There’s a double-edged sword high performers face at work, and it’s costing employers their talent

Good feedback is vital for retaining top performers, though they are the ones who aren’t getting it (stock image).

Being a top performer at work is a double-edged sword.

A new analysis by the management and HR platform Textio of 23,000 performance reviews across 250 workplaces in the US has found that top performers are getting the worst feedback, and it’s driving them to quit.

High-performing women have it the worst, according to the analysis, with 38% of language used in their performance reviews containing exaggerations, clichés, and fixed-mindset labels.

In other words, this is the group most likely to be stereotyped.

Ylva Baeckström, a researcher in finance at King’s College London who is also an entrepreneur and psychotherapist, told B-17 that when people — often women — do well at work, managers can think they don’t need help.

“That’s also a problem at school — the well-performing, quiet girls are ignored,” Baeckström said. “It’s the same in the workplace that you don’t need to give that person feedback in that sense because they’re already doing well. But maybe that’s not enough.”

Poor feedback is bad for retention

Good-quality feedback is vital to keep top talent.

Separate Textio research from 2023 found that workers who receive poor feedback are 63% more likely to leave their jobs within a year.

Workers say feedback must be embedded in a company’s culture rather than simply a box-ticking exercise for it to be appreciated. That’s according to global reports by the workplace software company O.C. Tanner.

Otherwise, feedback may be perceived as a one-way conversation or micromanagement, which can lead to burnout among managers and staff.

Cheryl L. Mason, the CEO of the Catalyst Leadership Management consultancy and author of “Dare to Relate: Leading with a Fierce Heart,” told B-17 that good-quality feedback benefits both employees and organizations.

“This goes to our core as human beings; we want to know we matter and that what we do is valuable,” she said. “Your employees are human beings.”

Feedback allows managers to engage and connect with their staff and vice versa, she said.

Mason added that an example of bad feedback is a supervisor telling an employee they have to do better work without providing any advice, support, or tools to help them do so, meaning the employee “feels adrift.”

Stagnation and imposter syndrome

Courtney Murphy, an author and HR expert, and the founder of the workplace consultancy WorkWell People Solutions, told B-17 that good feedback motivates people to continue to grow and develop in their roles. It also boosts morale and incentivizes continued high performance, she said.

Overly positive feedback, however, can be received as “generic or stunting,” she added.

“This can cause a high performer to perceive that their development is unimportant to the company, prompting them to consider development opportunities elsewhere,” she said.

The consequences of poor feedback can also be severe and wide-ranging, according to Murphy.

It can lead to stagnation in skills and performance, with top performers plateauing and struggling to identify their areas for improvement. Disengagement and a lack of motivation can also result.

Murphy said one unexpected outcome could also be workers experiencing imposter syndrome, where they start to doubt their abilities and contributions.

“For high performers, who often have a strong drive for excellence and growth, the absence of quality feedback can be particularly frustrating,” Murphy said. “It can leave them feeling undervalued and uncertain about their career trajectory within the organization.”

No more ‘feedback dumps’

Diane Rosen, a workplace expert, leadership coach, and president of the HR consulting firm Dr-squared Consultants, told B-17 that organizations should “strive to communicate” with their employees and create a workplace environment where they “feel seen, heard, acknowledged, and appreciated.”

She added that a “feedback dump” once a year is counterproductive because the information can be outdated, and the employees are only likely to focus on whether they got a raise or promotion.

“Performance feedback should be delivered in real time whenever possible rather than waiting for a year-end review,” Rosen said. “Timely feedback captures both positive and negative information and gives the person a chance to course-adjust before poor performance gets baked in.”

Mason said there are three steps to providing effective employee feedback. Good-quality feedback, she said, should be varied and include acknowledgments of great work and reviews of an individual’s performance.

The first step is to know what your employees are doing and how they are doing overall.

The second is to develop a plan of action, including how often feedback is going to be given, such as implementing monthly acknowledgments.

And finally, the feedback should come from an employee’s direct manager, not someone from HR.

“This is an investment of time in your employee,” Mason said. “And by doing this, you show that you care and they matter.”