How to Run Performance Reviews for Remote Developers

The performance review is sometimes met with mixed emotions from managers and employees. And if they’re conducted without a clear focus and goals, reviews can be time-consuming and stressful, leaving everyone involved feeling like little was gained from the process. According to HBR, most CEOs don’t find reviews helpful in identifying top performers, and half of employees don’t think their managers reviewed them fairly.

But with thoughtful planning and an outcome-oriented approach, performance reviews can be extremely useful. This is especially true for remote teams, who often have less frequent interactions with management. Remote staff can lack clarity into how they’re performing – and how that performance is being perceived.

In this article, we will review the state of performance reviews in 2024, why they’re still an invaluable tool for managers, and how to plan and run them successfully. Then, we’ll look at what leaders of remote teams might be missing out on by not conducting reviews. Finally, we’ll share an in-depth guide on how to plan, prepare, and run employee reviews, with insights from our own performance review process.

Why Are Some Companies Walking Away From Traditional Performance Reviews?

One of the main reasons some companies are pressing pause on performance reviews is that they’re expensive to implement. They are also heavily weighted toward financial rewards, which some companies feel should be given when they feel they’ve been earned, rather than at a set time each year. What’s more, there’s also a question of relevance: reviews may hold people accountable for performance based on a role or responsibilities that hasn’t been revised recently enough to reflect the employee’s actual work, leaving them feeling disillusioned or confused about how they can improve. 

Some companies have replaced the traditional performance review with regular, informal conversations with their team, which gives them the opportunity to provide ongoing feedback. But some argue that informal touchpoints may not achieve the desired outcome, and employees sometimes find this approach to feel like micromanagement. At the same time, the lack of structure can fail to capture the employee’s performance in the broader picture of their role, missing critical components and providing feedback only on daily, in-the-moment tasks. 

If you’re managing a remote team, there’s more to consider before deciding on the best method for evaluating staff. For one, remote employees often have less frequent interactions with management, who therefore lack visibility into how individual team members are doing. In this setting, performance reviews can provide meaningful insight into individual contributions to the team.

We’ve found that a combination of informal touchpoints with scheduled check-ins, including a thorough review towards the end of the year, has provided the most benefit.