Performance & Performance Management
Performance & Performance Management covers individual employee’s performance and/or if a company has a structured performance program. Both use feedback, goals, and skills in an evaluation in which to determine accomplishments, achievements, and either recognition or improvements of that performance.
More Than an Annual Review
Let’s talk about it. One is about an individual’s job performance and the other is system to track an employee’s performance in the organization. As it’s often come up, a company is not required to do performance reviews. What both allow is timeline and assessment for both the employee and the employer.
A performance review is a backward-looking view that evaluates an employee's work behavior and work quality. These can be done monthly, quarterly, semi-annual, or annual if your employer does them. What’s on the review can vary based on the industry, job role, and if tied to a compensation formula. Most organizations build a custom version of the form.
One of the biggest issues with performance reviews is managers. The purpose of HR and extensive training of managers is to reduce bias. Consistent and fairness is a requirement, not an option. The larger the organization the better the results because using a structure system forces a more authentic result.
Examples:
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Self-Review or Self-Evaluation – these reviews can be given independently or use together with a manager’s review. It allows the manager to see the evaluation from the employee’s standpoint.
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Basic Review – these are the traditional performance reviews where the manager completes it and reviews it with the employee. Based on the company and manager, there generally should be an open conversation about improvements or if the employee disagrees with something on the evaluation.
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Rating Scale Evaluation – these reviews come with an easy-to-understand grading or rating system either using a 1–3 scale, 1–5 scale, 1-10 scale and/or attribute scale using word ranges ‘needs improvement’ to ‘exceeds expectations’, both need to be define on the review form and managers are trained for consistency
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Measurement Reviews – these can be specialized down to objectives, KPIs, knowledge, and more. These are part of a performance management system. They are trackable and matched against the data; so it’s eliminated the bias (almost) and reporting supports the evaluation.
Those are the basic versions used; the next ones are the highly specialized ones:
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Customer Aggregated Evaluations – these are geared toward customer facing roles, allowing customers to give honest feedback on the representative’s service. Based on how it’s set up a percentage of the score is used. It’s not full proof if customers abandon the survey.
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360 View Review – this one is a review on steroids, the premise is to get a fully understood performance, outside of what the manager sees. So, the employee’s manager would complete a review, 2 to 4 co-workers in and outside the department would complete a review and another manager of senior manager would complete a review. The review focuses on how the employee works with others. Variation includes a manager being reviewed by their direct reports, outside customers, and vendors.
Consult your employee handbook; it will explain the review process, wage compensation and how they are done or not done at all. These are business specific.
Performance Management System – is a forward-looking, employee growth planning system. It tracks all the training, additional education, coaching, mentoring, internal projects, outside volunteering and career development pathways. Based on the system set up it generally allows employees to input entries, HR/Training department, and the employee’s manager. These systems are highly beneficial. By housing all information in one place, it makes the review process easy.
These are found in large businesses; who have extensive training programs and understand the power of growing an employee within the organization. From an employee’s standpoint, it is a resource and keeps them on track for leveling up.
Compensation & Wage Increases - go to Compensation & Benefits page.
360 View Evaluation, My Personal Story:
I worked for a progressive organization, who was always on the cutting edge of new performance systems, they roll it out. As managers we were trained. Employees were trained. Vendors, Customers, and Consultants were trained. The number of questions the reviewer completed were based on relationship. The overall percentage of score equated to compensation increase I would get, in this example.
My scorecard was made up of the following who completed a review of my performance:
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Direct manager
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2 managers (across the organization)
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All my direct reports (3 employees)
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1 Vendor
The review period opens, reviews completed, and the review period was closed. It would take at least a few weeks before the results would be viewable. A lot of chatter about a ‘delay’ and a ‘problem’ uncovered. With anything new, even with extensive testing, you never know what will occur until you run live.
The problem was with the direct reports grading their managers; but specifically, one out of 400+ employees in the organization. That one individual grade 0 on five questions, with grades of 3 or lower the employees was required to give a reason, the employee wrote “her work ethic is too high”. The low score dropped the compensation payout to 1%.
The next year, a repeat and that one employee graded 0 and the reason “she’s too smart and I don’t like it”. HR never disclosed who the employee was or what was written. A week after the closure of this review cycle I received an invite to the executive conference room with no context. Walked into the entire executive team and my manager.
I need to add that I had a unique relationship with the CEO, every quarter we sat next to each other for breakfast and bonded over bacon. The breakfast was an awards ceremony, in my tenure with the company I won the most service awards ever. We had a lot of breakfasts together.
So, when he said there was an issue and he valued my opinion on an important matter. I was not prepared for the employee’s review on split screen on the projector screen. The ‘one’ was mine.
I said, “If the issue was my high work ethic and intelligence, I’m not sure I can lower them to get a high score out of Linda”. The room all started laughing, because of how ridiculous it was.
There is value in views and opinions from employees, I don’t think it should impact compensation. They removed employee feedback from the review process.