Even before the pandemic-caused disruptions, performance reviews were generally considered an overall unpleasant activity1 for managers and employees alike. The often once-a-year task of filling out performance appraisal forms and then sitting for that dreaded performance review meeting, in which supervisors explain what ratings their appraisees received and why, has almost never been seen as a fun or rewarding activity. Sure, some employees enjoy and benefit from having that one-on-one time with their managers during which the topic of discussion is how they performed and how they can improve, but the overall sentiment was mostly negative2. In addition, the bulk of the literature on performance appraisals suggests that the ratings are usually not based on actual observations by managers but their overall impressions of each employee or, worse, their perceptions of how they can accomplish certain goals.
This sounds bad enough, but these were problems of simpler times - times when, for the most part, every employee reporting to a manager shared
