HR managers may face challenges when trying to update their company’s formal review plans and meet all of their employees’ expectations simultaneously.

A recent survey of 1,000 full-time employees by Clutch, a B2B ratings and reviews firm, reveals that the factors on which employees prefer to be evaluated for a raise vary widely depending on age, gender, level of experience, and the size of the company they work for.

According to the survey, women and millennials prefer—more often than men, GenXers, or Baby Boomers—to be evaluated based on behaviours and attitudes. Baby Boomers, on the other hand, are more likely than those in other generation groups to want to be evaluated based on tenure and seniority.

Traditionally, HR professionals have based promotions on strictly quantitative metrics to determine whether an employee receives a raise or promotion. But rather than attempting to boil an employee’s achievements down to a score, HR managers are now looking for more holistic means of providing evaluation feedback.

However, on closer analysis, this holistic approach to feedback, evaluation, and promotion can be more challenging as the size of a company increases, managers and HR professionals may not be able to provide detailed, personalised feedback to every employee.

This is the main reason why enterprise organisations are typically slow to adopt new strategies for employee promotions. 45 percent of employees at small businesses with fewer than 50 employees prefer that behaviours and attitudes, rather than measurable outputs, be the primary basis for a raise.

Only 34 percent of employees at enterprise companies (5,000+ employees) prefer to be judged on behaviours and attitudes. Rather than, most enterprise employees preferring measureable outputs when being considered for a raise, the survey found.

In addition to age and the size of a company, gender is a great divide when it comes to, how an employee wants to be evaluated for a promotion and raise. Nearly half of women employees (45 percent) prefer to be evaluated on their behaviours and attitudes as opposed to measurable outputs, compared to 37 percent of men.

See: 4 Types of Performance Appraisal Methods Company can Adopt

The Clutch survey strongly suggests that while managers can get a general sense of the qualities that their employees most value when being considered for a raise, it is a significant challenge to create one system that pleases every employee at a company.

Managers should instead attempt to include all of these factors when considering an employee for promotion, and be transparent and consistent in the process. The feedback practice of assigning numerical values based on measurable outputs will privilege male employees who are more likely to enjoy this mode of evaluation.

“I think men are more comfortable and confident with saying ‘these are my numbers’, and they don’t feel guilty or like they’re being showy by proclaiming that. I feel that women are typically wanting their managers to see their work, see them working hard, and see them contributing and being a good part of the culture,” says Morgan Chaney, Head of Marketing, Blueboard.

As businesses continue to grow more adept at treating men and women equally in terms of pay, promotion, and leave, it is vital to be aware of how these differences can unintentionally exasperate gender discrimination in the workplace. Rather than add to the problem by continuing a promotion plan that privileges one gender over the other, managers should work with their employees to find an appropriate amalgamation of these factors.

By creating an open line of communication, managers are able to hear directly from their employees if there is frustration with the current system, and are able to adjust accordingly.

Also read: Don’t Think the Performance Reviews are Accurate? Crowdsource!

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