Pairing up employees for peer reviews may seem easy, but it is a task that requires thorough observation and planning. As an HR personnel, you must ensure that peer reviews at the organization don’t result in employees getting offended or disheartened.
Here are three things to remember during employee pairing that promotes positive peer reviews:
Employees are Professional Contemporaries
Pairing together equally-skilled employees allow constructive reviews. This is because employees at the same professional levels are more likely to have similar education and experiences. Therefore, when they review each other, they are less likely to state the obvious and will do a better job of guiding each other on their areas of improvement.
On the other hand, pairing junior and senior employees prevent constructive and honest peer reviews.It leads to an unfair power dynamic where the junior employee may not be comfortable pointing out mistakes of someone who is or can be their manager. Moreover, junior employees have more to learn than senior employees, which results in unfair peer reviews.
Employees are Equally Engaged at the Organization
There can be a significant difference between employees concerning their engagement at the workplace. While employee engagement is an essential factor, employee personalities can become an issue when it comes to their boundaries at work.
For example, introverted employees are likely to engage as necessary but without taking the initiative themselves. Contrary to them, extroverted employees are likelier to find purpose in workplace engagement. Thus, employees with opposite personalities and different engagement levels at work may not understand each other’s work-life balance, resulting in biased peer reviews.
On the other hand, employees with similar engagement levels at work and work-life balance can provide each other with positively constructive reviews. They are also more likely to present suggestions to each other that are practical and applicable.
Employees Have Similar Career Goals
Employees paired who have similar career goals also allow for positively constructive reviews. Not everyone hopes to climb the career path in their life. Some people can be completely satisfied with a simple job that pays their bills and allows them to enjoy other things about life, while others may have big goals for their professional careers.
Pairing employees with different expectations and goals from work can result in peer reviews biased toward personal preferences. Thus, such a move can backfire. But as an HR personnel, you can ensure that employee pairing includes those with similar professional goals.
While personal biases appear in every aspect of life and aren’t always harmful, they can lead to unfair peer reviews. Peer reviews aren’t about the skills or personalities of the employees but rather their ability to work with each other. They are about listening to, being patient with, respecting boundaries of, sharing, collaborating, and communicating effectively with one’s team. Therefore, personal biases stemming from education, experience, personalities, and talents must never show up in peer reviews, and you can ensure that by pairing employees correctly.
