The Performance Management process is integral to every company’s success. It helps increase motivation and align everyone’s efforts to the overall goal. An efficient process leads to increased productivity and subsequently higher company bottom line.
The field of performance management has evolved leaps & bounds from its earlier forms. . Earlier, the annual performance review process was the norm. But nowadays agile performance management strategy and methods are taking over. Managers have realised that annual feedback is no more viable in a development centric workplace. Thus, a few novel concepts such as Continuous performance management feedback and 360 Degree Feedback have emerged which encourage conducting conversations at frequent intervals to increase the efficiency of the entire performance management process.
What is Performance Management Software?
Software that is designed to help employees be more productive are collectively called performance management software. They ensure individual employees and teams are engaged and their goals are in alignment with that of the organization. They assist in the performance review process by providing real-time performance tracking after setting goals and providing feedback at regular intervals. These software help businesses alter individual employee goals and expectations to meet needs of the future. These systems fall under the purview of the HR department, and usually coupled with talent management software systems.
Why is performance management software important?
Using traditional processes that relied on annual reviews is not ideal in the world where employee skill sets may change twice a year. To be efficient, managers and HR team members should extract meaningful information from the vast organizational data. With proper tools that harness the powers of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) tools, a performance management software system can help employees and organizations to grow at an exceptional speed. They also help in talent management, where high performers are recognised and rewarded regularly.
Benefits of replacing paper-based reviews with performance management software
Performance review software simplifies the manager’s task during appraisals, overcoming the shortfalls of paper-based reviews that are time-consuming and tedious. A performance review software not only focuses on fair rating, but also on employee development. It saves time and resources by moving the performance appraisals online, and can be done in a matter of minutes. They focus on human capital management instead of counting billable hours as the major metric, and streamline the process and ensure it happens through notifications and reminders.
How can software help improve work performance?
By providing a clear picture of how work is getting done in the form of performance reports and through continuous feedback processes, employee performance management software improves work efficiency. Better analysis of data by these software allows managers to provide objective constructive employee feedback which is often sought, according to a survey by OfficeVibe. It says 28% of respondents felt feedback could be more frequent to help them understand and improve, while 23% were unsatisfied with their direct manager’s feedback frequency. So, managers can focus on understanding where their team members are excelling, and ask them if there are any areas where they need any assistance. By treating talent management as a part of their job description, managers can elevate their team members to perform at their best.
Top 4 Benefits of Adopting Performance Management Software
The concepts behind modern performance management tools are not entirely compatible with paper based processes. If you want to scale these & maintain efficiency, there is no other option than to rely on digital systems of records. These benefits can provide the push to replace paper-based reviews with performance management software:
Transparent Goal alignment:
Is it really fair to expect that employees will give their best when they are not even aware of what the company is hoping to achieve? If they cannot see what the company’s goals are, they will find it really hard to contribute towards them.
Performance review software helps increase transparency in the organisation by making relevant goals visible. Team members get to see how their efforts are intertwined and that they share responsibility for achieving the higher level goals.
Individuals get to see how their performance fits into the company’s growth and show more accountability towards their work. Whereas managers can more closely monitor the gaps and phases of their team’s progress which allows them to immediately provide feedback as and when needed. All bottlenecks can be quickly identified and dealt with accordingly.
Access real time information:
When it comes to tracking and measuring employee performance through paper based documentation, managers have to rely on considerably old data. Not only is the entire process cumbersome, but it also fails to provide the most recent information.
These days most performance management software provide real time information that managers can rely on to make quick decisions. They provide historical data as well so it helps them to check if the performance levels have increased, declined or remained consistent.
Employees too can access this information at any given time to determine if their performance is on the right track and thus contemplate steps to further enhance it.
Millennials seek immediate feedback:
According to a report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the majority of the workplace today is dominated by millennials. They have already surpassed baby boomers and this percentage will continue to increase in the coming few years.
Millennials seek instant feedback. They want everything online and at the tip of their fingertips. Paper based reviews are simply not quick and efficient enough for them. They seek efficiency and thus want to work in companies that have adopted modern tools and techniques. While they want to increase their performance to better contribute to the company’s growth, they also believe in maintaining their personal growth. If they are not satisfied with the way their company works, they do not hesitate to look for better options which are more in line with their image of an ideal company.
Maximise efficiency by reducing time and efforts :
With paper based performance reviews, the size of the organisation can become a huge problem. The bigger it gets, the higher the amount of paperwork will be involved. Paper based reviews not only take time but it is a pain to write each and every form manually. Managers need to ensure they have all information available at hand as need can arise at any time.
They can instead opt for Performance management systems and maintain consistency across the entire organisation. Although there would be upfront costs, in the longer run companies are better off with increased efficiency, better use of time & reduction in turnover.
Managers have to perform a host of responsibilities of which performance management of their team forms just one part. Thus to be efficient at their work, they also need to adapt to technologies that help simplify this work. There is one ‘best performance management software’ out there, and managers have to identify the one that fits the needs of their team best.
PS – In recent times, spreadsheets have taken the onus of being a centralised performance management system for smaller teams. While this can certainly work to an extent, there will always be a lack of flexibility that is expected from a dedicated software. And the problem of scaling still persists, the size of the team grows but spreadsheets become too tedious to maintain.
