How to Make the Day Last Longer

Mike and Raymond worked as copywriters at the same Chicago-based media company, teaming up on the same projects, and reporting to the same supervisor. Mike worked 40 to 45 hours per week. Raymond worked about 55 hours a week.

One day a senior executive complained that Mike always seemed to be leaving work early. Mike's supervisor came to his defense, saying he got as much work done in 40 hours as any of the other copywriters, including Raymond.

How did Mike do it?

Here are some tips on how you can use your time more wisely, so you can work faster, smarter, and better—and impress everyone around you:

Put in your eight hours a day.  Are you working hard or hardly working? Too many employees today are hardly working. The average worker privately admits to working only five hours a day, wasting time on the Internet, socializing with co-workers, and “spacing out.”

Why aren’t they giving their employers eight hours a day? About one out of four feel underpaid. One out of three say they don’t have enough work to do. About one out of five blame co-workers for distracting them. Imagine how much more efficient we would be if we actually worked eight hours a day.

Take breaks. Work the eight hours you’re getting paid to work, but make sure you take a short break in the morning, and another in the afternoon. These breaks—even if you’re just stretching your legs or grabbing some coffee in the lunch room—help relieve stress and sluggishness, and make you more productive by giving you an energy boost.

Don’t try to multitask. It’s a waste of time because virtually no one can do it well (even though lots of us think we can). When you’re trying to do more than one thing at a time, one task is always distracting you from the other one, so you end up doing a bad job of both. Once you realize this, you have to start all over—one task at a time.

Set priorities. Before you leave work for the day, make a list of all the things you must get done the next day, and make a second list of the things you’d like to get done. When you come to work in the morning, start on the first list. After you’ve checked off everything on your first list, start on your second list if you have enough time.

Twenty-four hours of sunlight while working in the far North? On a planet with two suns? You can still be wasting time. Flickr/Andreas Schreyer

Figure out the best way to communicate. Email can be a very time-efficient way to communicate, but that doesn’t mean it’s always the best way. Do you need an answer right away? Make a phone call or knock on an office door. Waiting around for someone to reply to an email can be a huge time waster, not to mention that it can really stress you out. Plus, if you’re talking with someone in person, you don’t have to worry about having your tone misconstrued.  

Organize. Know where you can find everything you need to get your work done—whether it’s on your desk, in a filing cabinet, or in your computer. That doesn’t mean you have to be a neat freak. You can be a slob, but you need to know where everything is if you want to use your time wisely.

Don’t procrastinate. The workplace isn’t high school or college. You probably can't get away with waiting until the last minute to do a project. More likely, your boss will review your work and know that you procrastinated, and you very well may have to redo it. Talk about a time waster. One of the worst things about procrastination is that it not only hurts you, but it also might hurt your entire work team.   

Use technology to your advantage. Can you use videoconferencing or Skype to meet with colleagues or clients in another city? Do you have a smart phone or laptop that will let you work when you’re not at your desk? Can you attend a webinar rather than travel to an out-of-town conference? Take advantage of all the wonderful ways that technology can save you time.

These tips are all so simple that you might be thinking, “these are nothing but common sense.” You’re right. They are common sense. So why don’t you follow them?

 

Easy-to-use HR technology can make your whole team more productive. Get started with TribeHR.

 

Alternative Performance Rating Systems

Nearly every aspect of business has a “gold standard”—a practice that’s considered the best of the best. But, all too often, those same standards become outdated or simply irrelevant for the times.

In HR, the “behavioral anchored rating system” (BARS), which works by assigning a numerical value to specific behaviors needed for individual job duties, is often considered king. BARS helps ensure that both the general and specific duties of an employee are assessed in a quantitative and qualitative way.

Although BARS is an industry-leading appraisal tool, the system has some significant drawbacks. BARS demands a time and financial commitment that many smaller organizations simply can’t meet. Supervisors sometimes find rating certain aspects of an employee’s performance difficult, since the listed behaviors do not always include the required actions of the employee—and re-development is challenging.

BARS may be deemed the best by many, but there are several alternatives to the traditional performance rating systems that may better fit your company:

Mentoring/Coaching Sessions

Some companies have scrapped performance reviews all together. In their place, the company works to match its employees with a career coach who can help solve problems one-on-one, and offer advice about best practices within the job. These coaches also try to target and fix an employee’s deficiencies. Often the coach is a respected leader within the organization, or a manager from another department.

The coach system works best when it’s an ongoing practice, optimizing both contiguous (ie. constant) and continuous (ie. with breaks between sessions) evaluations. Coaches may report back to the employee’s direct supervisor with evaluations and recommendations.

360-Degree Feedback Appraisals

Teamwork is a critical aspect in every organization, so utilizing the members of the team is considered an accurate and credible technique for conducting appraisals. Although not a new strategy, the 360-degree feedback appraisals allow the entire team, including peers, subordinate and superiors, to weigh in on the performance evaluations. Since these evaluations come from several different sources, employees often feel they are more accurate and credible.

According to a study by the National Fire Academy that examined the functionality of 360-degree feedback, employees are more likely to change their work habits in order to gain respect from their colleagues than they are from their supervisors.

Self-Appraisals

We all know that you are your harshest critic. That’s why self-appraisals work. Performance evaluations conducted by the employee can provide honest and constructive feedback to managers. Employees know where they have succeeded, and where they have run into obstacles (both internally and externally).

Utilizing self-appraisals often helps employees define clear and realistic goals for progress and improvement. But beware: employees have to be motivated to take the exercise seriously, and some overly confident employees may miss the mark completely, giving themselves much higher rankings than they deserve.

Peer Evaluations

Some organizations have moved to 100% peer-based evaluations. Taskforces of six to eight employees are selected to develop and implement the evaluation process. Peer reviews have a high level of acceptance within the working environment, and are viewed as stable, task-relevant and accurate.

Many systems also allow for open communications between task force members and employees. This creates a more worker-friendly environment by providing a safe and non-threatening forum to discuss grievances and other organizational concerns. Most peer review evaluations, however, do not affect pay raises or incentive bonuses.

Regardless of the evaluation system that your company implements, it's essential that employee feedback be taken seriously. Workers want to know if they are meeting expectations. They want to know where they can improve, and where they excel. They want to know what skills they need to develop or enhance. They want to know if, quite simply, they're doing a good job or not.

Clearly communicating employees' strengths and weaknesses creates a more productive and more efficient working environment.

Have you adopted a unique evaluation system that works for your company? We want to hear about it. Leave a comment or send us a message.

 

TribeHR's online performance rating software can be customized to do almost anything. Get started today with a free trial.

 

The Glass Office: Pros and Cons

The Pros and Cons of Working in a Glass Office

One of the most heart-pumping scenes in the movie The Social Network occurred when Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin stormed out of a glass-enclosed conference room, confronted Mark Zuckerberg and angrily accused Zuckerberg of cheating him out of millions of dollars of Facebook stock. Saverin—or the actor who played him—then grabbed Zuckerberg’s laptop and smashed it into many little pieces of plastic and metal, as dozens of co-workers watched, mouths wide open.

This scene was for all to see because Zuckerberg was hard at work at a little desk, which was pushed up against other little desks in a wide open space, where there was no privacy to be found.

The fact is that the office depicted in the movie looks like a lot of workplaces today. Nearly 70 percent of all offices in the U.S. have an open floor plan, with glass-walled conference rooms and desks separated by no or low walls, according to a report by the International Facilities Management Association.

So many companies use this “open seating design” because the benefits are pretty obvious:

• Communication between co-workers is easier and quicker—and better because it’s eye to eye.

• Better communication leads to better collaboration, which leads to higher levels of productivity.

• More natural light in the workplace improves employees’ moods.

• Fewer offices and cubicle walls reduce build-out, maintenance, and energy costs.

• An open floor plan also gives more employees views of the outside, making them feel less confined and putting them in a better frame of mind.

• Employees will use their time more wisely if they know it’s more likely they're being watched.

But there are downsides, as The Social Network suggests:

Employees sometimes need privacy that their work stations don’t provide, so they need to get up and borrow a vacant office, or go to a conference room, which takes time and can hurt productivity. 

Open floor plans make noisier work places, and all but the most expensive glass walls allow more noise to pass through.

Some companies realize after the fact that their open floor plans are too open, and they end up spending money on frosting glass, erecting or lengthening cubicle walls, or replacing glass with sheetrock.

So do the pros outweigh the cons? Employees who like to doze off at their desks after lunch would say no, but a growing number of companies say yes.

 

Enhance productivity and cohesiveness with TribeHR. Please subscribe for e-mail updates from the Workplace Tribes Blog.

 

To Review Performance or Not to Review Performance

Let's start with a question: Which of these statements is true?

A) Only 45 percent of American workers said the feedback they receive in their performance reviews is fair and accurate. B) 67 percent said the feedback they receive during their performance appraisal is a surprise to them. C) Only 25 percent said their performance reviews include specific examples to support the feedback they receive. D) All of the above. E) None of the above.

The answer, unfortunately, is "D," according to a recent report.

It's statistics like these that are causing a small number of companies to scrap formal performance appraisals—between 1 and 10 percent no longer conduct conventional reviews.

The companies that still do semi-annual or annual reviews maintain that scheduled conversations between managers and employees enable them to formally recognize their employees' achievements, and let them point out weaknesses for employees to work on.

Managers frequently use reviews to offer career guidance and to build relationships. Eliminating performance evaluations, supporters say, might mean that "difficult" conversations between managers and employees never happen.

Failing to officially document problematic performance can pose problems if an employee is fired. But many employees say performance reviews make them nervous, and don't motivate them.

Managers need to know how to speak to the people they supervise.

Some companies agree and say they are glad that they no longer give reviews, according to a yet-to-be-published study which examined 17 firms that don't use formal performance appraisal systems. All 17 reported low turnover, high employee morale and strong relationships between managers and employees, among other benefits, according to the study by Scherwin, Coget, and Kirner.

Last year, Atlassian Inc., an Australian software company, ditched traditional performance reviews for its 450 employees. The publicly blogged experiment, which continues, asked managers and their subordinates to discuss performance and goals at weekly one-on-one meetings, with feedback going in both directions. The company says it's working.

Glenroy Inc., a Wisconsin packaging film manufacturer with 178 employees, hasn't given formal performance reviews for about 20 years. The company's informal system has put responsibility on workers to offer advice. The employees, meanwhile, are trained to give feedback effectively, and to receive it graciously. Meanwhile, an outside consultant determines pay, and workers are promoted if they and their supervisors think they're ready.

New experiments in employee evaluation doesn't always work, however. The University of Wisconsin Credit Union gave up performance reviews but returned to them because no other system had been put in place. Experts say it's important to do something if you don't conduct performance reviews.

The bottom line is employees need to know where they stand with their supervisors. When done right, formal performance reviews work well. If companies eliminate them for whatever reason, they need to put another effective strategy in place. Employees need to know where they stand; managers need to know how to speak to those they supervise. Companies do best when all employees feel that the evaluation process—whatever it is—is transparent.

  

TribeHR makes it easy to try new formats for your employee performance reviews. Get started today with a free, no-commitment 60-day trial.

 

By Mark Di Vincenzo. Mark is a journalist with 24 years of experience and a New York Times best-selling author.

 

A New Year, a New Business Strategy

By Angela Stringfellow. Angela Stringfellow is social media strategist and marketing communications consultant.

With the start of a new year, take a moment to step back and look at how you manage your staff.

It's 2012, and we haven't all been killed (take that, Mayans!). But if that 2012 apocalypse does end up happening, wouldn't you like to be remembered fondly?

New Year’s resolutions are not just for losing weight or giving up smoking—they're about making all sorts of changes for the better. The clichés about starting fresh and starting over have their place in business, too.

For the micromanager:

This is an ideal time to examine your often destructive method of management and turn around morale within the company.  

If you're a micromanager, you probably know it. You’ve heard the whispers behind your back, but you just don’t know how to go from a dictator to a leader.

In 2012, vow to create a more cohesive working environment, one built upon mutual respect instead of fear. Think about managers you’ve had in the past. Who was more influential: the one who watched over your every move or the person who gave you an opportunity to grow?

Across all business styles there are opportunities to reflect and make changes. Even the most effective and positive business owner or manager can find ways to make the work place more functional. 

Probably the simplest and easiest way to create a more productive culture is to provide positive reinforcements for your team. A pat on the back, a moment of recognition, or the all mighty ice cream social goes a long way.   

For the HR pointer:

You know, that HR person who doesn’t know much more than the average employee about the company’s benefits programs. Seeing your reflection in the mirror? Then do yourself and your employees a favor and learn the business inside and out.

Be a valuable resource to those you serve, not simply a person who points to a website or a phone number when questions arise. If a young professional asks about maternity leave or medical time, get them answers, and make sure they're the right ones.

It may seem like wasted effort learning the ins and outs of the various programs when, really, you can just point to a website. But fluent knowledge helps position you as a strategic resource within the company, instead of an administrative filer of forms. Perhaps corporate handles most of the benefits issues; that doesn’t mean you can pass the buck to them each and every time. 

If you already work to provide your employees with accurate and vital information, pledge to continue doing this. Keep them informed about any news they need, and hire talent that enhances the company culture.

As you reflect back on 2011, remember that it’s never too late to make positive changes in 2012! Even if the end of the world is coming, you may still have a few more months to make a difference! 

  

Get a fresh start with a fresh approach to human resource management. See how TribeHR builds a culture of success.

 

Holiday Hours Best Practices for Small Businesses

NOTE: TribeHR's team is away for the holidays from December 24th to January 1st, inclusive, but we'll continue to monitor all of the usual support channels (email, Twitter, and the support community). We apologize if our response times are slightly slower than usual during this period. Happy holidays!

By James O'Brien. James is a correspondent for The Boston Globe, The Consumer Chronicle, and Boston University's Research magazine.

Holidays in the air, snowflakes everywhere: it's easy to get caught up in the spirit of the season—unless you're working out the holiday schedule for your employees. Ho-ho headaches, that's a tricky task.

Sure, you could just shut up shop for a week and "take a break." But for many small businesses, the holidays are a major money-making season, especially storefront shops and other purveyors of gift-type products.

So, let's take a look at holiday hours and at some criteria for meeting the demands—getting employees the time they need with their families and friends, while keeping your operation running.

Employees and Employers: Holiday Worries

Gift-buying, kids out of school for a week or two, relatives coming to town, parties to plan (and attend)—all of these things can get in the way or normal everyday work responsibilities.

The Institute for Employment Studies, in the UK, has identified some common characteristics when it comes to how employees feel about the work-life/home-life equation. These apply more than ever around the holidays:

• Commitment Anxieties: It's easy for staff who ask for vacation time to tell themselves that their boss and coworkers will think they're less committed to their job.
   
• Sick-Day Angst: Employees are concerned about using—and typically don't want to ask for—sick days for holiday leave.
   
• Short-Notice Susceptibility: When school is on holiday break, for example, and childcare suddenly falls apart, employees who need to be at home feel like they don't look reliable.

Chances are your employees feel pulled in two directions. That doesn't make the holiday dilemma any less difficult.

Over time, shuttering a store can hurt demand. Customers tend to dislike the experience of closed doors. If your business booms during the holidays, you just can't afford to go dark for a week. On the other hand, hiring seasonal workers can critically cut into smaller companies' bottom lines.

Take caution, however: studies like the once published by the IES show that not giving employees a reasonable break around the holidays can have unintended consequences moving forward. Employees who lack reasonable vacation time tend to get sick more often, are less productive, and can be less engaged.

Strategy Time: Handling the Holiday-Hours Question

Here are some reasonable ways for businesses to give workers a family-friendly break without closing for a week or hiring heaps of expensive temporary staff:

• Annualized Hours: Instead of building your employees' schedule around hours per week, you can build it based on hours per year. Employees can then indicate in advance where their holiday time will fall, and hours can be distributed throughout the year so that blocks of time-off are created for each employee's needs. There are complications, of course: absenteeism throws off the system, and there's still going to be overlap between employees' requested hours. If you're looking to make systemic change, however, research shows that this can help solved the puzzle.
   
• Half Days: Another potential solution is to offer employees a number of half days around the holidays. Businesses can keep some coverage, but everybody gets some home-time, too.
   
• Seniority System: When it comes to full days off, you might put in place a system in which there's a pool of days available: say seven days for a staff of four. Based on seniority, your most senior employee gets to pick (perhaps) three days off. Next senior: two. The two junior staff each get one. Combine that with half-days, and your staff will probably come out feeling decently cared for. 

Of course, you could impose a schedule, if that suits your management style. Or, you can take a tip from Bizznesscard on the topic: have them draw straws. Sometimes the perception of random chance is a way for people to come away feeling like favoritism never played a role.

Remember, holiday breaks have been shown to rejuvenate your workforce. If you can't close for a few days, make sure everyone gets a day or two off—give them (and yourself) a little extra time to be merry, come the season. Happy holidays!

 

Have a fantastic New Year! Workplace Tribes will be back in January.

 

The Importance of Making Mistakes and Getting Feedback

Feedback is a part of life. No matter what an individual's position: spouse, parent, CEO, front-line employee or even President of the United States, feedback comes from all directions.

Feedback is offered by employees, partners, boards of directors and constituents. Feedback is unavoidable. But it's a person's reaction to constructive criticism that plays the most important role in success. 

Anna P. Hemingway, author of How Students' Gratitude for Feedback Can Identify the Right Attitude for Success: Disciplined Optimism, says she can typically place students into two categories:

1. Those who thrive on feedback, ask questions and are engaged in improving their work
2. Those who are ambivalent, resistant to feedback and ignore criticism

Hemingway says the latter group has "disciplined optimism," or a drive for success based on a desire to learn from mistakes, seek help with challenges, and make improvements to their work.

These same principles can be applied to the workforce, including management and executive staff. A positive response to criticism, even a thirst for suggestions and advice, is a sure sign of an employee or supervisor with a determination to succeed.

Response to Criticism Shapes Success

Feedback is sometimes negative. But it's our response to criticism that shapes the behaviors and attitudes that set the stage for future successes or failures. Hemingway writes that in order to adopt a more positive attitude toward feedback, an individual must:

• View criticisms as an opportunity to grow
• Be devoted to improving the current situation
• Own his own problems
• Believe in his ability to succeed
• Strive to remove obstacles

When offering constructive criticism, include both strengths and weaknesses to help them see negative remarks as an effort to help, instead of an attack. Using this tactic, managers can engage previously ambivalent staff and encourage modifications to work that might otherwise have been resisted.

A Helpless Cause or a Lack of Motivation?

Hemingway suggests that the driving force behind a negative reaction to criticism is often not a desire to fail, but a self-limiting belief that the person can't change their current circumstances. An employee, for example, may believe his talents are limited, leading to the conclusion that making an effort to overcome shortcomings is pointless.

A recent article on PsychologyToday.com takes a look at obtaining success through failure. Author Robert Biswas-Diener points to research that shows "business leaders reported a better tendency to take action, even in the face of fear and uncertainty, than did any other group in the study."

Biswas-Diener says that in his own research, including interviews with dozens of executives, he found that highly-successful people are more willing to make mistakes. Mistakes, it turns out, are opportunities for growth and development.

Biswas-Diener asserts that recognizing the inevitability of mistakes may not be enough; individuals should actually embrace them. In one example, study participants were asked to intentionally make a mistake in a public speaking presentation, incorporating it into the presentation. This group reported having more fun doing what is otherwise a daunting and intimidating task for many: Speaking in public, and making a mistake while doing so.

Take Calculated Risks for a Big Payoff

Many companies are now embracing the nature of mistakes and failure, accepting mistakes as a character trait of highly creative people. It's the individuals with a desire to step outside of the box and take a risk who often come up with the biggest and most profitable ideas. But if a fear of making a mistake holds someone back, the door to opportunity closes.

Of course, a mistake-free enterprise would be an incredible accomplishment, but it would also be a very stale and static environment. A total avoidance of mistakes means no innovation is occurring and no opportunities for learning and growth are taking place.

Without mistakes and errors, we have a harder time identifying areas of improvement, or ways to have the experience help everyone get better. Those who are willing to take risks, willing to accept feedback and willing to move past obstacles are those who will achieve the highest level of success.

 

TribeHR's awesome employee feedback system helps you build a culture of success. Get started today.

 

 

Small businesses strategies: Bring your own device?

By Erik Sherman. Erik Sherman is a writer primarily covering business and technology, but also experienced in food, entertainment, and the outdoors.

Bring your own device to work (BYOD) means that rather than provide equipment like computers or cell phones, a company lets employees use their own choice of gear, and then generally reimburses them for it. The employee might choose to get a service contract from the equipment retailer, reducing the need for an in-house IT staff.

It's quite a temptation for a small business. But a decision on whether or not to support BYOD is anything but obvious. 

Pros

The introduction of the Web, mobile computing, and cloud computing has turned business technology upside down. Employees work outside regular hours and duty strays far beyond the four walls of the office. In many industries, embracing smartphones and tablets is increasingly necessary.

By letting employees choose their own equipment, companies vote for greater productivity and flexibility. People will naturally be more effective using the tools that they prefer. If a company uses contractors, such temporary employees can supply their own devices and be ready to be productive that much faster.

Pervasive Internet connectivity means that employees working from virtually any device at any location still need access to corporate data and software. Expanding use of cloud services could make the use of a variety of devices even easier.

There are also savings for the company. Even if it reimburses employees for equipment and warranty plans, the company saves on the expenses of managing computers and phones, plus the additional IT staffing or consulting to handle problems. That's particularly important for a small business that doesn't have extensive IT resources.

Many companies might find that new employees already own devices that they could use, and for which they would expect no reimbursement.

Cons

Of course, untold benefits without a downside don't happen in the real world. The first and most obvious problem is compatibility. A company's systems may require specific combinations of operating system and hardware specifications.

When you let employees decide on the type of devices they'll use, the final choice is out of your hands. If what they use isn't compatible, getting them access to the applications and resources they need might be tough. There's also the question of corporate culture and whether the company can get the right amount of cooperation from employees.

More generally, if something goes wrong with a user-supplied device or computer, the employee has to contract an outside company to get service. Repairs through retail stores can take weeks, which means you'lll need temporary replacement units to keep employees productive. 

If you don't have absolutely everything running off some cloud or server, then trying to sync applications and files could be difficult. Not all businesses are ready for cloud services. Forget about the store that sold the hardware offering any help in the case of software incompatibilities, because it's not a hardware problem.

Suddenly, you're back in the hardware support business. And asking employees to use hardware they already own could for some create resentment and a need to reconsider how to handle employee relations.

Should the hardware work as advertised, there are some potentially big legal issues. The hardware is theirs, not yours. What if an employee leaves? How do you compel the person to turn over data that you suspect he or she has on the machine? 

And if you're used to monitoring what employees do, you might find yourself in a quagmire, especially if anyone else in the employee's family uses the device, and you inadvertently monitor that person's activities too. When it's your equipment, you can do as you wish.

The Answer? 

There is no single and simple best practice. You have to weigh the pros and cons and see what compromises might get you the best combination of benefits with acceptable risk. One solution might be for the company to own the equipment, but to give employees some freedom in the purchasing process. 

Maybe there's a choice between PC laptop and a MacBook, or between an iPhone or Blackberry phone for a corporate-owned cellular account. Check with local consultants that work with both PCs and Macs, or integrate both iOS-based and Android-based cellular devices.

The best thing you can do is see which strategies might require technical changes for your business, and then make a smart decision, not one dictated by either habit or fad.

 

Do you or your employees BYOD? Why or why not? Share your experience in the comments.

 

Do I need to do formal staff evaluations?

By Mark Di Vincenzo. Mark Di Vincenzo is a journalist with 24 years of experience, and a New York Times best-selling author.

Are performance appraisals necessary?

Let’s say you own a small business with 10 or 15 employees, and you have great people skills. You do an excellent job of communicating with your employees, telling them what they’re doing well and what they can do better. And you tell them all this in the most professional and tactful way possible.

So the last thing you need to do is give your employees annual performance evaluations, right? Wrong.

Here are 8 good reasons to do formal staff evaluations:

1. You'll have a written record of your employees’ strengths and weaknesses. You need to know this, and so do they. Employees want to hear what they’re doing well, and they need to hear how to improve. Evaluations should include more facts than opinions, because your employees will respond more positively to them.
    
2. Your employees get an opportunity to tell you what they think they’re doing well, and what they can do better. Even if you disagree with them, you can gain insight into their thought processes, which can prove invaluable.
    
3. Formal evaluations show employees that you care about their performance and development. Many workplace studies show that employees prefer negative recognition to no recognition at all. They want to know that their supervisors are paying attention. A comprehensive and well-reasoned evaluation takes time, and workers will feel good knowing that you feel they're worth it.
    
4. Evaluations do more than just spell out what workers have done well and not so well. They actually motivate employees and encourage them to improve.
    
5. You, and your employees, get a chance to meet privately to discuss work issues that might not otherwise be addressed. During these one-on-one meetings, you can learn things about your business from the worker's viewpoint, as well as discover information about other employees.
    
6. Evaluations identify the need to offer training to employees. Employees who see their weaknesses on paper, particularly if they’re based on indisputable facts, are more likely to agree that they need help to do their jobs better.
    
7. They help you determine whether you’re making good hires. By analyzing data from multiple evaluations, you can figure out whether you’re hiring people who are getting the instruction and training they need before you hire them, or whether they're learning on the job. Your analysis may convince you to improve the way you recruit workers. 
    
8. Evaluations document reasons why employees should receive pay raises or promotions, and whether they should be demoted, or even fired. This written record, which should include very specific information, will be your best friend if a disgruntled former employee decides to sue your company for wrongful termination.

When evaluations are done properly, business owners and employees find them to be a positive and beneficial experience. And if they help your employees do better, they'll help strengthen your entire organization.

 

TribeHR's success recognition and performance appraisal system makes frequent staff evaluations easy for managers. Start building a culture of success with a free trial.

 

Performance Metrics for Employee Evaluations

By Vivian Wagner, special to Workplace Tribes.

"Metrics" is a word that can sound intimidating. Essentially, it refers to ways of measuring data about a company, organization, or employee. 

Employee performance metrics in this sense are nothing new; managers have always evaluated employees based on certain criteria, such as sales records, attendance, or production. 

What's new is that the methods of measurement have gotten increasingly sophisticated over the past few years. Now, instead of simply looking at a salesperson's number of sales over the course of a year, for instance, employers can use software programs to gather, analyze, and interpret that data, looking at it from all possible angles.

Whether the data is measured in person, on paper, or online, there are still standard criteria used in employee performance metrics. Here are a few of them: 

Productivity

This is the biggie. Every company, after all, wants its employees to be productive. Productivity can be measured in various ways, depending on the business, but basically it evaluates how much work an employee does in a specific timeframe. What counts as work varies based on what the company or the department does.

For instance, sales departments might measure the number of sales calls made, the number of sales completed, or the overall revenue generated by a salesperson. Manufacturing companies might measure the number of units produced, packaged, or shipped by each employee. A research and development company might measure the fiscal impact of an employee's research projects, the number of patents produced, or the number of projects that have successfully converted into products.

Skills and Competencies

This kind of measurement evaluates specific employee skills and abilities, such as technical skills, communication skills, customer service abilities, sales aptitude, team player attributes, or leadership tendencies. While it might seem that the measurement of such skills involves a certain degree of subjectivity, it's possible to design written tests, online questionnaires, or other metrics that make the measurement as objective and quantifiable as possible.

Trends

It's also important to measure how an employee performs over time. Have sales increased? Has customer satisfaction? Has the amount of positive feedback from other employees increased? Trend measurements can be built into other metrics, or this data can be gathered separately. This kind of metric can be useful both to employers and to employees, who love to see objective proof of the work they're doing and the improvements they've made.

Training

Training metrics involve tests before, during, or after training sessions, which assess the effectiveness of a training program. By seeing the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that develop in employees, managers can gauge the effectiveness of training programs, and make any necessary changes for future programs.

Training metrics, in other words, measure both the employees ("outcomes") and the training program itself ("process").

There are lots of metrics out there, but they're all doing basically the same thing: measuring the effectiveness of your staff. New technologies and methodologies make it easier to custom-design employee performance metrics systems that works for your business. This helps both your staff, and your bottom line.

 

TribeHR's performance appraisal system makes it easy to include your own metrics, so that you can build a team and culture that's engaged in its own success.