Microsoft Ditches Peer Feedback Tool in Performance Review Overhaul

Microsoft is retiring its peer feedback tool Perspectives as part of a broader revamp of its employee performance review system. Introduced in 2018, Perspectives allowed employees to request performance inputs from colleagues, which would then be accessible to both employees and their managers.

The company found that feedback was more effective when shared through regular workplace conversations rather than formal requests, so they're shifting the focus towards ongoing discussions with peers and managers. This change comes as Microsoft simplifies its review process by introducing five rating categories and increasing differentiation between employee performance outcomes.

Perspectives had replaced an earlier tool called Feedback Tool, which enabled managers to collect and summarise peer feedback for employees. The retirement of Perspectives reflects a broader shift among large technology companies towards continuous, manager-led conversations around performance rather than relying heavily on structured feedback systems.