As organizations continue to refine performance management, many still struggle to define criteria that reflect today’s work realities and support fair, effective talent decisions. New research from global HR research and advisory firm McLean & Company highlights how poorly designed performance criteria can weaken trust, increase stress, and undermine the employee experience. The firm’s resource, Guide to Establishing Performance Criteria, provides practical guidance to help HR leaders build criteria that align with organizational context and improve evaluation outcomes.
At a time when employees are paying closer attention to how their performance is measured and organizations are under pressure to get those decisions right, McLean & Company’s research, titled Guide to Establishing Performance Criteria, offers timely guidance for building criteria that are clearer, fairer, and better aligned with today’s workplace realities. In the newly published findings, the firm explains that performance criteria should evaluate both what employees accomplish and how they accomplish it, helping HR leaders create a more consistent and credible foundation for performance management.
McLean & Company outlines in its recently released industry guide that when performance criteria are misaligned, the impact extends well beyond the performance management framework. The firm cautions that organizations often overemphasize outcome-driven metrics, rely on generic criteria that do not reflect role context, or overload evaluations with too many expectations, all of which can damage the employee experience and reduce confidence in the process. According to data insights from McLean & Company’s HR Trends Survey 2025, organizations that fail to provide a positive employee experience see voluntary turnover rates that are 40% higher, while findings from McLean & Company’s HR Trends Survey 2026 show that employees in these organizations are 1.27 times more likely to report elevated stress levels.
“Performance criteria should aim to make success clearer, not more complicated,” says Leann Schneider, director, HR Research & Advisory Services, at McLean & Company. “HR leaders need to define expectations that reflect both outcomes and behaviors, keep the number of criteria focused, and ensure employees can see how their work connects to broader organizational goals.”
McLean & Company’s research finds that clearly defined criteria help clarify expectations, increase employee engagement, improve productivity, support fairer evaluations, and reinforce organizational culture. The new guide further notes that employees who understand their job expectations are 8.6 times more likely to be engaged in their work, based on McLean & Company’s Engagement Survey data (2023-2025). It also highlights that HR respondents who rate their department’s effectiveness in performance management as high are 4.7 times more likely to report having an effective employee engagement strategy, according to the firm’s HR Management and Governance Survey data (2023-2025).
Key Challenges HR Leaders Face When Establishing Performance Criteria
Despite efforts to modernize performance management, many organizations still rely on performance criteria that are too generic, too complex, or poorly aligned with how work actually gets done. McLean & Company’s findings show that when criteria miss the mark, they can erode trust, create confusion, and make it harder for organizations to evaluate performance in a way that feels fair, focused, and credible.
McLean & Company’s Practical Framework for Establishing Performance Criteria
To help organizations address these issues, McLean & Company outlines a structured approach to building more relevant and manageable performance criteria. The resource guides HR leaders through the following priorities:
- Review organizational context by grounding criteria in the organization’s performance management philosophy, strategic objectives, employee segment needs, and operational realities.
- Explore criteria options by assessing which combination of goals, role expectations, skills, competencies, values, and organizational citizenship behaviors best fits each employee segment.
- Weight and communicate criteria by assigning importance based on what matters most across roles, functions, and segments, while equipping managers with the tools and context needed to explain changes, address resistance, and gather employee feedback.
“When criteria are grounded in role realities and reinforced through communication, feedback, and coaching, organizations are better positioned to support employee growth and make performance management more effective,” outlines Justine Czencz, manager, HR Research & Advisory Services at McLean & Company.
The Guide to Establishing Performance Criteria includes practical guidance on selecting criteria, determining appropriate weighting, tailoring approaches for different employee segments, and preparing leaders to communicate expectations effectively.
To support implementation, McLean & Company also offers related learning solutions designed to strengthen the manager capabilities that bring performance criteria to life in practice. Resources including Management Fundamentals, Give Effective Feedback and Coaching, and Navigate Difficult Conversations help managers build the communication, feedback, and coaching skills needed to make performance expectations more credible, consistent, and actionable.
Media Inquiries for McLean & Company HR Analysts and Industry Experts
For media inquiries or to connect with McLean & Company analysts for exclusive, research-backed insights on HR priorities, performance management, and the employee experience, please contact Communications Manager Katie Tame at ktame@infotech.com.
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