How can I boost employee performance?

Citation

Bishop, M. (2013), "How can I boost employee performance?", Strategic HR Review, Vol. 12 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/shr.2013.37212baa.004

How can I boost employee performance?

Article Type: Q&A From: Strategic HR Review, Volume 12, Issue 2

Leading industry experts answer your strategic questions

Marc Bishop Director at plusHR

There is a clear and immediate correlation between embedding effective performance management and improved business and organizational results. How best then to improve employee performance?

The following article identifies some common myths surrounding employee performance and outlines a more effective way forward based on the five performance factors of Clear Goals, People who Care, Managers who Manage, Simple Processes, and Fair Rewards.

Myth 1: a mission statement is enough

Employee performance touches every part of the organization. Simply creating new company visions every three to four years and setting board level objectives of increasing sales or market share is not enough. Such goals have no relevance or resonance to all employees. The challenge is to take this vision and translate it to functional level objectives and then to individual performance expectations that drives employee performance and behavior.

While the onus is on the HR director to facilitate this process, every line manager needs to be fully engaged with the concept and able to undertake relevant conversations with individual employees, either as part of the regular day-to-day management or as a specific focus on performance management. Critically, in companies with good employee performance, this is not a one-off event or box-ticking exercise; but communicating clear goals and performance expectation is embedded within the corporate culture.

Myth 2: running an engagement survey creates engaged employees

There is a clear, proven link between employee engagement and company performance. Yet too few companies are actually using the results of annual employee engagement surveys to create actionable plans or changes within the organization. As a result, most employees’ perception of such surveys can be negative.

By analyzing survey results, assessing trends and anecdotal comments, organizations can gain far more insight into the true issues affecting employees. On the basis that employee engagement is directly linked to understanding the extent to which employee commitment, both emotional and intellectual, exists relative to accomplishing the work, mission, and vision of the organization, you can quickly establish how important engaged employees are to the financial success of an organization.

Understanding feedback from the survey enables an organization to create agreed actions with measureable outcomes to build a workforce that cares about the on-going success of the business.

Myth 3: good managers are a soft touch

Consistently research cites bad line management as one of the major reasons that employees leave employers. Poor management skills lead to inconsistency and a lack of fairness that can rapidly disenfranchise employees. Yet many managers feel ill equipped to address poor performance and therefore are perceived as a “soft touch,” leaving other, better higher performing and engaged individuals within the team feeling disengaged.

Furthermore, many individuals do not perceive people management or performance management as part of their role as line manager, but as a distinct role that HR performs on their behalf. Providing training and coaching to enable managers to manage transforms employee communication, increases confidence and creates a more equable working environment.

Myth 4: it is all about technology

Over the past decade, the evolution of self-service HR software has resulted in many of the functions previously carried out by HR being undertaken using web enabled technology by line managers. Done well, this approach can lead to simple processes that ensure managers and employees have immediate access to essential information – from performance goals, to recent reward adjustments, and generic employment information related to individual employees. If badly done, line managers feel they are simply adding HR tasks to their existing roles with no benefit whatsoever.

It is essential to put in place the right business processes to support the new approach and implement effective change management. For example, if managers are now tasked with the creation of annual letters to employees outlining the outcome of the pay review, that process must be intuitive and seamless. It is simple processes, backed up by technology and combined with training in communicating and engaging with employees, that supports effective employee management.

Myth 5: it is all about the money

Reward is important; however, in many cases money can de-motivate rather than motivate staff. Pay needs to be perceived as fair and individuals must be confident their pay is in line with their expectations of what colleagues and peers are earning for similar types of work.

Obviously, different industries foster different approaches to reward but the key for the vast majority of organizations is to find balance and combine a working environment with career development and fair reward to deliver true employee motivation and therefore performance.

About the author

Marc Bishop is Director of Reward Consulting at plusHR. An experienced reward and performance management specialist, he has held a number of senior HR roles within LloydsTSB, Centrica, Reuters and British American Tobacco. As a reward consultant, Bishop has worked with clients, including Nationwide Building Society, Virgin Media, BAA and Kimberley Clarke. His particular specialisms are reward strategy, grade and benefit structures, benchmarking of reward arrangements, bonus and incentive design and implementation of new reward and benefit arrangements. Marc Bishop can be contacted at: marc@plushr.com