How Tech is Changing the Way We Manage Performance

Performance reviews have long been an integral part of performance management, but the time for change has come. New guidelines have been introduced to turn outdated methods into an effective performance management plan. Performance Management technology has revolutionized the way reviews are handled, feedback is given and employees are engaged.

So, where has HR tech impacted performance management? Check out these areas:

Reviews

Face-to-Face Reviews:

Face-to-face reviews are the backbone of performance management. Setting aside time for employers and managers to meet and discuss goals, improvement areas and other factors affecting their performance is crucial. Technology can help keep track of review cycles and set them in motion when the time comes. This makes the whole process run smoothly, efficiently and with minimal effort so you can focus on better reviews every year.

Peer and 360 Reviews:

Peer and 360 reviews give employees a better idea of how they — and their work — are perceived from a range of perspectives, not just in the eyes of their direct managers. Typically used as a developmental tool, certain subjects such as compensation or promotions should, understandably, not be subject to the opinion of others.  

“My opinion is that 360s are very important for individual development. It can be an incredibly helpful tool to help managers see their impact on their peers and the people they manage. And I’m not necessarily in the camp that 360s should be in the formal process. I think stripping away the financial components [the compensation-related aspects of performance reviews] makes the 360 a much more useful tool. I’m also not a fan of anonymity here. I am a fan of developmental 360s that are not anonymous as a way to really change behavior and support a manager’s development.” 

-Andy Porter, Chief People Officer at Broad Institute

ClearCompany’s Peer and 360 Reviews feature give unlimited sessions, which give a better view of employee performance in a quick and digitally secure way.

Time-Based Reviews:

Whether your organization runs anniversary-based reviews, or coordinate 30, 60 and 90-day reviews on new hires, look for a performance management platform that can cover the tasks needed. Increasing the frequency or having a continuous review process is what an effective performance management process looks like for the modern-day company. Using tech that allows for this to be a more attainable goal will help you improve your employee engagement.  

Tracking

Completion Tracking:

A completion tracker holds your team members accountable to complete review paperwork in a timely manner. Good performance management technology will allow managers or leaders to keep track of what’s done and what needs to be completed with a glance at one screen. HR tech has improved the way information is given and received while reducing the work.

ClearCompany’s software allows you to set automated reminders and keep track of progress to ensure you get the feedback you need when you need it.

Continuous Performance Tracking:

Do you know the goals you and your employees set for every year or quarter? How often do you check in on their progress or even remember whose goal is whose? Performance management software allows you to track your team members’ performance with consistent goal and project updates.

Did you know: Performance goals enable employees to plan and organize their work in accordance with achieving predetermined results or outcomes. By setting and tracking these goals, employees can develop job knowledge and skills which help them thrive in their work, take on additional responsibilities or pursue their career dreams.

Employee-Centric

Real-Time Feedback:

HR tech can empower managers to easily give feedback and implement performance when it matters most. As the newer generations - millennials and Gen Z - increasingly become the majority of the modern workforce, feedback and recognition are key. According to Gallup, millennials require more feedback than other generations do, despite only 19% of them say they actually receive routine feedback.

Having technology that allows you to easily relay feedback to employees and automatically pull all of that information into a review for a complete look at an employee’s work will help to prepare for successful review sessions.

Did you know: 60% of U.S. employees reported having a way to provide feedback about their own employee experience, but only 30% of U.S. employees said their feedback is acted upon by their employer.

“The worst metrics for monitoring (and fostering) quality candidates and thereby quality hires, however, are the metrics we’re most commonly held accountable to: time to fill and cost per hire. Of course, we need oversight into process efficiency and resource optimization, but I rarely see these metrics used as such.”

-Kyle Lagunas, Research Manager at International Data Corporation

Quality of Hire:

In the recruitment industry, knowing what type of talent your team is bringing in is important. Hiring teams use Quality of Hire to evaluate the effectiveness of their recruiting and assessments of talent. It dives into elements like the performance of your hires against internal benchmarks for specific roles and competencies as well as company values and cultural fit. All of those factors contribute to a candidate’s ability to thrive and succeed with an employer. The benefit of this is that instead of simply focusing on time-to-hire or cost-per-hire, the organization is considering who fits the need best.

Meanwhile, the metric can help illuminate challenges and encourage dialog around issues your own recruiters or hiring managers are facing. When your talent acquisition team is running at peak, your hiring processes are better equipped to support the future of the business.

ClearCompany is the only software that connects performance data to hiring, showing your team the quality of talent they are hiring, and how to find more A Players. Leverage performance data from your top employees to understand who you should be hiring.

With ClearCompany you can:

• Automatically gather information during the new hire onboarding process.
• Use goals and competency data to understand how well individuals are hiring within departments, offices and specific roles.
• Benchmark performance and overall quality of new hires against tenured employees.

Finding the right talent the first time will benefit your company by cutting down on resources spent searching for qualified candidates.

Predictive Performance:

Use technology to gather data from current team members and evaluate candidates with the click of a button. This will add dimension to your hiring process. ClearCompany’s automated reporting tools allow you to collect and leverage predictive performance data seamlessly to find your next great employee.

Employee Development:

Succession planning shouldn’t be a once a year event. Succession planning can’t happen without performance management and vice versa. One without the other isn’t a complete strategy. Succession planning is an internal process used to develop your existing team members. The key is aligning your employee development with the values and goals of your company, a process already started in the sourcing and recruitment stages.

Did you know: About ⅓ of companies don’t have a succession plan in place. Without one, you’re left without a strategy to help foster your talent to ensure professional growth within the company.

Set the stage for your company’s performance management success. Use our Performance Management Comparison workbook to find the right solution for your team. Ready now? Sign up to see a demo of ClearCompany's Performance Management System today.