Microsoft is retiring a peer-feedback tool as it overhauls employee reviews, according to an internal message viewed by Business Insider.
The tool, called Perspectives, allowed employees to request input on their performance from peers that would be visible to the employee and their managers. Microsoft has been using this tool since 2018.
“The Perspectives tool is being retired,” the message says. “Feedback remains an important part of our growth mindset, and we heard from employees and managers that feedback is most valuable when shared through ongoing, in-the-moment conversations rather than formal requests.”
The tool is no longer available for new feedback requests, though employees can respond to active requests and export feedback history until September 15, according to the message. The message suggests the tool will be replaced by informal discussions with an employee’s peers.
The change comes as Microsoft overhauls its performance review system, simplifying ratings into five categories while making performance distinctions significantly sharper.
At the same time, managers have been instructed to reduce the number of employees in higher-level engineering roles as Microsoft continues flattening parts of the organization, emblematic of a broader hardcore work culture that’s spread across Big Tech in the last few years.
The Perspectives tool had replaced the company’s previous Feedback Tool, which allowed managers to collect, review, and summarize peer feedback for employees. Perspectives was intended to be “less intimidating,” as reported by Quartz in 2022, as a sign of a “kinder, gentler Microsoft.”
A Microsoft human resources executive told Quartz at the time that Perspectives deliberately omitted the word “feedback,” which she said triggered negative impressions.
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