---
title: "2 Employee Review Mistakes Agency Owners Keep Making"
description: "Two common employee review mistakes that damage trust and kill retention in agencies — and what to do instead."
url: https://timkilroy.com/blog/2-donts-of-employee-reviews
date: 2022-08-22
updated: 2026-02-28T22:56:25Z
category: "Management"
author: Tim Kilroy
---

# 2 Employee Review Mistakes Agency Owners Keep Making

_Two common employee review mistakes that damage trust and kill retention in agencies — and what to do instead._


**There are two “don’ts” to keep in mind during employee reviews.** 

**Number One: Avoid Finger Pointing. **If you're pointing your finger at your employees saying, "You have done this thing that I don't like," that's not a review. You're yelling at them. A review needs to be kind because people don't respond to finger wagging. 

**Number Two: Avoid Lack of Relevance. **Many of the things that people bring out as either positives or negatives about employee performance aren't relevant to what they do. For example, when I worked for somebody else, I was once told that a negative part of my review was the fact that my cubicle was messy. It didn't present the image that this company wanted. So, I said, “If you don't want my desk to be messy, give me a drawer where I can put things away. The reason why my desk is messy is because I'm not thinking about the way my cubicle looks. I'm thinking about what I have to get done. Talking about my cubicle isn't relevant at all to my performance.”

[Watch on YouTube (YouTube)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=774KG4Tr870)

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Canonical URL: https://timkilroy.com/blog/2-donts-of-employee-reviews