Beyond Ratings: Redesigning Performance Reviews to Reinforce Company Culture
By empleyado Articles
| 30 June 2025
For many organizations, performance reviews have become a checkbox exercise—a cycle of numeric scores, outdated forms, and conversations more dreaded than developmental. But in forward-thinking workplaces, a shift is underway: performance management is being reimagined as a culture-shaping tool.
When reviews focus not only on output but also on how employees demonstrate values and behaviors, they stop being punitive. Instead, they become instruments of engagement, alignment, and growth.
Why Traditional Performance Reviews Fall Short
Think back to a time when someone on your team met all their deadlines but left a trail of tension and disengaged colleagues behind. Traditional performance reviews would likely commend them for ‘getting the job done’—yet overlook the damage to culture, morale, and trust.
This is the flaw in legacy review systems: they focus on what was delivered, not how it was achieved. They reward individual outcomes while missing the collaborative, values-based behaviors that make teams thrive.
It’s no wonder then, that in Gallup’s 2024 report, only 14% of employees said their performance reviews inspired them to improve. Deloitte’s 2023 study found that over half of executives—58%—don’t believe their systems drive either engagement or performance. Even more telling, Mercer (2024) reported that 95% of managers are dissatisfied with how performance reviews currently function in their organizations.
Clearly, the system isn’t just outdated—it’s broken. And what it needs is not just a facelift, but a cultural reframe.
From Evaluation to Cultural Reinforcement
Culture isn’t built from slogans; it’s sustained by the behaviors companies reward and tolerate. That’s why performance reviews should assess more than tasks and goals—they should evaluate how employees embody company values.
Picture a team where deadlines are met, but backchanneling, avoidance, or individualism quietly erode collaboration. A culture-based review would surface those behaviors, turning invisible friction into visible growth opportunities.
Instead of asking, “Did this person finish their work?” a better question might be: “How did this person build trust, elevate others, or carry our values into that work?”
By assessing behaviors aligned with your culture code, reviews become a feedback loop for values-in-action. They reinforce what matters most—not just efficiency, but humanity, trust, and alignment.
This shift doesn’t start at the review table—it begins the moment an employee joins. Learn more about how onboarding ecosystems set the tone for long-term cultural alignment.
Why Culture-Based Reviews Matter
Culture-based reviews drive more than just internal alignment—they impact key business outcomes. According to Harvard Business Review (2023), companies that align performance management with core values see a 30% increase in employee engagement and a 22% reduction in turnover. Gartner (2024) also found that organizations that incorporate cultural values into reviews are 1.5x more likely to be high-performing.
The logic is simple: when employees know they’re evaluated not just by what they achieve, but by how they live the culture, they engage more deeply and authentically.
Real Companies, Real Impact: Culture-Based Reviews in Practice
Let’s bring the idea to life.
Adobe replaced traditional reviews with “Check-ins”—ongoing manager-employee conversations centered on coaching and forward momentum. The company removed numeric ratings altogether, focusing on development and cultural alignment. As a result, Adobe saw a 30% reduction in voluntary turnover and a 20% increase in employee engagement (Amazing Workplaces, 2024).
Netflix leans into radical transparency. It uses its iconic culture memo as a performance guide, and managers apply the “Keeper Test”: Would I fight to keep this person on my team? Feedback centers on ownership, honesty, and value alignment—not just competence (Ezama, 2024).
Zappos weaves cultural fit into the review process itself. Employees are scored on how well they embody company values like “Create Fun and A Little Weirdness,” ensuring that success means more than hitting targets (Gainsford, 2024).
The same way these companies build feedback loops around values, Filipino companies must also ground reviews in cultural realities—and this begins with a well-designed onboarding process. Explore ecosystem-based onboarding frameworks that prepare managers to carry the culture from Day One.
What to Include in a Culture-Based Performance Review
To build a values-aligned performance system, organizations can integrate:
- Behavioral KPIs: Evaluate how individuals demonstrate values like respect, creativity, or adaptability in real situations.
- 360-Degree Feedback: Capture perspectives from peers and direct reports on how the employee lives out cultural expectations.
- Self-Reflection Prompts: Let employees assess their own behaviors (e.g., “How did I contribute to team trust this quarter?”)
- Coaching-Oriented Questions: Help managers shift from scoring to mentoring by prompting discussions about growth, alignment, and contribution.
These aren’t checklists—they’re culture calibration tools.
How to Measure Cultural Alignment in Reviews
If you’re not in HR, this might sound abstract—but measuring cultural alignment can be practical and actionable. Here’s how organizations can track whether their performance reviews are reinforcing the right values:
- Employee Engagement Surveys: After review cycles, run surveys asking employees how well they understand company values and whether they feel recognized for embodying them. Look for positive movement in questions about trust, inclusion, and team cohesion.
- Retention of Culture-Strong Employees: Monitor turnover data. Are high-performing, values-aligned employees staying longer? A spike in exits among those with strong cultural contributions may signal a gap in how reviews recognize behavior.
- Recognition Trends: Use recognition tools or HR platforms to analyze the frequency of peer or manager shout-outs tied to values (e.g., “collaborated well,” “showed integrity”). An increase here can indicate that the culture is becoming more visible and reinforced.
- Review Content Audits: Randomly sample performance reviews to check if managers are discussing values or behaviors—not just technical performance. This audit can help you spot inconsistencies and coach managers accordingly.
- Manager Training Feedback: After training managers to deliver culture-based reviews, survey them and their teams about the clarity and fairness of the process. This helps ensure cultural alignment is being delivered, not just discussed.
- Use of Cultural Frameworks: Platforms like CultureAmp, Lattice, or Officevibe can embed culture checkpoints directly into performance workflows—making values part of every check-in, not an afterthought.
The goal is to make culture visible, measurable, and lived—not just a vision statement.
Making It Work in the Philippine Workplace
- Recognize team-oriented contributions, not just individual milestones
- Respect hierarchical sensitivities by framing feedback through coaching, not confrontation
- Allow space for in-person discussions, where trust and context matter
Final Thoughts: Culture Isn’t What You Preach—It’s What You Reward
When you ask employees what makes them stay, it’s rarely just about the pay. It’s about being seen. Being part of a team that supports one another. Knowing that when you speak with your manager, they don’t just ask what you did—but how you made others feel along the way.
Performance reviews are one of the most influential tools HR has to shape workplace behavior. If we want inclusive, engaged, and value-aligned teams, we need to rethink what we measure and how we measure it. Culture isn’t a poster on the wall. It’s the set of behaviors that get celebrated, promoted, and repeated. And the review cycle is where those behaviors are either reinforced or ignored.
By redesigning performance reviews through a cultural lens, companies don’t just evaluate people—they evolve.
References:
Deloitte. (2023). 2023 Deloitte global human capital trends. Click this link.
Gallup. (2024). State of the global workplace 2024 report. Click this link.
Gartner. (2024). Performance Management Guide and Essential Tips for HR. Click this link.
Cappeli, P. & Tavis, A. (2023). The Performance Management Revolution. Harvard Business Review. Click this link.
Mercer. (2024). Global Talent Trends 2024-2025. Click this link.
Amazing Workplaces. (2024). Adobe’s Check-In: The Future of Performance Reviews. Click this link.
Ezama, S. (2024). Sharing Our Latest Culture Memo. Netflix. Click this link.
Gainsford, M. (2024). Zappos culture and performance. Titus Talent Strategies. Click this link.
