What is performance management & the best practices in the new normal?

The new normal has brought many work challenges, including compromised output delivery and low employee morale. Because of the paradigm shift, HR departments and management teams must reinvent their approach to performance management. 

What is performance management

By definition, performance management is an ongoing process of identifying, monitoring, and optimising outcomes to achieve the company’s goals and objectives. It involves several activities, including:

• setting clear objectives
• clarifying expectations
• defining development plans
• providing feedback or assessment
• setting goals for future performance

Importance of performance management in new work arrangements 

The new work setups, such as hybrid and fully remote have become a period of adjustment for most employees. Workers have to produce the same output despite the many barriers to virtual work—distractions at home, fluctuating Internet speed, physical discomfort, and more.

For this reason, human resource leaders should prioritise managing employee performance otherwise they could face employee engagement, satisfaction and retention problems.

Keeping employees engaged and satisfied can go a long way in boosting productivity and performance. When workers feel connected to their managers or employers, they’re more likely to deliver and produce better results.

According to the Growth Divide Study, 94% of employees prefer receiving feedback and development opportunities in real-time, and 81% want at least quarterly check-ins with their manager.

Also, companies that help employees grow professionally, support them in achieving their goals, and reward their performance consistently could have increased retention rates.

Tips for managing performance in the new normal

1.    Rebuild connection with employees

The remote work took away the fun parts of in-office work—chit-chats with co-workers, team outings, spontaneous lunch-outs, coffee breaks, and more. No wonder some people experience workplace loneliness when working remotely. 

Happiness is one of the feelings that drive productivity, so it’s crucial to keep your employees engaged even virtually. Rebuild the connection lost due to the current work arrangement. Here are some ways to do it:

• Plan and host fun activities outside work (i.e., virtual team outings)
• Maintain workplace transparency by keeping employees in the loop 
• Include casual conversations during daily check-ins and work alignment

 

2.    Create a culture of continuous feedback

Continuous performance management procedure keeps both employers and employees on the same page. By facilitating the timely exchange of feedback, companies help drive employee growth, which in turn establishes strong work relationships.

Here’s what an ideal feedback system should look like:

• Complements quarterly, mid-year, and annual performance reviews
• Includes impromptu affirmations (i.e., great work, the client is pleased with the output, etc.)
• Helps employees meet individual goals and achieve the team’s OKR (a.k.a. objectives key results)

 

3.    Adjust performance management metrics

The challenge of managing a remote workforce is that you don’t see how they’re at work and what they do during their working hours. Unless you have a time tracker that takes screenshots of your employees’ computer screens.

While time tracking could be a solution, adjusting performance management metrics might also help. Take the time to create a policy for measuring hybrid and remote employee productivity and define KPIs for each role. 

 

4.    Eliminate bias in performance assessments

Feedback is at the core of performance management. HR must ensure that all managers give every member of the workforce unbiased and appropriate feedback on their overall work performance.

Companies embracing the hybrid work environments should remain aware of how this setup creates an imbalance in their teams—with some working in the office and others working remotely.

Here are some ways to conduct fair performance reviews in a hybrid workplace:

• Build trust; decrease monitoring ‘when’ and ‘where’ you can
• Focus on the deliverables, not on the ‘when’ and ‘where’
• Make reviews more like conversations than meetings
• Gather performance data using the right technology
• Leverage 360-degree feedback assessments

Adapt HR technology 

Performance management is critical in improving and measuring employees’ productivity; it’s an HR practice that should remain intact, especially in today’s evolving workplace landscape. 

For a more effective performance and appraisal management system, we recommend using human resource software. HR technologies like Unit4 Prosoft HRMS make the evaluation process and performance appraisals easy work.

Our HRMS solution provides safe storage of employee data, reduces information security risks, and ensures efficient communication and collaboration.

Learn more about how our Prosoft HRMS can optimise your performance management and appraisal here.