Performance Reviews in the UAE: Train Managers to Give Feedback

For many companies in the UAE, November and December are review season. Objectives get scored, ratings get calibrated, and managers block out a string of one-to-one meetings before the year closes. It is meant to be the moment people leave with clarity and energy for the year ahead. Too often, it does the opposite.

According to the Robert Walters Middle East Salary Survey 2026, reported by Khaleej Times, 26% of professionals in the UAE felt less positive about their role after their last performance review, while only 21% said it left them more optimistic about their future with their organisation. In the same survey, 66% said they were considering a move to a new role this year. Put those numbers side by side and the stakes are clear: a badly handled review is not just an awkward meeting, it is a retention risk.

The good news is that the gap is rarely about the form, the rating scale or the software. It is about the conversation, and conversation is a skill managers can learn. This article looks at why year-end feedback so often misfires, what the evidence says works, and how HR teams can prepare their managers before the next round of reviews.

What UAE employees are telling us about reviews

Employees increasingly expect reviews to talk about growth, not only ratings.

The Robert Walters findings point to a shift in expectations. Reviews are no longer only about salary and promotion. Employees want to understand how their skills are valued, where they can progress and how their contribution is recognised. The firm notes that many professionals understand the financial pressures their employers face, but still walk out of reviews unsure of their future. In the same survey, 46% said they were concerned about their company's ability to retain staff.

That combination matters for HR leaders in Dubai and across the UAE. When budgets are tight, the pay part of the conversation may be fixed. The part that is entirely in a manager's hands is everything else: how clearly they explain the assessment, how fairly people feel they were judged, and whether the employee leaves with a credible picture of what comes next. Robert Walters' own conclusion is that organisations which handle these conversations with transparency and consistency are best placed to keep and attract talent.

Why feedback so often backfires

It is tempting to assume that any feedback is better than none. The research says otherwise. The CIPD's evidence review on performance feedback, published in 2022, revisits a landmark analysis by Kluger and DeNisi covering 607 feedback interventions. Overall the effect on performance was positive, but in more than a third of cases performance actually got worse after feedback. How feedback is given decides which side of that line a team lands on.

The CIPD review highlights several patterns that are directly relevant to year-end reviews.

General comments do little

Specific, task-related feedback (what was expected, what happened, what could be done differently next time) is far more likely to improve performance than an overall verdict such as "solid year" or "needs to step up". Explaining the reasons behind a judgement also makes difficult feedback more useful.

Managers overestimate how clear they are

The review notes that managers often believe their critical feedback is clearer than employees actually find it. A manager may leave a meeting convinced they delivered a direct message, while the employee leaves confused or simply discouraged. That gap is precisely where the "less positive after my review" feeling grows.

Pay talk drowns out development

According to the CIPD, feedback given during pay or promotion discussions is less likely to be taken on board. When the salary outcome is announced in the same breath as developmental advice, people tend to hear only the number. The review recommends keeping appraisal and pay decisions separate from developmental feedback wherever possible.

Fairness decides whether feedback lands

People accept feedback more readily when standards are consistent, information is accurate and complete, and they have a chance to give their own input. Feedback also lands better when it comes from someone who understands the work and is seen as trustworthy. Positive, strengths-focused feedback tends to improve performance, even for lower performers, while negative feedback is harder to accept as fair.

The real lever is the conversation, not the calendar

If one meeting a year carries all the weight, it will almost always disappoint. The CIPD's guidance on performance management puts it simply: "Performance management should be a continuous cycle, not an isolated event."

Gallup's research shows what that looks like in practice. According to Gallup, 80% of employees who say they received meaningful feedback in the past week are fully engaged. Yet when Gallup asked nearly 15,000 employees about their most recent conversation with their manager, only 16% described it as extremely meaningful. Gallup also finds that short, regular check-ins of 15 to 30 minutes have more impact than longer conversations held less often.

Feedback gaps are not limited to managers either. Research by Gallup and Workhuman found that 46% of employees do not get feedback from their managers as often as they would like, and only a quarter strongly agree that they receive valuable feedback from the people they work with. Those who do are five times as likely to be engaged.

None of this means the annual review should disappear. It means the annual review works best as a summary of conversations that have already happened, so that nothing in it comes as a surprise.

Feedback is a skill, so train it like one

Practising feedback in a safe workshop setting builds confidence before the real conversations.

Most managers are promoted for being good at their job, not for being good at difficult conversations. Expecting them to deliver fair, specific, motivating feedback without preparation is a bit like expecting someone to present to the board without ever rehearsing.

The evidence on training is encouraging. Gallup's meta-analysis of 17 studies, covering more than 14,700 participants, found that managers who went through upskilling showed 10% to 22% higher engagement than their peers, and their teams had 21% to 28% lower turnover. The CIPD review also recommends training managers specifically to give well-prepared, specific feedback that explains the reasons behind it.

Good feedback training for managers usually goes beyond theory. It includes:

• Practice with real scenarios. Role-playing a conversation with a high performer who expected a promotion, or a team member whose year was affected by personal circumstances, builds confidence far faster than slides.
• Listening and questioning skills. The CIPD points to "feed-forward" approaches, where managers draw out an employee's own view of past successes and how to repeat them. This turns a verdict into a dialogue.
• Nonviolent and clear communication. Separating observations from judgements, and describing impact rather than labelling people, keeps the focus on the work and the next step.
• Cultural awareness. UAE teams bring together many nationalities, languages and expectations about hierarchy and directness. A message that feels clear and respectful to one person may feel blunt or vague to another. Managers benefit from practising how to adapt their style without diluting the message.
• Looking after themselves. Delivering a long series of reviews in a few weeks is draining. Managers who are stretched thin tend to rush, and rushed feedback is rarely specific or fair.

What companies can do before this year's reviews

You do not need to redesign your performance system to make this cycle better. A few practical steps make a visible difference.

1. Brief managers early. Share the timeline, the criteria and a short guide on how to structure the conversation at least a few weeks before reviews start.
2. Run a focused feedback workshop. A half-day session where managers practise their hardest upcoming conversations is often the most valuable preparation they get all year.
3. Separate pay from development where you can. If budgets allow, hold the compensation discussion and the growth conversation at different moments, as the CIPD evidence suggests.
4. Invite employees to prepare too. Ask people to reflect on their own wins, challenges and goals beforehand, so the meeting becomes a two-way exchange.
5. Check the experience afterwards. A short, anonymous pulse question ("Did you leave your review with a clear idea of your next step?") tells you far more than completion rates.
6. Build the habit for next year. Encourage short, regular check-ins from January onwards, so the next annual review is a recap, not a revelation.

Conclusion

Year-end reviews will always carry emotion, especially when pay is on the table. But whether people leave feeling seen or sidelined depends largely on the person sitting across from them, and on whether that person has been prepared for the conversation. In a market where so many professionals are open to moving, investing in how managers give feedback is one of the most practical retention decisions an HR team can make. Culture changes people, and it is built one conversation at a time.

At Safe to Grow, we design custom training programs for companies in Dubai and across the UAE, including communication, leadership and stress management, shaped around your managers and your culture. Combined with our corporate wellbeing sessions, they help teams keep growing all year round, not just at review time. Talk to our team about preparing your managers for their next round of conversations.

Sources

• Khaleej Times, "UAE employees want more from performance reviews than just salary, says new report" (Robert Walters Middle East Salary Survey 2026)
• MIT Sloan Management Review Middle East, "Only 21% of UAE Workers Feel More Optimistic After Performance Reviews, Study Finds"
• CIPD, "Performance feedback: an evidence review" (2022)
• CIPD, "Performance management" factsheet
• Gallup, "A Great Manager's Most Important Habit"
• Workhuman and Gallup, "Elevating Cultures of Feedback Through Recognition"

Photos: Kindel Media (cover) and Cedric Fauntleroy on Pexels, Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash.