In any workplace, keeping the employee motivation high is always on top of the company’s agenda. To achieve this, there are many dos. From policies and adequate infrastructure to the company‘s growth and bottom-line trajectory, everything matters. Amongst these, one essential element is the effectiveness of the company’s Employee Performance Management, EPM. This is, in fact, fundamental to accomplishing any employee’s motivational goal. For a long time, I have emphasized this essential mandate. This was one of my main focuses fourteen years ago when I went on to implement the people-first HR policy in EFS and realised the many benefits all stake holders in company can get.
I have always maintained that it must not only be an annual exercise, but a continuous process with regular interface with the employees. Fairness and transparency are a must to ensure its effectiveness. To conduct performance assessments, the employees must understand the evaluation criteria, trusting their reviews as unbiased and equitable. It must not only be done for the purpose of annual rewards and recognition, but also a part of employee perpetual engagement and developmental life cycle, where their correctional or developmental perspectives are well factored.
The performance management assessment must begin with goal setting. This involves aligning individual performance with the organisation’s overall objectives and mission, which ensures that an employee’s efforts contribute to the success of the team and the company as a whole.
Another macro aspect for the success of effective EPM implementation is setting processes that factor in regular feedback based on correctional, development and progressional elements of each employee. This is crucial for employee development and continuous improvement. At EFS, we do this as a half-yearly exercise, but even a quarterly schedule would be an advantage. Incorporating feedback from various sources, including peers, subordinates, and supervisors, helps gain a comprehensive view of an employee’s performance. This comprehensive feedback can offer valuable insights into their teamwork, collaboration, and leadership capabilities.
At EFS, we have categorized our Employee Performance Management (EPM) process into three parts: Personal, Professional, and Functional result areas. The first two are associated with an employee’s personal and professional conduct at work, while the functional key result areas are based on performance metrics established during the goal-setting exercise at the beginning of the year.
I would list the key drivers and considerations therein into six categories.
Goal setting
Goal setting is an annual exercise that informs employees of the goals they need to achieve and the performance metrics against each goal that their performance will be evaluated on. This helps employees stay focused and engaged, knowing what they need to achieve while performing their job responsibilities. Ensuring that these goals are achievable and measurable is crucial to keeping employees motivated and committed to achieving them.
Competency Assessment
Each role in an organization requires specific attributes that help employees deliver on their job responsibilities. These attributes are evaluated against the required competency levels for that particular role. While such assessments are typically done for select positions, some organizations extend them to executives and managers as well. At EFS, we use a digital assessment interface to evaluate competency levels for all levels of management, categorized into personal, professional, or functional attributes. This helps employees objectively ascertain their competency levels and provides a fair basis for both the organization and employees to work on their development across their personal, professional, or functional areas.
Performance Review
It is essential to use objective and impact-driven metrics, such as productivity levels, targets (if applicable), customer satisfaction ratings, and work quality metrics, to accurately measure employee performance. These metrics provide a quantitative basis for annual evaluation and must holistically map an employee’s performance based on their functional role.
Performance Improvement Plans
The Employee Performance Management (EPM) process should include mechanisms for assessment throughout an employee’s lifecycle and define corrective interventions for employees failing to meet the desired results. If an employee’s performance falls below expectations, the company should establish processes to provide a performance improvement plan that offers guidance and support and qualitative feedback. It is crucial to factor in assessment to clearly define employee development opportunities and identify areas where employees can enhance their skills. At EFS, we have introduced three categories, Correctional, Developmental and Progressional, in our annual performance reviews to ascertain how a company can offer developmental interventions tailored to an employee’s specific needs. This can include corrective actions for the developmental side within the current role for performance enhancement or identifying particular skills for progressional opportunity within the organization. If an employee is identified for the next move, there may be a need for certain Learning and Development support, which should be clearly defined through an Individual development plan (IDP).
Dynamic Learning and Developmental platform
The desired impact of performance management requires effective Learning and Development integration post assessments. It must focus on corrective and development aspects through a comprehensive L&D strategy. This synchronisation is a must to empower EPM for its desired results. The L&D departments must work collaboratively with the Performance Management teams and strong coordination must remain in place to monitor the impact of various L&D interventions.
Technology and Data
The use of technology and data integration is crucial in the Employee Performance Management (EPM) process. The entire employee engagement life cycle data, from the initial interview to their competency assessment to multiple annual performance reviews, needs to be harnessed and available for review when assessing employee performance and making decisions related to rewards, recognition, and progression. This enables a comprehensive and data-driven approach to EPM, which can lead to more informed decisions and better outcomes for both the organization and employees.
Effective Employee Performance Management (EPM) is a fundamental requirement for any organization, and it can have a significant impact on the company’s bottom line and Human Resources. When implemented effectively, EPM can boost productivity, retention, efficiency, and career progression, which can directly impact profitability while enhancing the staff’s motivation levels.