Not busy during the summer?

Perceive the question in the title with exaggeration. The time when there was nothing to do in the summer was long gone.

On the other hand, the second part of the heading is meant to be very serious. Although all managers surely agree that the performance evaluation system is important, not all companies have it implemented and alive.

Why is an active performance evaluation system so important? An effective evaluation system increases employee performance and motivation. The ideal situation is when it is interconnected with other personnel tools such as remuneration system, employee development system and education system. You can also use the evaluation system parameters appropriately to recruit new staff.

What will a well-designed and implemented evaluation system bring to us?

• We will get the feedback on the performance and potential of our employees, we know their development needs, we can get information about their satisfaction, opinions or what needs to be improved
• An ability to describe and discuss possible changes to improve performance
• A possibility to establish motivation of both performance and development goals and agree on their fulfillment
• A possibility to train new employees
• A tool to increase an motivation of employees to desired behavior, link personal values with corporate ones
• An ability to obtain and provide constructive feedback
• Objective sources for rewarding and developing people

There are a large number of assessment concepts that differ in principles, rules, procedures or criteria used. Certainly every company has the right and the possibility to choose, respectively to develop a performance evaluation system that suits its needs.

It is important that the system is simple, transparent, easy to understand, accepted by both employees and managers (surprisingly, managers very often resist the implementation of an evaluation system and argue that "they still talk to their people, so why to have some system"), and therefore useful.

It is often surprising how positively accepted the evaluation system is by the employees themselves. But actually, it is logical - each of us needs to know if “it is doing well” and everyone needs regular attention from his / her boss - he / she needs the boss to make time only for her / him. Often, people ask themselves for their feedback.

Usually the system consists of three types of evaluation:

1. Evaluation by competencies (competencies are here in terms of ability to do something)
   
   • it is aimed at measuring the quantity and quality of work
   • it usually runs in the same rhythm as the bonus payouts are defined - for example, once a quarter
   • it has a direct impact on the variable wage component on the basis of well-defined rules
     
     
2. Performance evaluation
   
   • it is aimed at measuring the quantity and quality of work
   • it usually runs in the same rhythm as the bonus payouts are defined - for example, once a quarter
   • it has a direct impact on the variable wage component on the basis of well-defined rules
     
     
3. Bonus performance
   
   • It is used in defined situation, for example when evaluating the trial period

The implementation of the performance evaluation system and keeping the system running is absolutely essential. I consider this to be the most difficult task that is suitable for the summer. I highly recommend using the Eight Step Change Model. Are you wondering what it is and how it works? Great! We will get to it in some of the next issues of our Crowe news.

I wish you a beautiful and active summer in HR!