Workforce Management Featured Article
Performance Management Needs to Be Personalized, Transparent
According to a recent study from Accenture (News - Alert), the performance management space is in for a significant, fundamental change in the near future. That’s because the Accenture Strategy study states that 77 percent of business leaders and employees believe that a personalized performance management approach should be mandatory in order to meet the needs of the workforce of the future. In other words, so long performance reviews.
That said, only 34 percent of organizations have already moved away from traditional annual performance management. Entitled “Is Performance Management Performing?”, the report states that 94 percent of workforce leaders believe performance management improves business performance. However, only 39 percent think current practices are helping to achieve their organization’s business objectives.
Meanwhile, 73 percent of respondents say their employers should change their performance management practices. This may have to do with the fact that 65 percent of employees don’t feel performance ratings accurately and objectively reflect their performance, with 58 percent holding the belief that ratings create a negative experience for everyone except those at the top.
While this seems to paint a clear picture—that performance reviews should be completely dropped in favor of a more personalized performance management approach—92 percent of leaders and 89 percent of employees believe traditional rankings and ratings should still serve some role in determining rewards.
“As the workforce becomes more diverse, organizations need to treat their employees as individually as they treat their customers,” said Deborah Brecher, managing director of Accenture Strategy. “Performance management needs to be radically modernized to suit the needs of the workforce of the future.”
The defining trend here is a desire for transparency. In fact, 79 percent of leaders and 69 percent of employees agree that making performance management more transparent to employees is both expected and necessary. This suggests that employees have a strong need for sharing information, according to David Smith (News - Alert), senior managing director of Accenture Strategy.
“The expectation to access and share information extends from the consumer world to the workplace, and employers can’t ignore this when it comes to performance management,” said Smith. “Social media, crowdsourcing and other techniques must become part of the reinvention of performance management. They can provide true transparency, and support the real-time coaching and personal conversations expected by today’s workforce.”
Edited by Stefania Viscusi