Meta To Roll Out Changes to Performance Review System in 2026
Tech giant Meta is redesigning the way it reviews employee performance in 2026, according to a report by Business Insider.
The revamp will incorporate a review platform dubbed Checkpoint, which will be used to re-examine employee performance biannually to determine if there are any changes. Checkpoint will hone in on identifying both top and bottom performers, rewarding the former with bonuses that could amount to up to 300% of their pay.
“While our employees have always been held to a high-performance, impact-based culture, this new direction allows for more frequent feedback and recognition in a more efficient way,” a Meta spokesperson said.
Meta is set to implement the changes in the middle of 2026.
Amazon Now Requiring Proof of Productivity for Performance Evaluations
Amazon’s annual review process, known internally as Forte, now reportedly requires employees to list three to five primary accomplishments for the year as proof of their performance. This information was gleaned from internal guidelines acquired by Business Insider.
The guidelines define accomplishments as “specific projects, goals, initiatives, or process improvements that show the impact of your work.”
Amazon’s mandate for employees to provide proof of productivity during performance reviews appears to be part of a larger cultural shift in the corporate sector. In September 2025, xAI employees were also asked to list their responsibilities and accomplishments to determine their future in the company.
AI Layoffs Continue to Impact Tech Sector
The technology sector has been hit with another round of layoffs. Quarterly reports indicate that one of India’s prominent IT services firms, TCS, has laid off around 30,000 employees over the span of six months. This massive downsizing was reportedly driven by widespread artificial intelligence (AI) adoption within the tech industry.
These layoffs are not localized phenomena. On the other side of the world, Silicon Valley has faced similar circumstances, as 2025 also saw several AI-driven layoffs.
The layoffs appear indicative of a trend, something many experts expected. In 2025, Goldman Sachs published a report predicting AI-driven layoffs to continue. .
Study Shows Employees Find Narrative-Based Performance Reviews Most Fair
A study conducted by researchers at Cornell University found that narrative-only feedback is considered by employees as the most fair form of feedback in the context of performance reviews. Published in December 2025, the study compared responses from 1,600 employees to performance feedback organized in three formats—numerical-only, narrative-only, or mixed.
The researchers attribute the study’s findings to the employees’ perception and interpretation of data. “We guess that the presence of a numeric component in the combined feedback may have been interpreted as evaluative or accountability focused [sic], rather than developmental. Employees may view feedback with numerical ratings as highlighting their weaknesses,” they wrote in the report.
Despite the findings, the researchers are hesitant to recommend exclusively using narrative-only performance assessments, stating, “…if you don’t have numbers, there can be some other disadvantages when you are trying to do things like administer bonuses or promotions.”
The Great Resignation was among the top headlines in 2021. It highlighted the significance of employee retention. Even though most businesses are aware that the expense of replacing employees is substantial, management is still not putting enough emphasis on retaining their personnel. The possibility is that the failure occurred due to a lack of serious effort or an inability to implement retention effectively. In any case, knowing the interrelationship between turnover, talent management, and retention is critical for HR decision-makers.
The Global Business and Organizational Excellence journal published their research done in 2021 to investigate talent management practices as a strategic technique for employee retention, to control employee turnover intentions, and to analyze how talent management practices affect employee retention and turnover intentions. This article will go over each of the sub-objectives, hypotheses, and associated outcomes, and then draw conclusions.
Before diving into the study, it may be worth taking into account the employed research method. The proposed hypotheses are tested using a quantitative method-multiple linear regression. The samples used are 236 responses from Indian IT companies.
The following are the four sub-objectives that influenced the research on retention intentions:
Recruitment and selection
The first hypothesis is framed in terms of the impact of recruitment and selection on employee retention: “The higher the degree of satisfaction with the recruitment and selection process, the higher the rate of employee retention.” The result shows that it has a positive effect on employee retention intentions, but was not statistically significant. This means that the recruitment and selection process can affect employee retention intentions, but is not as significant as other practices discussed later.
Performance and career management
The second hypothesis states that “Employee performance and career management positively affect turnover and retention intentions.” This means that employees who have opportunities for development and career progression are more likely to stay in the company for a longer period of time and feel happier and more loyal to their employers.
Teamwork and management support
The research’s third hypothesis is that “Teamwork and management support positively affect employee retention intentions.” This proposition is also statistically supported by the result, meaning that teamwork and management support increases employee retention intentions. The result showed that teamwork and management support increases an employee’s retention intentions. Employees that work as a team form bonds and trust with one another, which can help in employee retention.
Salary and compensation
Last but not least, the fourth hypothesis of the research is that “There is a significant positive association between salary and compensation and employee turnover and retention intentions.” The test revealed that the positive relationship between compensation and retention intentions was approved and statistically significant. Moreover, salary and compensation emerged as the most important factors for employee retention, which is also in line with other research.
In summary, the result of the research highlights the importance of talent management practices on talent retention. The talent retention process starts from recruitment, then the company’s performance management system and team support would provide a comfortable environment for employees to grow and progress their careers. Salary and other forms of compensation are important to attract and retain talent, as salary is one of the primary motives for employment.
These talent management practices each contribute in their own way, but when executed collectively, you may not need to find new talents as frequently as you usually do.
Performance management is undergoing huge overhauls, given that what businesses define as success shifts seemingly every year. A study by Psycnet reported that performance management improves only 28% of staff and is overall a sunk cost.
Most would agree that a well-planned business strategy is necessary for an organization to achieve desired business results. Business leaders in the highest-performing companies understand that, and while a detailed business strategy is necessary for successful organizational performance, it is not sufficient.
As an HR manager, you understand the importance of building great relationships with your employees. Here’s how technology can help you accomplish this.
