Why Performance Reviews Fail and How to Fix Them

Performance reviews are meant to help employees grow. But for many teams, they’re a dreaded formality, full of vague feedback, last-minute scrambling, and forgotten forms.

Why?

Because the traditional review process is broken.

At Frankli, we’ve worked with hundreds of companies who’ve ditched outdated practices for something better. And time and again, we see the same core issues behind why performance reviews fail. Here are the top five and how to fix them.

1. They’re too infrequent.

Annual or even biannual reviews simply aren’t enough. When feedback only happens once or twice a year, it’s disconnected from real events. People forget what they worked on, issues get buried, and growth gets delayed.

Fix it: Move to continuous performance management, regular check-ins, lightweight feedback, and ongoing goal tracking. It doesn’t need to be time-consuming, just consistent.

2. They lack structure and consistency.

One manager uses a Google Doc. Another sends a PDF. Some follow a template, others free-style. The result? A messy, inconsistent experience for employees and zero visibility for leadership.

Fix it: Use a unified platform (like Frankli 😉) that gives every manager a consistent workflow. Employees know what to expect, and HR teams get valuable data they can actually use.

3. They focus on the past, not the future.

Traditional reviews are like yearbook quotes, nostalgic, but not very useful. They focus on what someone did (or didn’t do), without helping them understand where they’re going.

Fix it: Shift to future-focused conversations. What’s next for the person? Where do they want to grow? How can the company support them? Performance is ongoing and so is development.

4. Managers are underprepared.

Most managers aren’t trained coaches. They’re busy, overwhelmed, and often unsure how to give feedback constructively. So reviews become vague (“doing a great job!”) or overly critical (“needs improvement”) and little else.

Fix it: Give managers simple, intuitive tools. Pre-built questions, goal dashboards, nudges, and templates can turn performance conversations from “uh-oh” moments into growth opportunities.

5. Feedback is collected… then ignored.

Employees pour their thoughts into self-assessments and peer reviews. And then? Nothing. No follow-up. No recognition. No action. Feedback becomes a dead end, not a loop.

Fix it: Turn feedback into action. Use tools that surface insights for managers, link comments to goals, and remind leaders to follow up. Otherwise, you’re collecting input for the sake of it, not for impact.

Most performance reviews don’t fail because managers or employees aren’t trying. They fail because the system isn’t built to support growth.

When you move from one-off annual reviews to continuous, structured conversations, everything changes:

• Employees get timely, actionable feedback

• Managers become better coaches

• HR gains real-time visibility

And most importantly? People feel seen, supported, and set up for success.

Ready to move beyond the old way of doing reviews? Let’s talk about how Frankli makes continuous performance management simple and scalable.hanges and challenges.​

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