Employee Performance Management
Employee performance management is critical to the success of business operations. In a world characterized by rapidly changing technology, economic booms and busts, and significant shifts in worker demographics, employee performance management is becoming both more important and more sophisticated.
Employee performance management is the process that organizations use to measure the progress their employees are making toward the achievement of predetermined goals.
Companies have various objectives in mind when they implement employee performance management processes, but one goal is of primary importance: to ensure alignment between the predetermined goals of employees and those of the larger organization.
An effective employee performance management strategy will ensure that employee workloads are fully aligned with business objectives. Implemented effectively and efficiently, and supported by the right systems, employee performance management helps to ensure the most efficient use of corporate resources. Companies that understand employee performance management processes will bring the right people into the organization and retain them. These organizations know that their most valuable asset is their workforce.
Employee performance management also helps your employees develop the skill sets that they need to achieve their own goals while they contribute to the bottom line of the organization. In short, employee performance management allows your organization to harness the full power of its workforce to achieve business objectives, while enabling individuals to realize their own full potential. It’s a win-win strategy that increases employee productivity and satisfaction, and improves the organization’s bottom line.
Employee performance management relies on information about competencies, goal progress and alignment, and employee development. This type of data is not readily available from paper-based processes that are created and maintained manually. Most organizations today rely on tools and technology to help them coordinate the variety of processes that encompass employee performance management. These include planning work and setting expectations; continually monitoring performance; developing the capacity to perform; periodically rating performance; and rewarding good performance.
In organizations that implement these employee performance management processes correctly, employees understand their roles and the company’s strategic business objectives because the expectations that are placed upon them are aligned with the business objectives and performance success that have been clearly communicated up and down the chain of command. In high-performing companies, the focus of employee development and training is crystal clear: supporting the organization’s strategic business objectives.
Employee performance management is not a new idea. In fact, in successful organizations, good managers and employees already do it: they set goals and plan work; they measure progress toward achieving those goals and give their employees feedback; they give employees the opportunity to develop the skills they need to reach their goals; and they provide formal and informal rewards to recognize achievements. These activities, undertaken in a systematic and integrated fashion, constitute effective employee performance management. The result is enhanced organizational performance.
