I have followed this subject closely for the past few years. Many people feel that the standard appraisal is a thing of the past, but even with the changes in the industry it has been said that employee engagement levels have not improved over the last ten years.
John Bershin however says that the key to successful performance management programs is to align the talent strategy and business strategy of the organization. People understand the goal of the business and how their work contributes to achieving those goals. This alignment increases productivity and engagement.
I feel quite strongly about the importance of performance reviews and these strategies into practice within our company and we have seen great success. What we did at iFacts was to align our employee’s key performance areas with our company’s strategy. From there we put together quarterly discussions to ensure the company is on track in terms of the strategy and then align the staff accordingly. We continue to do an online appraisal but the previous year’s scores are available from the onset, the employee and the manager complete their information prior to the physical meeting. We run an employee satisfaction survey annually, as well as a customer satisfaction survey. The information from all of these is combined and used effectively to discuss career path, training requirements and a plan for the year ahead.
