Performance Reviews Are Getting Worse, and the Data Proves It
In 2026, 88% of performance review mentions on Glassdoor are negative, up from 83% in 2021. That’s not just employees venting; it reflects a real and growing disconnect between how companies are managing performance and what workers actually experience. Complaints center on familiar themes: unfair or inconsistent processes, unclear expectations, and compensation that doesn’t reflect review outcomes. But the stat that stands out most is the surge in performance improvement plans. PIP mentions on Glassdoor have increased eightfold since 2021, and workers aren’t describing them as development tools. They’re describing them as a paper trail to the exit.
Part of what’s driving this trend is the broader power shift in the labor market. In a tight hiring environment, employers hold more leverage, and there’s reason to believe performance standards are being applied more aggressively because companies can get away with it right now. Stack ranking and forced distribution practices (where the bottom percentage of a team is systematically cut regardless of overall performance) have also increased fourfold since 2021, adding another layer of anxiety for workers who may be performing adequately but still find themselves at risk.
Glassdoor’s chief economist offers practical advice worth taking seriously: don’t wait for review season to understand how you’ll be evaluated. Find out upfront whether your company uses forced distribution, who has input into your rating, and what criteria you’re being measured against. The employees most blindsided by negative reviews are usually the ones who never asked. No one should be surprised by their performance review, and the best way to avoid that outcome is to have honest, frequent conversations with your manager well before the formal process begins.
Nearly Half of Employees Feel Strong Responsibility for Customer Experience, But Don’t Trust Their Company to Deliver
New customer experience data from Gallup offers a revealing look at the gap between employee effort and organizational follow-through. In Q3 2025, 43% of employees strongly agreed they feel great responsibility for the customer experience, up from 38% the year prior. That’s a trend in the right direction, but the numbers that follow tell a more complicated story.
Only 23% of employees strongly agree their organization consistently delivers on the promises it makes to customers, a figure that hasn’t moved in four years. Workers say they care, but they don’t believe their company can execute. When asked to name the single biggest barrier to quality, 37% pointed to staffing shortages. Meanwhile, nearly one in four employees say their company is actively cutting headcount (up 12% since early 2023), while 63% say they’ve been asked to take on more responsibilities. The connection is direct: you can’t take care of customers if you don’t have enough people.
The data also reinforces the business case for employee empowerment. Engaged workers are nearly four times more likely to believe their company delivers on its promises than disengaged ones, 45% versus 12%. If your team is stretched thin and morale is slipping, that gap will show up in your customer relationships, whether you’re tracking it or not. A staffing partner can help you address the headcount side of that equation before it becomes a bigger problem.
Staffing your team doesn’t have to be hard.
Reach out and see how we can help.
Frequently Asked Questions
Glassdoor data shows 88% of performance review mentions in 2026 are negative, up from 83% in 2021. Workers consistently cite unfair processes, unclear criteria, and a disconnect between review outcomes and compensation. The current labor market (where employers hold significantly more leverage) likely plays a role, with performance standards being applied more aggressively than in previous years.
A performance improvement plan is a formal document outlining specific expectations an employee must meet to remain in their role. PIP mentions on Glassdoor have surged eightfold since 2021, and workers largely describe them as a precursor to termination rather than a genuine development tool. That perception isn’t always accurate; PIPs can lead to real turnarounds, but employees who receive one should treat it seriously, understand exactly what’s expected, and communicate frequently with their manager throughout the process.
Don’t wait for the formal review to find out where you stand. Ask your manager early and often how you’re tracking against expectations. Find out whether your company uses forced distribution or stack ranking, who has input into your rating, and what criteria matter most. Glassdoor’s chief economist recommends treating this as basic professional intelligence, not politics.
Gallup data shows 37% of employees name staffing shortages as the single biggest barrier to delivering quality customer experiences. When teams are understaffed and individual contributors are absorbing more responsibilities, service quality inevitably suffers, even when employees are motivated and engaged. Nearly one in four employees also report their company is actively cutting headcount, compounding the problem.
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Glassdoor: Why performance reviews are getting more negative
Welcome back to Cornering the Job Market. Today’s Monday, February 23rd. I’m Pete Newsome, and today’s top story is about performance reviews. Everyone’s favorite subject, right? No, not at all. But Glassdoor gave us data that backs that up. They just put this out, and it tells us that in 2026, 88% of the time performance reviews have been mentioned on Glassdoor, they were negative mentions. People don’t like performance reviews, managers don’t like giving them, employees don’t like receiving them. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was 100%, but it’s 88%. And it’s up from uh 83% negative in 2021, so it’s trending in a bad direction. And when I see that, the first thing that comes to mind is that’s indicative of who holds all the cards right now. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if employers are holding their employees to a higher standard right now because they can in this current job market. Shouldn’t be that way, but that may be the reality that we’re facing.
And workers continue to raise the same issues with these reviews that the process isn’t fair or structured, they have unclear criteria that they’re supposed to be meeting, and that there’s a disconnect between compensation and what the reviews actually say. But the big one that this report shows is around performance improvement plans or pips. The mentions of those on Glassdoor have surged eightfold since 2021. So a lot more pips are being given out right now. So that number just kind of jumped off the page. Um, and what’s unfortunate is that workers aren’t talking about pips as a development tool. They’re describing them as a fast track to getting pushed out the door. And I hear that a lot, right? And I’ve I I I know that that is a common sentiment, clearly, on Glassdoor tells us that, but employers give a pip as almost a last resort, and it’s a way of signaling to the workers that you have to meet these expectations. And so, yes, no one likes them. Managers don’t like giving them. Look, you want your team to be successful and happy, but it’s a way of drawing a line in the sand. And I will tell you from my personal experience, I’ve seen it work both ways. I’ve seen pips be completely disregarded and no change at all happened.
But I’ve also seen some huge turnarounds and in a very, very good way from someone just seeing it spelled out very clearly what they need to do to meet expectations, and then being determined to meet or surpass those, and great things can happen. So for employees, I wouldn’t assume that it means you’re being forced to leave. I would look at it as a challenge, but just know that those are the expectations, right? I mean, I think that pips are what they are, they’re a necessary tool in many cases as a step for either someone stepping up or yeah, being um you know being let go. But I would be shocked to find out that there’s many situations where managers don’t want the employees to succeed. They may think they likely won’t, but why have someone on your team if you don’t want them to perform well, right? You of course want them to do that. So it’s an interesting thing, perception versus reality on there. But make no mistake, if an employee is receiving a pip, well, that’s that’s a sign that if they don’t turn things around, they’re probably going to be removed from the organization pretty quickly.
Also in this report, talking about stack ranking and forced uh distribution, that mentions of that have increased uh about 4x since 2021. Forced distributions are basically just when you you rank your team and the bottom 10%, and it could doesn’t have to be 10%, but generally speaking, the bottom 10% is let go. I don’t like that personally, because if everyone’s performing well, why would you let anyone go? But I think it was Jack Welsh who who started that back in the 80s, maybe the 90s, as a way of saying we’re going to constantly look to upgrade our team. Uh we’re going to rank everyone and then move that bottom 10% or whatever that number is out. And so we’re always going to have better people tomorrow collectively than we do today. But workers don’t like it. Why would of course they don’t? Um it’s not something I’ve ever been a proponent of, but it looks like it’s happening with a lot more frequency right now than it did just a few years ago.
And Glassdoor, I don’t always agree with Glassdoor. I generally don’t like performance review sites because they tend to only attract the outliers, and most of them are going to be negative. So you don’t always get a clear picture of an organization of what it’s really like day to day. And so when I talk about these uh review sites, I always say, look for the ones in the middle, right? Look for the threes and the fours that will give you probably the most fair assessment of an organization. But nonetheless, in this case, Glassdoor does give some uh some what I consider to be really good advice from their chief economist who produced this piece. He said that the most important thing for employees as it relates to performance reviews is understand how the process works before you get into the moment, before review season hits. So find out if your company uses a forced distribution. Find out who has input into your rating and what criteria you’re going to be measured by. So that’s not being political at all. That’s just being smart. If you are part of an organization, it is incumbent upon you to understand the rules.
And one of the things that I believe in very, very strongly, a lesson that I learned the hard way, the hardest possible way as a young professional many years ago, is that you have to make sure that your boss, in whatever structure, whatever environment you’re in, is pleased with your performance. That is everyone’s number one job responsibility if they’re an employee somewhere. And perception very much is reality. So that is something that I think really, again, good advice here from um from Glassdoor on this is understand what’s expected of you, understand how that review is going to work, and check in along the way. That is something that I think should be just 101, but probably doesn’t happen enough. Where you don’t have to wait till the end of the year to find out how you’re doing. Be constantly in touch with your manager, assess their perception of you. And if they’re pleased with your performance, ask with frequency what you need to be doing better, if there’s any gaps or if there’s anything you’re lacking. I mean, just communicate. I think that is the message. I think that should be common sense, but I don’t know that it’s applied enough universally.
And if people are surprised by their review, I will say that’s largely avoidable. I will say that. You should no one should be surprised by their review. I believe uh in that as a manager. I certainly wouldn’t want to wait until that time to express uh dissatisfaction with an employee. But as a worker, as an employee, take the bull by the horns and don’t wait. Force those conversations, ask for them. Managers will appreciate it. They won’t always give you a clear picture, a clear answer. Nothing works 100% of the time. But if you go to your manager and ask, hey, what do I need to be doing better? Is there anything you’re dissatisfied with? It’s a really smart move to do and something you should put into practice with regularity. So, Glassdoor, that’s what they shared with us today. This wasn’t a big news day.
Gallup: Employees care about customers, but don’t trust their companies to deliver
The only other uh headline-worthy story that I picked up was from Gallup. They published new customer experience data, and it shows that in Q3 of last year, 43% of employees strongly agreed that they feel great responsibility for the customer experience. It should be closer to 100%. We’d like that, but almost half feel feel strong, feel feel great responsibility. It’s a it’s a trend in the right direction. It’s up from 38% the year before. So that’s positive. I do wonder why it’s not higher, but so be it. That’s what the data tells us. Only 23% strongly agreed that their organization always delivers on the promises it makes to customers. That is disappointing to see. Actually, all these numbers are in this in this Gallup poll. Um, and that number hasn’t moved. That’s been the same for the last four years.
So we have workers who say they care, at least around half of them do, but they don’t believe that their company can deliver. When Gallup asks the workers to name the single biggest barrier to quality, the answer there was overwhelming. They say that it’s staffing shortages. 37% named that as the top obstacle to taking better care of their customers. They don’t have enough staff. So nearly one in four employees say their comp company’s actively cutting headcount right now, which is up 12% since early 2023. So you’re already short staff in as far as being able to take care of your customers, and 25% roughly are cutting right now. Um again, this report just isn’t uh isn’t a good sign in in terms of how employees are feeling right now regarding their custom their employer’s treatment of customers. Now, meanwhile, 63% of employees say they’ve been asked to take on more responsibilities. 52% say that budget reductions are the reason that’s happening, and that’s up 23 points from last year, so huge increase there. So, despite some of the headlines that we see coming from the White House in particular, telling us how good things are, reality on the street, so to speak, is very different right now.
A couple other stats. Engaged workers are nearly four times more likely to believe their company delivers on the promises that they make than disengaged workers. So 45% versus 12%. So as an employer, make sure you’re treating your team right, make sure that they are engaged. That is incumbent upon you. So we all have responsibilities in this. Uh, we talked about that a few minutes ago, what the employees’ responsibilities are in terms of knowing where they stand. But employers, if you have an unhappy team, well, they’re not gonna expect a lot from of you. They’re probably not gonna deliver as much on your behalf. So that can be fixed. Everyone should be communicating with each other to let uh to find out where each other stand, right? That is maybe the theme for today. So that those are the headlines. Like I said, it was a light story day.
Fun fact: The Sunday scaries peak at 3:58 PM
So before we go, quick fun fact. The Sunday scaries, not so fun of a fact. Nobody likes Sunday Scaries, but supposedly they peak at 3 58 p.m. on Sunday afternoons for most people. Who determined that? I don’t know. I read these fun facts on the fly every day, and um I that’s that’s what it tells us. Four o’clock, roughly, not four, but 3.58 is when the Sunday scaries peak. I remember feeling that years ago uh when I mentioned I learned a lesson the hard way earlier, that it was in that job uh when I was in my 20s. And let me tell you, it’s not worth it. Find another way. Don’t quit your job until you have one, not in this market. But if you are feeling that and you’re dreading Monday on Sunday afternoon, find a way to get into a situation that’s better, right? Put forth a lot of effort into a job search and get into a situation that’s happy, or talk to your manager, see if you can turn a bad situation into a better one because you don’t want to live that way. You don’t want to have to dread going into work every Monday. So those are my thoughts. Thank you for listening.
