‘Nobody knows what to do differently’
Employees who learn at their annual performance review that they're falling short often hear concerns their manager has carried for months – a gap HR can close well before review season, says one specialist.
Gabrielle Arbic, integrated communications specialist at Amélio, a Quebec-based employee experience platform, says the trouble starts when feedback isn't routine and the review becomes the default venue for hard conversations.
"By then, the manager has been thinking about the concern for months, sometimes rehearsing it on the drive home or in the shower, while the employee may be discovering it," Arbic said.
The data backs her up. Gallup research published in 2024, based on a 2023 survey of more than 15,000 U.S. workers, found about half of managers say they give weekly feedback, while 20% of employees say they get it that often. A separate Gallup-Workhuman survey found just 25% of U.S. employees strongly agree they receive valuable feedback from co-workers.
Why vague feedback leaves employees guessing
Vague wording is part of the problem. Comments such as "be more proactive" are common, and they undercut a wider push to keep performance reviews from being something done to employees, as Canadian HR Reporter previously reported.
"'Be more proactive' is the horoscope of feedback. Everyone recognizes themselves in it, and nobody knows what to do differently," Arbic says.
The fix, she says, starts with HR helping managers sharpen what they observe. In a supplier delay, an employee may wait for reliable information while the manager wants an earlier warning.
Comparing views usually makes the comment concrete. "Quite often, 'be more proactive' turns out to mean 'I needed to hear about this sooner,' which is much easier to act on."
How pulse surveys can expose expectation gaps early
Data can help spot those gaps. Arbic warns a stable engagement score can hide shifts, so she recommends follow-up pulse surveys – short questionnaires on a single theme.
One pattern stands out. "When the relationship with the manager scores high and feedback scores low, people feel supported and still have no idea where they stand. That team is the most likely to be blindsided, because nobody saw anything to worry about."
Canadian data shows the weight that relationship carries. In ADP Canada's February 2026 Happiness@Work Index, 52% of workers said they feel appreciated by their direct managers, and 33% named personalized feedback or thank-you messages as one way their employer shows it.
Numbers alone won't close the gap, says Arbic, echoing findings that most HR leaders say performance management works but few can back it up. Managers at one airport client first saw the surveys as surveillance, Arbic says, but came around once results arrived with practical support.
"The survey tells you where to look. Only a conversation tells you what each person needs."
The approach extends to new hires: Arbic suggests weekly check-ins and onboarding surveys at seven, 30 and 90 days – clarity that matters amid the sharp drop in quick quitting among Canadian new hires. Indeed Hiring Lab found in June 2026 that their quit rates fell 34% from pre-pandemic levels, versus 4% for longer-tenured staff.
Who is accountable when an employee is blindsided?
When early signals are missed, who owns the outcome? Arbic says responsibility is shared among managers, HR, senior leaders and employees. "Expecting a completed form to develop someone and follow up next month is giving that form quite a job!"
Getting it wrong is costly, she says. "The cost shows up long before the rating, in mistakes made twice, work done over and skills that never got the chance to grow. The surprise can then damage trust."
In a statement, Heather Haslam, vice-president of marketing at ADP Canada, flagged a similar disconnect: "The latest Index points to a noticeable gap in how appreciation is experienced in the workplace."
Arbic's advice for Canadian HR leaders focuses on the months between evaluations: "Design the conversations between reviews as carefully as you design the review itself."
