This practitioner-oriented article from HRMorning addresses five widely recognised problems with traditional annual performance reviews: infrequent cadence, poor timing of feedback, interpersonal awkwardness, excessive complexity, and overly generic improvement plans. The author's central argument is that annual reviews are structurally inadequate for modern hybrid and remote work environments, and that organisations relying on them for compensation and accountability decisions risk actively harming performance outcomes. Key evidence includes a Gallup finding that performance reviews lead to worse performance one-third of the time, alongside practitioner commentary from Lana Peters, Chief Revenue and Experience Officer at Klaar, an HR technology platform. The article proposes a series of corrective approaches: increasing feedback frequency to monthly or biweekly cadences, separating performance conversations from compensation discussions, introducing structured one-on-one formats, and applying flexible rather than standardised performance improvement plans. The implied conclusion is that continuous, conversational performance management outperforms periodic formal review cycles, though the supporting evidence is limited and the primary expert voice is affiliated with a commercial HR platform. Key insights: Annual performance reviews are characterised as structurally misaligned with modern work patterns, including hybrid and remote arrangements, because the extended gap between discussions allows performance issues and recognition to go unaddressed. A Gallup-cited finding indicates that performance reviews result in worse employee performance approximately one-third of the time, attributed to the defensive or resentful reactions triggered by delayed, retroactive feedback. The article identifies conflation of multiple high-stakes topics — compensation, promotion, improvement planning, and developmental feedback — within a single annual review as a structural driver of complexity and reduced effectiveness. Practical takeaways: Organisations separating performance feedback conversations from compensation and promotion discussions, and conducting them at different times, may reduce the complexity and emotional charge associated with combined annual reviews. Structuring manager-employee one-on-ones around three recurring themes — recent goal review, development planning, and specific praise — offers a repeatable conversational format that avoids the administrative burden of formal review paperwork.