Historically, performance reviews were viewed as an annual occurrence that everybody dreaded. That might be acceptable for older generations but younger generations absolutely expect that to be a more frequent process. It’s a process that engages them in the business.

In the words of a Gen Y blogger...."Maybe we don’t understand how flawed the system is (infrequent, tied to salary and promotion, not really about personal development) because we’ve never experienced it.  We think a performance review is a chance to sit with the manager and find out what we’ve done well and what needs work. Seems like a no brainer that everyone would want this as often as possible. We simply want to know how we are doing so we can do better."

Managers or leaders, who see the performance appraisal as a dreaded annual event, or an annual discussion to discuss the past instead of the plans for the future are guaranteed to disengage - if not lose the talent that they have spent valuabe time and money acquiring and training. 

Performance feedback must be constant and consistant.  There should be no surprises.  The annual meeting  known as the "performance review" should become the performance planning meeting.  What are the goals, objectives, development needs of the employee?  How are we moving forward?  How can the employee contribute?