Performance Appraisal is one of the most important process in an organization, especially for the employees. But often, employees feel unsatisfied and harbour a bitter feeling towards the managers and the organization once the process is over. It happens because of some of the common mistakes which the managers make in conducting the process.

Here are some tips to help you measure your employee’s performance better.

Halo Effect

When a real time performance management software is not in place to conduct continuous performance evaluations, managers tend to have a clouded judgement because of recency bias. They tend to forget past work and achievements of employees and conduct the performance appraisal based on just their recent work.

A manager should do their background work on knowing about the tasks and achievements of the employee, or have a real time performance management system in place to keep a track of it.

Also Read: Don’t Let Recency Bias Affect Your Performance Discussions

Make It Regular

Often managers commit the mistake of holding their reviews and feedback until it’s time for annual performance appraisal. They fail to realize what impact an instant and continuous feedback process can have on their employees. As a result, the employees are not sure when they are working in the wrong direction or right.

The managers believe that performance appraisal is the right time to provide feedback to their employees. But as performance appraisals happen half-yearly or annually in most companies, it becomes too late to receive feedback for some work which was done at the beginning of the year. Using a real time performance management software would solve the problem easily. Their progress can be easily tracked and reviewed, and it will not be a surprise for them at the time of appraisal.

Absence Of An Action Plan

Often managers and employees leave out one key component from the performance appraisal… discussion about future plans. A manager’s job involves not only assessing the employee at present but also guiding them in achieving personal and career goals of the future. This helps in an easy career transition of an employee. They can easily switch roles, and also change projects as per their plans.

Also Read: Understanding Employee Wellbeing In 2021

Not Recognizing Achievements

In a recent survey conducted by Bureau of Labor Statistics, they found that 25% of employees leave organization due to lack of recognition.

If your organization is not practicing a continuous feedback approach to recognize your employees, then performance appraisals are just the perfect time to do so. Instead of focusing too much on negatives and criticisms, appreciate your employees for their accomplishments and strengths. This type of constructive feedback will not only improve their productivity at work, but will also improve their engagement.

Using Engagedly’s Real Time Performance Management Software you can publicly praise your employees and also award points for accomplishments. The praises and rewards will be visible to everyone in the organization.

Delaying The Process

Many organizations tend to postpone or altogether cancel the performance appraisal process. They are not the only yardstick to measure employee performance, but employee promotions and salaries surely depend on it. To delay or postpone them creates a bad impression of the manager or the organization on the employees. Employees might feel that they are not given enough importance, and all the organization cares about is work. If managers are not getting an ample amount of time to conduct a yearly performance review, they can opt for continuous feedback or quarterly reviews.

Failing To Set SMART Goals

As a manager, performance appraisal is the correct time to set SMART goals for your employees based on past goals and objectives. Give them an outline of what is expected from them in the next performance cycle. The acronym SMART stands for:

• Specific–Goals should not be vague, or else they are bound to fail soon
• Measurable–An ideal goal should be measurable so that the progress and completion can be tracked. Measurable goals help us define its success
• Achievable–Any goal should be achievable; they shouldn’t be too difficult or easy
• Relevant–Goals should be relevant
• Timely–Goals should specify the time during which it is to be completed

An ideal example of a SMART goal for an IT project would be to complete 60% UI/UX (Specific, Measurable, and Achievable) designing of the website in two months (Relevant and Timely). The goal should not be rigid and should be flexible to changes.

Also Read: Here’s How To Set Effective Goals For Your Employees

No Follow Up

A perfect performance appraisal, SMART goals, timely rewards, and recognition; all of these would be of no use if there is no follow up from your end. Check with your employees from time to time if the project is on track and development plans are met and milestones achieved. If there is no proper follow-up, employees often fall through the gap and lose their motivation, which ultimately affects productivity.

Implement real time performance management software at your organization to conduct your performance appraisal with ease. It will not only help you to track your employee’s progress and goals easily, but also provide continuous feedback to them, which will keep them engaged and motivated at their work.

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Want to know how Engagedly can help you manage your employee’s performance better? Then request for a live demo.

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COVID-19 has completely changed the way organizations work today. With most of the workforce still working from home and processes gone virtual, it is crucial to have an effective performance management process in place. While paper-based or traditional performance management processes would have been feasible if the workplace was not remote or organizations were small. But considering the current scenario, organizations need to invest in performance management software to manage their employees.

In this article, we will highlight how having performance management software can benefit your organization in this era of remote working. Here are the reasons.

Effective Goal Setting And Management

A recent study by Gallup indicates that about 50% of employees do not know what is expected of them at their workplace.

Performance Management Software or PMS allows organizations to set well-defined goals for their employees. It helps employees to align their individual SMART goals to the company’s vision, mission, and goals. They offer better visibility of goals and help everyone understand how their efforts contribute to the higher-level goals. Moreover, it allows managers to track and measure progress and provide feedback on goals whenever required. It not only makes the process of goal setting simpler but also makes it easy to track and manage them.

Also Read: What To Look For In A Goal Setting Software

Real-Time Feedback

Feedback, whether positive or critical, is crucial for employee development. Additionally, it is also responsible for driving employee engagement and retention. But feedback can only have an impact when it is on time. Having performance management software helps feedback to be instant and real time. Managers can share their feedback whenever they want, irrespective of different time-zones and geographies. It helps in facilitating two-way communication between the employees and their managers, improves collaboration, and thus helps in building a strong team.

Multirater Assessment

Multirater assessment or 360 degree feedback is one of the most popular modules in Performance Management Software. In this process, employees receive anonymous feedback from people with whom they have a working relationship. These participants include peers, direct reports, managers, customers, and even vendors. Employees receive a comprehensive perspective of their performance and behavior. It helps them bridge the perception gap that exists between self-evaluation and what others think about them. Moreover, it helps them understand their potential blind spots and gaps. Since feedback is from multiple sources, it is less affected by bias and is more acceptable to everyone.

Also Read: The Importance Of  360 Degree Feedback For Healthcare

Celebrating Small Wins

Most performance management software has an in-built employee recognition and rewards module. It helps managers and leaders to celebrate the small wins of their employees. It is human nature to love appreciation and praise for their hard work. So when employees receive appreciation or rewards, they feel motivated and engaged. It increases job satisfaction and happiness at work.

Engagedly’s Real Time Performance Management Software comes with a public praise option, where employees can praise each other.Managers and other leaders also have the option to award points for the accomplishments of their employees.

Analytics

Performance Management Software collects data over time and provides a detailed analysis of employee’s performance. With the help of detailed charts and graphs, managers get a clear idea about the performance trends of the employees. It not only helps employees to assess their own performance but also acts as a guide when deciding on skills and developmental needs. Moreover, the analytics report of the performance management software makes the quarterly, half-yearly, or yearly review process more productive and saves time.

Also Read: 5 Simple Ways To Build A High Performance Team

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Are you looking out for a performance management software for your organization? Then request a live demo.

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In 2020, when everyone is working remotely, the importance of setting effective goals cannot be undermined. Having clear and well-defined goals help employees to be engaged and stay focused at work. It motivates them, helps prioritize work, and enhances decision-making skills.

If you are setting or planning goals for yourself, then it might seem quite easy to manage. But as a manager, if you are setting goals for your team, then it is not an easy task to make them effective.

Here are some tips by which you can set effective goals for your employees.

Set SMART Goals

The concept of SMART goals was first introduced by George T. Doran in 1981 and has been in use ever since. SMART goals help employees understand their goals better, which improves their chances of success. It focuses on five key areas:

– Specific: Goals should be clear and specific. It becomes easier for employees to understand what is to be achieved. If goals aren’t specific, they will fail sooner or later

– Measurable: Goals must be measurable so that employees can track the progress of their goals easily. It will help them track achievements and define success

– Achievable: Goals cannot be too easy, nor can they be too difficult. Easy goals will not challenge the employee, whereas a difficult one will demotivate them

– Relevant: Goals should be relevant and linked to the overall organization and department goals

– Time-Bound: Goals need to be carried out within a specific time period. When goals are time-bound it drives performance, and employees stay motivated and engaged

Also Read: Why Healthcare Administrators Should Set SMART Goals

Include Your Employees

As per recent research by Gallup, only about half of employees understand their job expectations.

The goal setting process should be a collaborative effort between a manager and an employee. Encourage employees to identify their own job-related short-term and long-term goals. Once the employees have identified their goals, managers should guide them to align it with the business objectives. When employees set their own goals, they feel more accountable for the results. In addition to this, the goals do not feel imposed, and they tend to be more productive and engaged at work.

Also Read: The Essential Guide To Employee Productivity In A Hybrid Setup

Align The Goals

According to a report by McKinsey&Company, 91 % of businesses noticed an improvement in profits when organization goals and key strategies were linked to team performance goals.

For employee goals to be effective, they should be aligned with the team, department, and organizational goals. Employees who understand what role they play in an organizations’ success tend to be more productive and are more engaged at work. When they know how they contribute to the overall picture, they are more focused and motivated, which results in success for the organization.

Make Them Adaptive

Goals should be flexible so that they can be updated with the changing priorities of the organization. Most organizations commit the mistake of not revisiting their goals or updating them until it is the time for employee performance reviews. Having flexible goals makes them relevant and important for the employee and the organization.

Also Read: Employee Engagement Software To Help Enhance Productivity

Track The Progress

Once the goals have been set, the next step is to create a plan to track and monitor the progress of the goals. When goals are tracked, it helps identify problems as well as the progress of the goals. As a manager, help employees identify key milestones and set up a timeline to achieve the same. Review the progress of the goals from time to time and share feedback with your employees. This will help them to stay focused and aligned with the organizational goals.

Reward The Achievers

“People work for money but go the extra mile for recognition, praise and rewards.” — Dale Carnegie, Leadership Training Guru, and Author.

When employees receive recognition and rewards for their work or completed goals, it shows that their work is being valued and appreciated. Rewards and recognition can be in the form of certificates, simple acknowledgments, bonuses, or even announcing it over the organization’s social media. It reflects organization values and helps in building a culture of appreciation throughout the organization. It also works as an encouragement for others to work hard.

Also Read: Employee Rewards & Recognition During COVID-19

Use A Goal Setting Software

We all know COVID-19 has changed the way we all work today. Many organizations globally have ditched the traditional goal setting process and have invested in a goal setting software to set and manage the goals of their employees. If your organization has not invested in one yet, it is the right time to do so. Goal setting software helps to create and manage goals easily for everyone in the organization. In addition to that, it also improves the visibility of the goals and helps to track them easily.https://engagedly.com/request-demo/

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2020 has forced the world into utilizing its virtual platforms, for the reasons we are all aware of. So in this era, having useful tools in place that will help enhance the virtual working experience, is a must-have. Choosing Engagedly is just the beginning to creating a positive work environment and increasing workplace productivity. Employee goals are one of the most significant driving factors for employee productivity. You cannot achieve something without clearly defining what to do and without keeping track of your progress from time to time.

Also read: High Performing Teams In Healthcare

Engagedly’s Goals feature helps you do the same without any hassle or confusion.

Get started with Engagedly’s goal setting feature with these five simple steps!

Step 1: Create a goal

While setting employee goals are never easy, creating them on Engagedly is. All you need to do is go to ‘My Goals’ from Engagedly’s goals module and click on ‘+New Goal’. Goals differ from person to person and from one department to the other. Write your goal and add notes about it. After creating a goal, you can also change its ownership if needed in future. Click here for further details.

Step 2: Pick the type for Check-in

The best part about setting employee goals through Engagedly is, depending on the type of goal, you can select the type of check-in that you want to do for your goal. Quantity check-in allows you to add whole numbers as your goals and check-in to them. Percentage check-in allows you to add key-results to it and check-in to your goals percentage-wise.

Step 3: Add Key results

Key results are generally used if you want to break down a broader goal into smaller, understandable and measurable units. You can only add key results to a goal if you select percentage check-in.

For example:

Achieve $100 in sales can be broken down using the following key results.

 KR 1: Get $20 from existing customers.

 KR 2: Get $80 from new customers.

Also read: Why Do You Need A Performance Appraisal Software?

Step 4: Select and add contributors

While there are projects that you might be handling on your own, there will also be projects where you need to collaborate with other stakeholders. Once you create a goal, just click on ‘Add contributors’ and add the names of the users that you want to add as contributors. Now, you and your contributors can collectively work towards meeting the goal that you have created.

Step 5: Align them with organization’s goals

Now that you have successfully created a goal for yourself and/or with contributors, you can start working on accomplishing it. But Engagedly also gives you a chance to see how your goals can contribute to organizational success. You can align your goals to the company/department goals.

Once the goal is created, click ‘align’ and select the company goal or department goal that you want to align with. With this step, you are all set. Yes, it’s as easy as that.

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Do you want to know how Engagedly can help you with Employee Goal Setting? Then request for a live demo.

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“Talent is one of the last frontiers for differentiation. Any company can have a patent or produce a product. The difference is the quality of that product comes with the value of the talent you have.”–Elaine Orler, President and Founder of the Talent Function Group . Continue reading “6 Reasons To Invest In A Performance Appraisal Software”

That time is long gone when you could’ve asked this question! Today’s corporate world, 80% of which is functioning virtually, has long since embraced performance appraisal software and have understood the significance of having one in place. In fact, since the pandemic hit, you’ll know that there’s a steady change taking place with respect to employee performance management and employee engagement. The performance review process is, not so quietly, being replaced by employee performance appraisal software.

This is not a death knell for the performance review process as such. But it signals that nobody has patience for the old ways of carrying out a performance review process anymore. To be honest, the process has long been due for a change.

When did it all begin?

The concept of the performance management began the in early 1900’s. Several sources have mentioned several different names so it is hard to pinpoint who exactly came up with the idea. But one thing all the sources agreed upon was the fact that performance management seems to have come into being sometimes during the early 1900’s. But it wasn’t until the 1950’s that the concept of performance management really picked up. Employers began to understand that in order for employees to perform well or to be motivated to perform well, they needed encouragement and motivation.

Since then, performance review cycled through many different iterations, including Jack Welch’s rank and yank system at General Electric and Google’s prolific use of goals and objectives to motivate employees.

Also read: Why do you need a Real Time Performance Management Software

In present times however, there are a lot of conflicting ideas about what constitutes performance management. Many companies which were once pioneers in the performance review process, such as General Electric, Enron, IBM, Motorola etc have either done away with the processes that brought them recognition or have themselves dissolved. The current trend is of course to get the review process off papers and take it online. In the past few years, so many software applications have appeared on the market. Is it any better than the traditional performance process? Definitely!

Here are three ways in which employee performance appraisal software can improve the performance review process and drive employee engagement:

Ease of Use

The problem with traditional performance reviews is that so many of them heavily rely on paper. It becomes a cumbersome task to take all of that paper and consolidate it into a review. With software on the other hand, all you need to do is input your review, most performance review software applications will even collate all your performance reviews into one handy document.

Realtime and Continuous Feedback

Performance review applications make it easier for employees and managers to give continuous feedback. Feedback works best when it is given and received at regular intervals and is real-time.

Continuous feedback isn’t something that is just reserved for a certain breed of employees. Constructive feedback is for everyone. It can help struggling employees improve, it can help good employees become better and it might even help struggling employees figure out they are suited for different job roles.

Also read: 6 Reasons To Invest In A Performance Appraisal Software

Options for further Add-Ons

Most employee performance appraisal software applications come with a whole host of features that help aid the performance review process. Engagedly for instance, also has the OKR module which allows you to add and monitor goals and objectives for employees, 360 multirater feedback module, a continuous feedback model, all of which can be utilized during the performance review so that managers have a broad and comprehensive overview of how their employees are doing. Additionally, these features also make tracking an employee’s performance a lot easier.

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Engagedly is offering a suite of products part of its Remote Work Toolkit free to any organisation, until Sept 30th, 2020. 

The Coronavirus has affected the way we work today and for months to come. Unprecedented events require unprecedented measures. We at Engagedly believe it is our responsibility as socially conscious corporate citizens to help equip organisations with additional tools and resources during this time of crisis.

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Do you want to know how Engagedly can help you with seamless Performance Evaluation? Then request for a live demo.

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Yes, it’s quite an effective way to enhance employee engagement. Since our inception, humans of Engagedly have been very vocal about recognition being an important part of the workplace.

Want to engage employees? Reward and recognize them.

Want to motivate employees to work better? Recognize them.

The right kind of recognition can work like magic. That’s why, we have a feature in the Engagedly app that deals solely with recognition. It’s called ‘Praise’ and it helps peers and managers recognize employees publicly, with everyone else in the organization. In an article by Software Advice, they mention

Companies are getting extremely tired of boring, unproductive performance reviews. A platform like Engagedly can make them great again,” said Brian Westfall of Software Advice, a company that researches and hosts reviews of human resources software. “The ability to praise others in real-time not only engages and rewards employees for participating, but it also provides valuable, up-to-date information for managers to do a more ongoing, comprehensive performance appraisal.

Also read: Know What Features To Look For In A 360 Feedback Software

While we have talked about employee engagement and performance reviews on various occasions, this article brings up a slightly different angle – social recognition to go along with performance reviews. Social recognition is uniquely positioned in that, while it is more informal and prompt than annual reviews, it’s also more comprehensive than 360 degree feedback.

Annual performance reviews often suffer from certain setbacks. When you only rely upon a manager’s memory, the review becomes a one-sided, one-dimensional affair. And this is not something you can blame a manager for. For reviews to work a 100%, all managers would be required to possess phenomenal memories, which is a really improbable qualification.

Picture Credit: Software Advice

Early adopters of social employee recognition software report “measurable impacts on employee engagement, as well as correlations with improved business performance,” according to Gartner’s Predicts 2016 for HCM Applications.

If it’s not already in place, social recognition can be a great addition to your organization. There are 3 things you need to keep in mind though, when you are implementing it:

Reduce the hierarchy

Flatter structures are more suitable for such a process as we are recommending to you. According to Gartner’s research, social recognition thrives in companies where “command-and-control hierarchies give way to more network-style organizations.” Break down the walls between upper and lower levels of the company and implement channels to promote company-wide discussion and interaction.

Customize your rewards system

If you plan on handing out generic kudos like “Great job”, you will not be utilizing the R&R module efficiently. This kind of recognition needs no effort, and managers aren’t going to have useful feedback to learn from either. Institute rules that only reward meaningful recognition, and consider consolidating all of your rewards programs into one.

Consider it as an augmentation

If you are thinking social recognition can be a stand alone facility for your organization, that can’t be so. That and continuous peer-to-peer praise can save your performance review process, but you still need a solid performance management system bedrock to build on. If you don’t have one, or find your current system lacking, check out our performance review software page as well as our rewards and recognition section for better understanding and clarity.

Also read: Now More Than Ever: The Need For Staff Appreciation

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Engagedly is offering a suite of products part of its Remote Work Toolkit free to any organisation, until Sept 30th, 2020. 

The Coronavirus has affected the way we work today and for months to come. Unprecedented events require unprecedented measures. We at Engagedly believe it is our responsibility as socially conscious corporate citizens to help equip organisations with additional tools and resources during this time of crisis.

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Do you want to know how Engagedly can help you with seamless Performance Evaluation? Then request for a live demo.

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Let’s face it! Employee performance evaluation is one of the most important aspects in any working sector. From the time of on-boarding, employees work intending to score positively in the upcoming reviews, while the managers keep tracking and sharing feedback for the same reason. We are saying this as a norm because many organizations have discarded their traditional paper-based performance reviews and annual reviews for a digital solution – employee performance review software.

Through a performance review software, you can keep track of the performances of your healthcare professionals more accurately. You can clearly communicate your performance expectations with them and stay connected with everyone.

Also read: OKR Examples For Your Finance Team To Balance Growth, Cost And Efficiency

There are many performance review software available online for you to choose from. Depending on your organization’s requirement, select a software that best suits you. But before that, don’t forget to go through this list of must-haves for a performance review software:

Easy to Use

Though we mention this point in almost every article of ours, we stand by this maxim in this article too. Given today’s healthcare scenario, your healthcare professionals have little time to explore and learn how to use a software. The performance review process should be easy to understand and implement in an organization.

Through a systematic approach, your healthcare organization can manage medical activities effectively and promote improvement in your service quality. Today most performance review software out there have multiple fascinating features, but they can be very confusing. A software should follow a process to execute a specific action. A performance review software should have a concrete procedure to carry out performance evaluation, without affecting other activities in the organization. A simple user interface and a clear procedure is a must-have!

Also Read: 10 Best Tools For Setting And Tracking Goals

Customizable Templates for Reviews

While many software offer sample review templates for different departments, they are not usually customizable. Performance review templates make the performance evaluation process more organized and help you follow a specific standard for evaluating each team. A customizable review template allows you to change the contents of the review template based on changing work practices and industry trends. Makes it a necessary feature for the healthcare industry.

Continuous Performance Evaluation

To be effective and yield results for your business, performance management must be a year-round process with no end.

– Teala Wilson, CHRL from HRPA, talent management consultant at Saba Software

The days of onetime annual performance reviews are long gone. It is important to continue it at regular intervals throughout the year, especially now that the healthcare professionals need to be more engaged and motivated than ever. Choose a performance review software that supports performance evaluation anytime throughout the year. This helps you keep track of employee performance efficiently and perceive their personal development.

Ability to Self-Evaluate

While everyone else around you gets a chance to evaluate you, it’s necessary for you to get the chance to evaluate your own performance as well. It’s very important to assess yourself accurately. Self-evaluation gives you a chance to improve yourself and contribute to organizational productivity. You cannot do it without having a proper system to measure your performance. A performance review software must allow you to assess yourself accurately by allowing you to create your individual goals, check-in frequently and use these as reference to measure your own performance.

Aligning Goals and Objectives

When evaluating the performance of a healthcare professional, you need all the details of their performance over a particular period of time to maintain an accurate review. Not many software gives this option but associating individual/organizational goals and objectives with their performance review can help improve the quality of the review. So pick a performance review software that allows you to associate employee goals and their progress with the review for reference.

Also read: Virtual Onboarding: A New Reality

Predetermined Competencies

When you evaluate the performance of a healthcare professional, it is important to list out the necessary performance review competencies beforehand.

Example:

Competency: Analytical Thinking in Healthcare

Representative Behaviors:

• Approaches a healthcare case by defining its core issue; determine its significance; collect data; use tools to disclose meaningful patterns in the data; make inferences about the meaning of the data; then use logic and intuition to arrive at conclusions or decisions
• Approaches a complex case by breaking it down into its component parts and considers each part in detail
• Carefully weighs the priority of things to be done

In some software, there are competencies that are already listed for you to choose from and some software allow you to create performance review competencies yourself. Having an option to choose/ create competencies gives you an opportunity to add more to a performance review.

We would love to know your thoughts on this matter. Feel free to drop in your comments below!

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Engagedly is offering a suite of products part of its Remote Work Toolkit free to any organisation, until Sept 30th, 2020. 

The Coronavirus has affected the way we work today and for months to come. Unprecedented events require unprecedented measures. We at Engagedly believe it is our responsibility as socially conscious corporate citizens to help equip organisations with additional tools and resources during this time of crisis.

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Do you want to know how Engagedly can help you with seamless Performance Evaluation? Then request for a live demo.

Request A Demo

With so many businesses starting to function remotely, it has now more than ever become important to use a proper goal setting system for small businesses. This is where we introduce OKRs to you.

Continue reading “Using OKRs In Startups To Measure Success”

Employee Performance Management is crucial for all organizations, as it is one of the key drivers for organizational success. But many organizations often confuse or mix it with an annual performance review or a performance appraisal. Moreover, they use it as a means to remove low performing employees from the organization. Before we delve into the main topic, we need to understand: ‘What is employee performance management?‘ and ‘Why is it important?‘. Continue reading “Employee Performance Management During COVID-19”

Many organizations had big plans for 2020’s performance management. It all looked so amazing on the paper and you expected it to work like magic. But just like all the other killer plans this year, the performance management strategy you designed for your organization didn’t work.

Continue reading “Was Your Performance Management Strategy A Failure?”

While you’re still struggling with choosing the frequency of your performance reviews, there’s a new employee performance management system on the block that is working wonders for many organizations: Social performance management.

Performance management fails in a few organizations for various reasons like having an outdated system, no frequent feedback etc. Most companies are increasing looking at new ways of measuring an employee’s performance. One of those ways is social performance management.

Continue reading “What Is Social Performance Management?”

The remote working season has made some major changes to our style of working. Employees are required to have numerous meetings with different people from their teams as well as from different teams. There are too many virtual one on one meetings happening at almost every organization.

Continue reading “5 Best Practices For Effective One On One Meetings”

Isn’t this a million dollar question? Well, for managers who understand how to use performance reviews not just to review their current performance but also to come up with strategies and plans to bring the best out of them, the answer is always yes.

Continue reading “Can Performance Reviews Drive Employee Productivity?”

Do you have a goal setting software in place, in your organization? There are certain important features that all goal setting softwares should have. If you wish to know what to look for in a goal setting software, have a look at this article. But beside the features already listed in there, there are a few more, that can really create an enhanced experience when it comes to setting goals effectively.

Here are some of the features that make a lot of difference in the field of goal setting.

Ability to view team goals

Most problems have a solution when you look at them from a bird’s eye view. The ability to view team goals allows managers to view all the goals of their direct reports in one go, instead of painstaking going through an excel sheet or calling their direct reports one by one to know which goals they are pursuing. That gives you the advantage of being able to see all the goals panned out on one screen and which team member is handling which goal.

Also read: The Significance Of Having an HRM Software In Your Organization

Ability to create goals

It’s always easy for us to start and pursue a goal, when the steps are made easy. The whole journey need not be difficult. A goal setting system is only useful when it is used regularly by employees. Few of the things that can drive goal creation are an easy to use interface, notifications to check-in easily, and a system that alerts HR and managers to users who do not have active goals.

Different modes of Quantifying

Quantity are measured in different forms by different people. So, a goal setting software should have the ability to handle both quantity and percentage check-ins. This is because it gives users flexibility when they are creating goals for themselves or others. Not all goals are dependent on quantity. In fact, some of them cannot be measured in terms of quantity. For goals like this, the percentage check-in acts as a suitable alternative and does not make it difficult when setting up a goal.

Now that we’ve told you how the above features can make a difference to your goal-setting process, make it easier for your employees to set, track and achieve their goals and yours.

Also read: 10 Best Employee Tools To Track Performance

If you are looking to get a Goal setting software for your organization, request for a free demo with us. 

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Engagedly is offering a suite of products part of its Remote Work Toolkit free to any organisation, until Sept 30th, 2020. 

The Coronavirus has affected the way we work today and for months to come. Unprecedented events require unprecedented measures. We at Engagedly believe it is our responsibility as socially conscious corporate citizens to help equip organisations with additional tools and resources during this time of crisis.

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Get in touch with us to know more about the free remote working tool-kit. 

Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.

—Pablo Picasso

Given that goal setting is such an important component of success, we have a crucial question for you. Have you given much thought to your goal setting software? On basic terms, it can help an organization create, manage and track goals across the board.

On the other hand, if you are looking for a goal-setting software, you should ask yourself this question. Other than creating and tracking goals, what else should the software accomplish? And more importantly, how can it become a valuable addition to your organization’s workflow?

Since its necessary to streamline your goal-setting process, we would like to help you kick-start it right here – 7 things you can look for in a goal-setting software. They will help you find one that not only suits all your needs but will also help augment performance management processes in the organization.

Also read: The Significance Of Having an HRM Software In Your Organization

Cascade goals

Goals cascade from top to down, like waterfalls. So the ability to cascade goals means sharing goals from one level of the organization to the next. For example, a CEO can cascade his goals down to his direct reports, from there, the top management and leaders can cascade their goals down to their direct reports. Its an intricate yet crucial method to reach success. It’s a feature that can help employees align their own goals with the organization’s objectives and see how their own work can support an organization’s broader objectives.

Align goals

The main purpose of goals alignment is to be able to see the bigger picture. And when we are able to see the bigger picture, we always know which way to walk. Our overall destination remains right in front of our eyes, like a dangling carrot. It allows you to align your goals with the organizational ones, so that every employee can see the bigger goals. For example, if one of the organization’s main goals is to explore an yet untapped market, the ability to align goals enables an employee to know how exactly they are contributing to this specific goal.

Assign goals

A manager or a leader need not wait to interact with their employees, in order to assign goals. Every process is smoother with a capable software. Goal assignment is a feature that allows users to assign goals to their direct reports and in some cases, even other employees. It becomes unnecessary to set up a formal meeting to do so. In other words, it also saves time.

Also read: 10 Best Employee Tools To Track Performance

Notifications to check-in

When we set a goal, it’s a given that there needs to be a follow-up method in place. Otherwise, it will fall right through the crack. Many ideas have been lost in this process. One of the most crucial things about goal setting is that they have to be followed up on. Check-in notifications allow the goal assigner to know when an employee checks-in the progress they have made on their goal. This reduces the need for a meeting or a chat that is set up solely for the purpose of talking about goal progress.

Ability to comment

We all know that everything has shelf-life, less or more. Same goes for human thoughts. As a manager, when your employee is working on a goal, and checking-in on time, it is also important to share feedback on the same… promptly. That ability to comment in time on goals allows both managers and employees to have a discussion about the goal and the progress that is being made. Commenting is an easy way to foster communication without having to formalize it. It’s a subtle component that helps build a healthy and active work culture.

Key results

Without measuring how will you know if you are going in the right direction or when you are going to reach your goal? Goals need key results in order for them to be defined better. Key results break a goal down into more than one measurable area that allows users to achieve a goal, chunk by chunk, part by part. This breaking down can help achieve a goal easily and in good time. When the steps are easier to take, the goal automatically comes closer.

Club it up with a PMS

Goal setting is essentially not very different from performance management. Goals are an important part of performance management since they help employees show what they have accomplished in a period of time. They are also a great way for managers to gauge employee performance. When the goal-setting software is able to integrate with performance management software, it makes the review process a lot easier for both the employee and the manager.

Also read: How To Set Effective Employee Goals?

These features will help you pick a fine goal setting software. A good software will also be easy to customize. So redo this list if you feel like, and add or remove features as per your requirements. Once you know exactly what you are looking for, you have managed to reach your goal of finding the right one for your organization. Let us know if you think we should add more to this list. And, in case, if you wish to check out how Engagedly can help your organization, give us a shout out for demo.

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Engagedly is offering a suite of products part of its Remote Work Toolkit free to any organisation, until Sept 30th, 2020. 

The Coronavirus has affected the way we work today and for months to come. Unprecedented events require unprecedented measures. We at Engagedly believe it is our responsibility as socially conscious corporate citizens to help equip organisations with additional tools and resources during this time of crisis.

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Get in touch with us to know more about the free remote working tool-kit. 

Working from home or remote working has been an old concept for some people globally, as many organizations have been providing their employees this flexibility. But now, with the ongoing pandemic of COVID-19,  work from home has become common for all. It has become the new normal of how organizations and employees will continue to function for some time now. Continue reading “6 Must Have Features of A Performance Management Software”

As the head of people, you have a lot of responsibilities, especially at a time like this. Last thing you should lose your sleep over, is how to conduct a 360 performance review. When conducted well, it can render insightful results and improve overall employee engagement, as it allows for comprehensive feedback and not just feedback from managers. But more often than not, administrators who attempt to conduct it get bogged down by its various aspects and tend to complicate the approach, rendering it useless.

Lets understand what is a 360-degree performance review first:

Whether you are leading a start-up or a tenured company, performance review is a well explored topic and it has gone through a lot of changes in the past few decades. So it’s time we leave the stressful part of it behind and focus only on the positives.

360 performance review is a type of review wherein employees receive performance feedback not only from their managers but also from colleagues, vendors, customers, etc. It is an intensive type of assessment which involves collating a lot of data, which in turn is also subjective because that is the very nature of feedback. There are numerous effective software available in the market with the Multirater module that can help you conduct them with great ease.

If you are confused about 360 performance reviews because you’ve heard stories about mangled performance reviews, don’t let them bother you.

Here are some tips that can help you conduct them seamlessly.

Also read: Performance Management Software Can Help Keep Employees Motivated

Evaluate the job right:

You are the people leader. You know it very well that sometimes, employees put in a lot of effort but the outcome is not that impressive. Evaluate your employees based on how they do their job and not based on the outcome. Outcomes do not always reflect the amount of work that goes into getting a job done.

You need to identify the core skills and competencies that you want your employees to possess and assess them accordingly. And choose to go through the evaluation process when you are in a positive state of mind. It helps big time!

Conduct reviews often:

360 degree performance reviews are not that impactful if you are not reviewing your employees’ performance on a frequent basis. Reviewing your employee less frequently makes them think that their work doesn’t need any improvement and the organization is happy with their current working style.

When a 360 degree performance review finally happens, your employees might be astonished to find that everything is not alright. This usually leads to disengagement. If you decide that you are going to have a performance review yearly or quarterly etc, then do make sure that you have been having frequent reviews until then.

Also read: Employee Recognition & Rewards During COVID 19

Criticise constructively:

The main aim of a 360 degree performance review is to be aware of the strengths and weaknesses of each employee, and work towards a wholesome growth, professionally and well as individually. So criticisms are definitely an integral part of them. Only worry is, criticism is one of the places where performance reviews tend to go horribly wrong. An employee is entitled to their opinion but before you begin a performance review, you might want to lay down the ground rules for what counts as fair criticism and what does not. For example:

• Good criticism: Mark is not very punctual to work. However, I have noticed that he completes all of his assigned tasks on time.
• Bad criticism: Mark is not punctual and spends a lot of time in the office doing nothing.

If you look at the first example, you will see that while the reviewer in question is not pleased by Mark’s tardiness, he or she does note that Mark is dedicated and works efficiently. The criticism has some value to offer. The second example offers no information except for what seems to be a malicious observation. Mark does not have much to learn from it.

So train your employees and managers in such a way that they practice giving constructive feedback only. That is one of the most important things you need to keep in mind when carrying out performance reviews.

Be supportive till the end:

Going through a performance review is a stressful task, no matter how many times an employee might have experienced it. A performance review is a great way to achieve the company’s goals but it also has a few potential dangers. One of those potential dangers is disengagement in employees. Whatever the end result of a performance review, train your managers to be supportive and helpful.

If an employee’s end review displays less than good results, then the manager and the employee need to come together and chalk out a plan or an agreement that helps that employee get better or maybe even find a career more suited to them. The end result of a performance review should motivate an employee to do better, not make them feel demoralized and hurt. That can lead to high level of attrition.

Include everyone:

As the head of people, you need to make this very clear to all of your employees. At the end of the day, a higher level executive, a manager, or a CEO, they are all a part of an organization. Nobody should be exempt from feedback and review.  They too provide input and work towards the betterment of the organization. If the higher-ups of an organization do not get proper 360 degree performance feedback, then how will they know how to lead better?

In conclusion, though it has some potential risks, but when used appropriately, 360 degree performance review can help your employees engage themselves in work, and accomplish the company goals.

Also read: Ideas To Keep Employees Motivated Through A Crisis

Have you used the 360 performance review in your organization? Share your experiences with us in the comments section below!

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Engagedly is offering a suite of products part of its Remote Work Toolkit free to any organisation, until Sept 30th, 2020. 

The Coronavirus has affected the way we work today and for months to come. Unprecedented events require unprecedented measures. We at Engagedly believe it is our responsibility as socially conscious corporate citizens to help equip organisations with additional tools and resources during this time of crisis.

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Get in touch with us to know more about the free remote working tool-kit. 

If you are in the field of HR, you are aware of how our domain is constantly evolving. The nature of flexibility in our work allows us to try a lot of things, but in the process, we tend to lose focus or lax out on our basic responsibilities, like seamlessly tackling performance management.

Alan Colquitt, author of Next Generation Performance Management says,

I differentiate between Performance Management 1.0 (PM 1.0) and Performance Management 2.0 (PM 2.0). PM 1.0 is shorthand for last generation (traditional) performance management… involves (annual)goal-setting, evaluating performance, and distributing rewards at the end of the year… Contrast that with PM 2.0, which focuses on providing continuous direction, alignment, meaning, and purpose to employees. It’s focused on making progress towards goals and connecting work to a larger purpose.

Be it in the world of telecommunication or otherwise, performance management is not just about reviewing employees on the basis of work output or measuring the compensation, or how much of the last quarter’s goals were achieved. It can really help your organisation thrive and for that, you need to have an easy and effective performance management software in place.

Here are the main features you are looking for, if you wish to keep employees motivated through a good performance management software:

Also Read: 5 Essential Managerial Tips to Create Employee Engagement

Create SMART goals:

As an HR, you need to initiate the performance management process by urging all managers to set SMART goals for their employees based on past goals and objectives. List out the main outcomes required and let them know. Then ask them to align their SMART goals accordingly. It might require certain amount of hand-holding in the initial stages.

The acronym SMART stands for:

• Specific – Goals should not be vague, or else they are bound to fail soon
• Measurable – An ideal goal should be measurable so that the progress and completion can be tracked
• Achievable – Any goal should be achievable; they shouldn’t be too difficult or easy
• Relevant – Goals should be relevant
• Timely – Goals should specify the time during which it is to be completed

In the telecommunication industry, you might want to focus on the following pointers:

• Who – to communicate with
• What – to communicate
• Where and How – to communicate
• When and why to communicate
• Who are the stakeholders involved
• What channels to utilise
• Timeframe of the whole communication process

When you have answers to all of these above points, your SMART goals will be in place. An example of such a goal is,

Send the client a weekly update through email about all completed and upcoming tasks. (Ron Ause, workamajig.com)

One-on-one check ins:

Big giants like IBM, Adobe, Google, HarperCollins, and others, have all inculcated frequent one-on-one performance check-ins, in place of annual performance reviews and annual feedbacks. Adobe has reduced 30% of their voluntary turnover in the process.

When managers conduct appraisals once a year and share feedback with employees, they fall short of engaging the employees in the right way. Employees feel that their managers don’t value their presence enough. Frequent one-on-ones, on the other hand, makes an employee feel engaged and valued. They know on a regular basis whether they are working towards achieving the right objective.

Also Read: 7 Tips To Make Your Goal Setting Effective

Prompt feedback:

Valuable and accurate feedback can enhance great performance by a whopping 39%. But it needs another factor. Promptness! When you share annual feedback with your employees, they fall short of motivating employees and keeping them engaged for a whole year. Instead, when managers share feedback on a frequent basis, through a performance management software, employees receive immediate guidance from their leaders, and can course-correct in time. On top of that, the feedback and the communication remains stored for future reference and tracking.

Employee recognition possibilities

80% of the employees work better when they feel better appreciated. Pay check is not the only factor that draws them. They seek acknowledgement for their great work, and when your company fails to do so, they go where they can get it. In order for your employees to feel recognised and valued, you need to put an efficient feedback process in place. Most good performance management software have real-time rewards and recognition modules as well.

Encourage managers to praise performing employees on the employee forum, give them a day off or few days of flexi-timings. These are just some examples but, it’s best to customise rewards as per individual employees. The module can be gamified where each praise can fetch a few points, and by reaching certain levels, employees can win rewards.

Also read: Employee Recognition & Rewards During COVID 19

If you are presently in the annual performance management cycle, you need to first figure out how much work is needed in order to make the transition. First and foremost, you need to change your payment strategy for all roles, turning them into market-based, so that you can unlink performance management from salary. Then you train the leaders and employees to practice frequent check-ins, quarterly goal setting and regular feedback.

The performance management tool can help you bring all of these things under one umbrella and track them. Life becomes a lot easier when all of these things are in place, don’t you think?

If you are wondering how Engagedly can help you with performance management, request for a free demo.

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Engagedly is offering a suite of products part of its Remote Work Toolkit free to any organisation, until Sept 30th, 2020. 

The Coronavirus has affected the way we work today and for months to come. Unprecedented events require unprecedented measures. We at Engagedly believe it is our responsibility as socially conscious corporate citizens to help equip organisations with additional tools and resources during this time of crisis.

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Want to know how Engagedly can improve your performance review process? Request for a live demo.

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Performance Appraisals are one of the most important processes in an organization, especially for the employees. But often, employees feel unsatisfied and harbor a bitter feeling towards the managers and the organization once the process is over. It happens because of some of the common mistakes which the managers make in conducting the process.

If you are a manager in the software industry this article will help you conduct performance appraisals better.

Surprising Employees

Often managers working in a software company commit the mistake of holding their reviews and feedback until it’s time for annual performance appraisal. They fail to realize what impact an instant and continuous feedback process can have on their employees. As a result, the employees are not sure when they are working in the wrong direction or right. 

The managers believe that performance appraisal is the right time to provide feedback to their employees. But as performance appraisals happen half-yearly or annually in most software companies, it becomes too late to receive feedback for some work which was done at the beginning of the year. Using a real time performance management software would solve the problem easily as employees can be continuously monitored and reviewed for their progress, and it will not be a surprise for them at the time of appraisal.

Recency Effect

When a real time performance management software is not in place to conduct continuous performance evaluations, managers tend to have a clouded judgement due to recency bias. They tend to forget past work and achievements of employees and conduct the performance appraisal based on just their recent work.

A manager should do their background work on knowing about the tasks and achievements of the employee, or have a real time performance management system in place to keep a track of it.

Also Read: Be A Better Manager and Avoid These Five Mistakes

Stress On Performance Appraisal 

Managers often lay undue importance on the performance appraisal instead of giving importance to the processes before and after it. One who communicates well with their employees throughout and after the performance appraisal makes the performance appraisal process easy for both. Managers set the expectations, and employees work on it. 

Performance Appraisals should not be the platform to discuss only the compensation, incentives, or what has already happened. It should also be used to discuss plans to improve performance.

Comparing Employees

Often managers at software companies commit the grave mistake of comparing employees of the same or different levels with each other during their performance appraisals. This not only demoralizes the employee and creates friction within the team, but also makes the employee hostile towards their managers.

Also Read: Wondering How To Give Constructive Feedback? Here’s How

Holding Up Performance Appraisal

Many organizations tend to postpone or altogether cancel the performance appraisal process. They are not the only yardstick to measure employee performance, but employee promotions and salaries surely depend on it. To delay or postpone them creates a bad impression of the manager or organization on the employees. Employees might feel that they are not given enough importance, and all the organization cares about is work. If managers are not getting ample amount of time to conduct a yearly performance review, they can opt for continuous feedback or quarterly reviews.

Not Discussing Future Plans

Often managers and employees leave out one key component from the performance appraisal… discussion about future plans. A manager’s job involves not only assessing the employee at present but also guiding them in achieving personal and career goals of the future. This helps in an easy career transition of an employee in the software industry. They can easily switch roles, and also change projects as per their plans.

Also Read: Everything Depends On The Right kind Of Goal Setting. Here’s Why

Ignore Achievements

If your organization is not practicing a continuous feedback approach to recognize your employees, then performance appraisals are just the perfect time to do so. Instead of focusing too much on negatives and criticisms, employees can be appreciated for their accomplishments and strengths. This type of constructive feedback will not only improve their productivity at work but will also improve their engagement.

Using Engagedly’s Real Time Performance Management Software you can publicly praise your employees and also award points for accomplishments. The praises and rewards will be visible to everyone in the organization.

Not Setting SMART Goals

As a manager, performance appraisal is the correct time to set SMART goals for your employees based on past goals and objectives. Give them an outline of what is expected from them in the next performance cycle. The acronym SMART stands for:

• Specific – Goals should not be vague, or else they are bound to fail soon. 
• Measurable – An ideal goal should be measurable so that the progress and completion can be tracked. Measurable goals help us define its success.
• Achievable – Any goal should be achievable; they shouldn’t be too difficult or easy.
• Relevant – Goals should be relevant.
• Timely – Goals should specify the time during which it is to be completed.

An ideal example of a SMART goal for an IT project would be: completing the 60 % UI/UX(Specific, Measurable, and Achievable) designing of the website by two months (Relevant and Timely).  The goal should not be rigid and should be flexible to changes.

Also Read: 7 Tips To Make Your Goal Setting Effective

Not Following Up

A perfect performance appraisal, SMART goals, timely rewards, and recognition; all of these would be of no use if there is no follow up from your end. Check with your employees from time to time if the project is on track and development plans are met, and milestones achieved. If there is no proper follow-up, employees often fall through the gap and lose their motivation, which ultimately affects productivity.

Implement real time performance management software at your organization to conduct your performance appraisal with ease. It will not only help you to track your employee’s progress and goals easily, but also provide continuous feedback to them which will keep them engaged and motivated at their work. If you are looking for one, request for a demo with us.

Request A Demo

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Engagedly is offering a suite of products part of its Remote Work Toolkit free to any organisation, until Sept 30th, 2020. 

The Coronavirus has affected the way we work today and for months to come. Unprecedented events require unprecedented measures. We at Engagedly believe it is our responsibility as socially conscious corporate citizens to help equip organisations with additional tools and resources during this time of crisis.

---

Get in touch with us to know more about the free remote working tool-kit. 

Setting employee goals is a very challenging yet responsible job. Usually managers set goals for their teams and themselves.

Continue reading “3 Things To Look For In A Goal Setting Software”