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“The employee performance appraisal is an underperforming, periodic business process that is loathed by both employees and managers alike. Historically linked to the annual salary review, performance appraisals often focus on HR-driven criteria for skills and competencies rather than business outcomes. The human resources management (HRM) technology solutions offered by leading vendors are typically built around this dysfunctional paradigm.” - Forrester Research, Inc. report, “Disrupt the Employee Performance Process to Align with Business and Customer Outcomes.” (July 2, 2014)
Those were some great words of wisdom from the latest Forrester report on the state of performance appraisals. Traditional performance management is a very backward-looking process. Until now, companies were so focused on last year’s performance data that nothing was being done to actually drive success and make changes in the now.Besides the focus being off, traditional performance management isn’t built with a strategy that aligns with the company values and vision. In order to take performance management from being just another compliance issue, to driving the success of the organization strategically, you will rely heavily on performance management software.
Successful Performance Management Software
A successful performance management system will put daily and big picture goals in front of employees regularly. This not only ensures that everyone is headed in the same direction, with the same map, but if a roadblock should threaten progress, your team can pivot together to ensure that productivity never takes a dip. That translates to some serious losses financially. Beyond that, when a dismal standard like that is set, it can be hard to break the wasteful patterns and processes. Performance management software will track the time that individuals spend on projects or tasks, and relay the data to managers in an easy to read format. Managers can then pinpoint issues whether they are personal time management issues, redundant practices, poor technology or inadequate training. When you don’t know there is an issue, you aren’t looking for the solution.Increasing the frequency of reviews is great for starters, but companies should be introducing 360-reviews in which employees are not only evaluated by management, but also through self-assessments and peer evaluations. The entire process is managed and implemented online so that the data can be easily stored and used to make workforce decisions. The 360-review process establishes a more accurate and well-rounded profile of the employee’s overall performance; replacing one-sided, frustrating reviews that might only reflect snapshots of performance.Most managers don’t set out to undervalue their employees, but few have a system to help them recognize their employees’ successes in real-time. A successful performance management system will alert managers of successes in real-time, so they can continuously and effectively recognize employees before it’s too late.
Performance management is going through some huge changes right now. Employers are starting to look at the whole system in a different light. It’s no longer seen as a checkbox item, but rather a viable and integral part of driving organizational success. The biggest change is the breaking down of the performance management silo. Until now, with ClearCompany’s fully integrated platform, performance management has been its own separate entity.
The traditional disconnect that we see between performance management and the other stages of the employee lifecycle renders the facilitation and management of each stage far less effective. Onboarding, compensation, succession, training and offboarding all have an essential connection with performance management and one another. Common HR technologies don’t allow HR to connect these stages, with the organization’s vision and goals at the hub, like ClearCompany’s fully integrated suite.
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