A Message from Our CEO – May 2025
“Time may change me, but I can’t trace time”
- David Bowie
Deep in the Sierra Diablo Mountain range of West Texas sits a clock designed to keep accurate time for 10,000 years. It’s called “The Clock of the Long Now.” 10,000 years—this is how long it feels for Gen Z employees to get their annual performance review.
The Annual Review. RIP. It’s toast. Burnt toast—bitter and dry like an overnight shift supervisor with bad breath. And Gen Z is having none of it. It was always a painful ritual for managers and employees. You sit for an hour and talk about your “strengths” and “areas of opportunity.” A thrill a minute.
Why this doesn’t work:
Gen Z grew up immersed in real-time feedback loops—likes, retweets, and algorithmic nudges. Waiting a full year to hear how they’re doing feels as outdated as dial-up internet. According to Forbes, 37% of Gen Z employees drop tasks they can’t complete independently. That’s not laziness—it’s a blinking neon sign for help and support. And if managers aren’t paying attention, they’re missing the moment to lead.
The old-school, top-down performance review—once a sacred managerial ritual—was never all that beloved, but now it’s simply irrelevant. Gen Z doesn’t want a report card. They want coaching. They want partnership. They want to grow, not be graded.
This isn’t a coddled generation—it’s an interactive one. They’re wired for feedback loops and expect the same from work that they get from their apps: responsiveness, relevance, and the ability to adjust course in real time. Yearly reviews don’t cut it. By the time the feedback arrives, the moment for learning has passed—and often, so has the employee.
What’s needed? A shift to continuous, participatory performance strategies. Think check-ins, micro-feedback, two-way conversations, and collaborative goal-setting. Think less clipboard, more coaching. This isn’t about lowering the bar—it’s about building the next generation of leaders through clarity, connection, and trust.
The bigger challenge? Managers. Many still operate on a 1990s firmware. They’re untrained, overloaded, and unclear about how to engage a generation that expects a workplace to feel more like a partnership than a hierarchy. If companies are serious about retention and development, they need to stop blaming “kids these days” and start training managers in 21st-century leadership: coaching, emotional intelligence, real-time feedback, and—above all—listening.
So what can managers actually do?
Host regular 1-on-1 check-ins—every week. They don’t need to be long. Just consistent. Ask 3 questions: What’s working? What’s stuck? How can I help?
Use tools like 15Five or Lattice to track employee sentiment and performance in real time. These tools make it easy to surface concerns early and give praise when it matters most.
Try “Start-Stop-Continue” conversations monthly. Ask employees what they need you to start doing, stop doing, and continue. It’s direct, actionable, and invites dialogue—not monologue.
It’s TIME to change how you manage.
Now. Means. Now.
Warren