New ideas for performance management – What HR needs to know
As we are emerging from an intense period of challenge and change due to the pandemic, how can HR best provide performance management support across the workforce? Performance management is a core requirement for HR leaders – and it’s important to do it effectively while also balancing responsibilities for employee wellbeing.
Performance has always been a challenge to manage effectively, particularly as the most successful approaches are highly personalised to individual employees. Of course, it also becomes even harder to maintain up-to-date performance management strategies if some employees are working remotely permanently. As the day-to-day world of work has changed for so many people over the last year – and as some businesses intend to keep changes such as remote working in a place for some roles – it makes sense to take stock and re-evaluate how your performance management goals can be achieved.
Check out the four-step evaluation plan below:
1: Set the right tone
It’s important that any performance management activity is presented in the best way – and avoids all thoughts of ‘big brother’ or checking up on people as this can be disconcerting at best and demotivating at worst. HR has a key role to play in encouraging a positive attitude across the workforce because (as we all know) happy employees are more productive. Trust is a key issue, particularly now that more employees than ever before are working remotely. Using to manage performance not only helps give clarity to employees but also gives transparency and encourages managers to trust in the facts in front of them. For managers who were used to being able to manage face-to-face but had to transition to remote working, this can be a game-changer.
2: Define your business expectations
It’s a simple point but also still vital for success. HR must ensure that every employee has a clear understanding of what is expected of them and expectations should apply to all employees, including those working off-site. Performance can only be productively managed if there are clear goals and expectations to measure against. Bear in mind too that these may have changed for some employees – those working remotely may be doing different hours from before for example.
3: Track performance
Day-to-day performance management requires HR leaders and department managers to be able to identify and recognise excellent or sub-standard performance. The software offers the opportunity for employees or their managers to set specific targets and then track progress towards achieving them. Having a sense of direction can be a powerful motivator; it also helps individual employees feel part of shared business goals and objectives as well as understanding what contribution they can make towards achieving them.
4: Give employees direction and milestones to aim for
Providing a clear and achievable career path – including the specific steps required to move forwards – is a great performance motivator. Using talent management tools and appraisal software can make this a lot easier, especially if you have a large employee base to manage. It’s also useful to link into training and development plans so that employees and their managers can see at a glance how their progression can be achieved with practical development steps and milestones.
For new ideas and guidance on how to maximise the impact of software to manage performance for all of your workforces, contact us. Our HR software experts have lots of ideas and tools that can help you make a difference quickly and easily.
