How useful are performance reviews? It depends on whom you ask. In an Accountemps survey, 94 percent of chief financial officers (CFOs) interviewed said formal evaluations are either somewhat or very effective in helping employees improve their performance. Yet nearly one in three workers (31 percent) disagreed, calling these appraisals either somewhat or very ineffective.

The surveys of CFOs and workers were developed by Accountemps, the world's first and largest specialized staffing service for temporary accounting, finance and bookkeeping professionals, and conducted by an independent research firm. The survey of CFOs is based on telephone interviews with more than 1,400 CFOs from a stratified random sample of U.S. companies with 20 or more employees. The worker survey includes responses from 422 working adults 18 years of age or older and employed in office environments.

CFOs were asked, "In your opinion, how effective are annual or semiannual performance reviews in helping employees improve their performance?" Their responses:

Workers were asked, "In your opinion, how effective are annual or semiannual performance reviews in helping you improve your performance?" Their responses:

"The success or failure of an appraisal depends on how clearly both performance expectations and feedback are communicated to employees," said Max Messmer, chairman of Accountemps and author of Human Resources Kit For Dummies®, 2^nd Edition (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.). "Managers and their staff should be in agreement at the outset on what criteria will be used to evaluate effectiveness in a given role." 

Performance reviews shouldn't be delivered just once a year, Messmer cautioned. "Nothing discussed in a formal evaluation should come as a surprise to the employee," he said. "The best managers regularly give their teams performance feedback throughout the year."