Performance Metrics: Based on Results, Not Hours

Does your tech roadmap equip the business with new performance metrics? According to recent Adecco Group research, knowledge workers overwhelmingly want their bosses to measure their performance based on results – not hours. But today's scattered workforce is changing work efficiency and how it gets done. Leaders are struggling to set the performance goals and metrics demanded by this new reality. We are exploring how business leaders can effectively evaluate their employees regardless of how they are connected.

Adjust Goals to Fit How Work Gets Done Today

The traditional annual goal-setting process lags behind the nimble digital strategies needed to thrive in this fast-changing world. Today's teams need agile, cadenced, and outcomes-focused goals that flex in sync with market volatility. New hybrid working models, the gig economy, rising automation, and increasingly specialized knowledge work make employees feel more disconnected than ever. (Only 37% of the non-managers surveyed felt that their leaders instill a positive working environment and team culture.) Instead of counting hours at screens, more team-oriented goals can encourage your people to collaborate better while countering feelings of disconnectedness.

Today's 'great re-evaluation' means workers today expect more than just a paycheck. With 70% saying that a job with a clear sense of purpose is important, make sure you base goals on something more profound than just the bottom line. One tool business leaders can implement to provide feedback to employees is to encourage them to evaluate their own performance on a regular basis. Comparing this data to the expectations of the business can provide invaluable insights into areas that need to be improved.

Establish Meaningful Performance Metrics

Workers across the globe overwhelmingly want a post-pandemic hybrid working model. But the loss of physical proximity makes monitoring and managing employees’ performance metrics like work quantity, product quality, and efficiency more important than ever. At the same time, digital transformation allows teams to 'work out loud,' improving visibility across domains while reducing the opportunity to hide poor performance.

There isn’t just one employee performance metric to track. Leaders should integrate tried and tested performance metrics such as product defects, error counts, net promoter scores (NPS), and number of sales with digital personal scorecards and real-time dashboarding. Collaboration and workflow tools provide transparency around how employees spend their time, whom they contact, and which information they share. But they can also smack of employer surveillance and erode the employer-employee trust that's so vital in these tumultuous times.

Employers must balance employee autonomy and accountability while upholding individual privacy and respecting boundaries between work and home life. Ask yourself: will this datapoint help me measure business goals or outcomes, or is it a 'busy metric' that could drive workers to burnout?

Mine Value From Analytics

People – and their leaders – need greater insight into how they're doing through analytics dashboards, especially now. Yet, in most businesses, information sits in siloes, presided over by the IT department or the BI team members. It's often inconsistent (marketing has different numbers from finance), invisible (data is collected way faster than analysis output), or mired in risk (think: GDPR and its many international cousins). Creating an organization-wide ecosystem of apps and information based on consistent standards is a fundamental prerequisite of effective performance management for the hybrid workforce. It also allows managers greater insight into where the skills gaps might lie, or which workflows might be best suited for automation. Getting your data house in order is a labor-intensive but essential undertaking. This requires a strategic partner with flexible options for defining what needs to be done, providing skilled staffing if you need help, and supporting ongoing success through upskilling and reskilling.

Beware of Blind Spots

Data-based key performance metrics can miss crucial nuances. We also know that the quality of an employee cannot be determined by a single metric. While it can be challenging to tie certain roles and individual performance to aggregated numbers, frequent and regular conversations about the manner in which an employee works is more important than ever. Checking in with your employees often, and with an open mind, will help you iron out any kinks in your data, and even spot whether some goals might be too challenging and accelerate the risk of burnout.

On the other hand, data and technology play a crucial role in mitigating human bias. Often, unintentional cognitive biases impact decision-making in crucial areas like promotion, the awarding of development opportunities, or compensation. AI and Machine Learning tools can nudge leaders’ in-the-moment decisions toward objectivity, from intelligent dashboards providing enterprise-wide bias analytics to semantic analysis tools that pinpoint gender-based language in employee reviews and feedback conversations.

Quality Over Quantity

Experts agree that regardless of which performance analytics you are measuring, you need a plan in place. According to the American Society for Quality (ASQ) there are performance measurement necessities that should be in every measurement plan. The first is defining the purpose of the measurement, which includes information about why the measurement is being made and how the resulting data will be used. Other key parts of the plan include a statement of the required measurement performance indicators (accuracy, precision, resolution) and the unit or variable being measured. Business leaders will also want to include an operational definition, which is an easy to understand description of the measurement process, along with an analysis plan.

While there may not be a “best” approach to measuring employee performance, business leaders know that it is important. One method leaders have relied on in the past is the 360-degree feedback model. In this model, employees are asked open-ended questions in an anonymous format that will provide feedback, both positive and negative, about their peers as well as their leadership team members. These performance reviews can provide work quality metrics from the whole team regardless if work is completed in the office or through digital platforms.

Put the Plan in Place

Ideally, business leaders can work to create personalized performance metrics for their own organization, and even within their own departments. By keeping the performance measurement flexible, business leaders can fairly and accurately assess their employees' performance. Good leaders don’t just stop at measuring their employees’ performance. They take the next step – using the qualitative and quantitative metrics to create goals that will help their employees improve. The clear direction of the business leaders ensures that the organization achieves its goals while maintaining a healthy work culture for all employees.

So, how will your company address changing worker expectations? Do you have the smart systems in place to protect your employees' wellbeing and career growth needs? Contact us today so you don’t have to walk that journey alone!