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Performance management fails in a few organizations for various reasons like having an outdated system, no frequent feedback etc.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.

Request A Demo

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”

Employee Performance Management has always been one of the most important processes in organizations. Managers and organizations are continuously evaluating employee performance in an attempt to improve the overall productivity of the organization. Effective Performance Management helps in aligning individual employee goals with team and organizational goals. A performance management system should essentially include aspects such as performance review, goal-setting, employee feedback, rewards, and recognition.

Continue reading “Have You Invested In the Correct Performance Management Tool?”

We all agree to this point that goal setting helps us focus and achieve things faster. Good goal setting brings good results, but poor goal setting brings poor results. 

Continue reading “Everything Depends on the Right Kind of Goal Setting. Here’s Why”

Everyone dreads a performance review, not only the employees but the managers as well. If you have recently become a manager, then you would surely know how difficult it is to conduct a performance review. With time, the annual performance review has been replaced with continuous performance management in organizations worldwide. The current COVID-19 situation and multiple employees working from home has made it – necessary to have a continuous performance management system in place. Continue reading “Continuous Performance Management: A necessity during COVID-19”

It’s that time of the year again. Yes. But love them or hate them, performance reviews are here to stay. So you better understand their importance and educate your employees about it.

Continue reading “Don’t Do These 4 Things During A Performance Review”

Performance management can be a comprehensive and time-consuming process. Hence, every organization has a performance management process or tool in place to get the best out of their employees. Efficient performance management of employees helps organizations become successful, while it helps employees grow personally, and professionally. Continue reading “8 Key Features to Look For in a Performance Management Tool”

Conducting a performance review discussion need not feel like rocket science. Every time it looms large, performance reviews tend to have a similar effect on all employees: shooting up their level of stress.

Continue reading “Conduct an Informed Performance Discussion”

Employee performance review is one of the most popular practices in today’s world for evaluating employee performance.

Continue reading “Teamwork Challenges Because Of Performance Reviews”

Performance reviews are often rigged with biases. It is an inescapable fact, mainly because we are human beings and some of these biases spring from just being us.

Continue reading “Don’t Let Recency Bias Affect Your Performance Discussions”