How Performance Reviews Can Risk the Career Growth of “Diverse Talent”

With performance review season just around the corner, I’d love to take a moment to remind you that performance reviews tend to be heavily biased and inequitable.

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As we know, during the past few years, many companies focused largely on hiring women and talent from historically excluded communities. Unfortunately, in many cases, these hiring practices were not accompanied by inclusive and intentional practices that would allow “diverse talent” to thrive, grow, and be promoted fairly.

This is a very difficult issue to tackle, and it must be addressed from multiple angles at the same time (and no, it just can’t be solved by running an “anti-bias workshop”) but here are a few things Managers can get started with:

• Understand and acknowledge that these un-inclusive practices are happening in your company too. Maybe, without even realizing it, you’ve been perpetuating biased stereotypes as well.
• Consider different and more inclusive performance review processes. For example, you could implement 360 reviews or solely base your performance review on that employee’s development over time rather than comparing employees.