebook believes in getting new employees accustomed to the tasks and challenges at a fast pace. In all this, the Facebook talent team is working towards taking this well-known company to even greater heights with help of the performance evaluation system that creates transparency and space for growth in employee performance.

Let’s take a closer look at the Facebook performance appraisal strategy.

Their unique approach - How Facebook does it

Facebook is setting benchmarks with its performance review system with performance assessment and 360-degree review at the core. 

Bi-annual review

Unlike other huge companies that conduct annual reviews, Facebook believes in conducting performance evaluation twice every year, which is called the performance Summary Cycle. Here’s why they have such an approach - "We do it twice a year because the business moves very quickly and our product moves very quickly, and if you wait a whole year, a lot of things have changed," as quoted by Lori Goler.

360 review

The first step of the Facebook performance process starts with 360-degree reviews. With a slight change, Facebook prefers including reviews from only 5 peers because there is a similarity in the answers afterwards. The review process focuses on two key questions: 

• What was this person’s impact this year?

• How can they increase this impact? 

The two-week period includes peer feedback, a self-assessment, and a manager assessment. After this step, the Manager reads all the peer reviews and the assessments to determine a "Performance Assessment" or rate the employee performance for the last 6 months to decide whether it is the right time for promotion.

Calibration

After successful completion of the review, managers have two weeks of calibration periods in which they have to go through the assessments of every team member to ensure there are fair peer reviews given to each employee. Facebook has seven levels of performance assessments and guidelines that convey the number of eligible employees for each level. This helps in finding the highest performers, and the lowest performers, etc.

Suggested rating curve

In the Facebook performance appraisal process, managers have to use the suggested rating curve while rating employees, so there is no such situation where every employee is given a top score. Although this isn’t a forced curve.

Performance assessment decides compensation

According to the Performance Assessments they give the highest performing employees compensation like bonuses, raises, and more. The managers and employees have a meeting that summarizes the feedback (in person and in writing). Post which the employee is given a compensation letter including details on rating, bonus, and additional things. 

This whole performance review system takes about six weeks, which is impressive considering their huge workforce.

Why does this approach work?

Employees at Facebook believe it is better to have a performance review system than nothing at all. The main reason behind their review process being successful is that it helps employees realize the importance of their contribution and how it matters in the company’s growth. 

Along with this, employees get the chance to get recognized and rewarded for their work. So, real-time feedback not only helps the employee’s performance but also balances the impact of it all on the company’s overall growth.

How to implement the Facebook performance appraisal approach?

Whether you are a startup or a mid-size company or as huge as Facebook, if you are struggling with your performance and stack ranking system, Facebook’s approach has everything you need and has proven to be successful. All you gotta do is ensure these things:

Fair play

Develop an evaluation process that focuses on the employee’s abilities and eliminates any grounds of biasedness. When employees are judged based merely on their work, that is when the company benefits.

Maintain transparency

To create a stable environment for employees it is a must to have open communications. By maintaining transparency within the company you not only create trust among employees but also make room for their personal growth. 

Adapt the agile performance review process

Gone are the days when traditional performance reviews were the backbone of a company. With changing demands, it is time for your approach to change. The all-new agile performance review focuses on hard-working employees and encourages them to grow more. Using this approach will make things beneficial for the company as well as the employee.

Focus on investing in your people 

With the rapid changes within the corporate world, staying up on the charts becomes difficult if employees are not well-versed with the new tactics. So, invest in your employees as they are the ones working relentlessly behind, making your dream a success. See this as an investment, rather than an expense!

Appreciate employees

Humans live on validation and when they feel heard or appreciated, it inculcates a sense of belongingness and motivates them. Give your employees the credit they deserve in the form of words, bonuses, or digital rewards to make them feel worthy.

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  • Compensate your employees fairly

  Many factors come together to develop a satisfied employee and compensation is one of the major factors. Employees want to be respected and compensated fairly for their time and efforts. Keep it fair as they are one of the major driving forces of your business.

  Appreciation & investing in employees is the way to go

  Employees can make or break the company, so adopt a transparent and simple performance review system that acknowledges the top performers and motivates the low performers to push in more efforts!