Hogan Lovells ditches annual performance reviews for program with 'flash feedback'
Hogan Lovells has eliminated its traditional system of annual performance reviews and adopted a new “Pathways” program in which associates are required to ask partners about their performance throughout the year.
Many law firms have concluded that young lawyers want more frequent evaluations of their performance, the National Law Journal reports.
One significant part of the Pathways program is dubbed “flash feedback,” according to Allison Friend, the firm’s chief human resources officer in the Americas. It requires associates to get three pieces of feedback from co-workers every four months.
Friend told the National Law Journal that gathering flash feedback cultivates dialogue and helps associates identify trends related to the work of others in the firm.
Friend said the focus of the Pathways program is growth and development, rather than compensation. “We’ve separated the feedback process from conversations about compensation,” Friend told the National Law Journal. “As to partnership, it doesn’t determine who is on a partnership track. However, we do talk regularly with associates in the program about what paths they want to take, including partnership.”
Other law firms are making changes in their performance review process, the article points out. Reed Smith has tested a real-time feedback app for associates, for example. Drinker Biddle, on the other hand, has adopted quarterly performance reviews.
