No one likes performance reviews. Awkward and tedious for both employees and managers alike, these formal appraisals often don’t assess actual performance, but instead provide infrequent feedback, little connection to rewards and subjective analyses lacking measurable data.
But a transparent culture is good for business. And while performance reviews are an antiquated practice in need of disruption, employees will always deserve a certain level of feedback to do their jobs better. A new startup is on a mission to lead said disruption, eliminating the dreaded performance review in the process.
Impraise was founded in 2014 and got off the ground after participating in Y Combinator’s program that summer. The company launched with the goal of helping employees receive more immediate performance evaluations, streamlining evaluations for human resources departments and managers.
Today, Impraise has over 120 clients around the world, including companies like Priceline, IDEO, Atlassian and M&C Saatchi.
“We believe employee feedback should be like a conversation,” said Impraise’s PR and Communications Manager, Matias Rodsevich. “A main problem we’re trying to solve is employee engagement by helping employees feel motivated and happy through real-time feedback. With our solution the feedback collected is automatically transferred into aggregated data reports, which provide insightful analytics for HR, helping them to make more accurate decisions."
The platform works like this: Impraise allows performance check-ins to happen more frequently, providing actionable analytics to employees and HR departments. The company dubs these reviews “360-degree feedback,” which allows for collaborative feedback sessions to be set up in a matter of minutes.
Impraise’s real-time feedback feature, which permits employees to request feedback whenever they want, helps employees learn faster, as the platform suggests relevant skills to provide more targeted feedback.
The company's platform also lets coworkers send evaluations to each other, encouraging team spirit and more open face-to-face conversations. This feedback can be sent anonymously or openly through Impraise's platform, aiming to create an honest culture of accountability among professional teams.
Overtime, Impraise users are also able to track their development using a digital overview of their personal growth. Employees can set their own personal goals to focus on, and then share these objectives with their colleagues to receive actionable feedback.
Currently, Impraise is focused on expanding its team and developing out its platform to be more user-friendly and insightful to employees. Impraise operates offices in both New York City and Amsterdam.
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