Out of all human resources operations, performance management has always been one of the most dynamic fields that keep evolving in sync with the needs of an industry. Now, it is no news that effective performance management not just creates a positive environment for employees but also helps companies to acquire their predetermined goals. However, it is not as easy as it sounds.
We all know that the global pandemic, COVID-19 has changed the lens through which we viewed the world. Every industry out there witnessed major disruption, while bringing into the spotlight attributes such as humility, empathy, and resilience. From March 2020, organizations across India are operating under the pressure to stay ahead of the game by being innovative as well as agile.
Amid all this chaos, digitalization got an unprecedented push. More and more organizations shifted to automated software tools such as performance management software to digitize this routine process. As a result, managing performance in a virtual setup is an evolving topic today. Over the last year, as people have been forced into working remotely, it has become clear that managing performance in the new normal requires the right blend of art and science.
In this blog, we will talk about four fundamental components that influence the performance management process in a virtual environment. Let’s dive in.
Highlighting Purpose
HR managers need to understand that virtual performance management is a lot different from the traditional one. Keeping the same point in mind, HRs should give employees a sense of purpose and support them to be their best productive selves. This in turn will help drive a high-performance culture along the way. Also, redefining missions and introducing a set of new principles to inculcate the behaviours required for this journey can bring out the best in employees and cut down the need for micro-management while working remotely. Most importantly, encouraging employees to contribute their ideas and using them is an efficient method to help them feel a common sense of purpose.
Incorporating Technology
Without a doubt, technology plays a vital role in the virtual performance management process. Considering the same, it is high time for organizations to rely on the right technologies to survive the new normal workspace.
There is no dearth of performance management software in the Indian market today. Such systems are particularly designed to make things easier for HRs and manage performances from any remote location.
According to a study, just 50 percent of employees understand their goals fully.
This study was carried out in traditional office setups. Now, you can imagine what will be the result if it is done among people working in virtual setups.
Performance management software can help organizations increase engagement and productivity in a virtual setup with clear and auto-triggered goal sharing, continuous 360 feedback, and proper recognition.
Upskilling Leaders
The role of leaders is acutely big when it comes to demonstrating behaviours to the team to emulate. In times like these, leaders have the responsibility to help their employees to grow and give their best efforts. For this, the majority of leaders in India are now undergoing different programs. One such program is conscious entrepreneurship. This programme helps leaders to scale up their business, drive excellence and inspire their employees even while working from home. That means to acquire the desired outcomes in virtual performance management, leaders are also equally accountable. Organizations that focus on building the abilities of their frontline managers and leaders can not just improve their collaboration but also manage their dispersed workforce and preemptively find out symptoms of anxiety, burnout, and isolation.
Choosing Rights And Cutting Off Wrongs
With almost every company working remotely in India, methods of tracking and managing employee performance should change first. Organizations should not hesitate to leave every outdated tool and method behind. For instance, businesses should not consider the performance management process as an annual event. On the contrary, they should focus on outcomes in shorter intervals.
In a virtual setup, companies should just stop using inefficient tools that waste the time and energy of HRs and employees. Instead of that managers can use new techniques such as conducting continuous check-ins with the help of performance management software.
In addition to this, managers must change the way they appreciate or highlight the mistakes of employees. Lashing out is a big NO in a virtual setup. Be generous and positive while giving feedback to every employee. If HRs give feedback in the right way, it can enable more prompt correction and improvement from employees. Lastly, HRs and managers should also make sure that the annual performance reviews are holistic and include meaningful discussions.
What’s new in performance management ?
The work world is changing rapidly. There are new formed milestones to determine the success have changed. Workforce involves a majority of millennials. The innovations in technology now aims to develop fully automated applications.
With these rapid changes the performance appraisal methods have changed as well. The parameters that define efforts and achievements have evolved. Leaders have started to recognize mental wellness as a factor affecting the productivity curve of the employees .
Earlier performance appraisal used to be an annual process. The challenges due to the annual evaluation of performance have been highlighted since ages now.
Let's take a precise tour of the challenges before we discuss the new found parameters of performance management:
- Annual performance review provided a huge gap in between which led to monotony.
- It robbed the employees of motivation. At certain points the challenges that adversely affected the performance curve made a huge decline even before it could be identified.
- Annual review lacked to analyze each aspect that determined how the employee has performed. For instance, in a sales profile, an annual performance review focused on the number of sales instead of the employees behaviour with the customers or colleagues.
- Annual review included a large panel which can be unnecessarily frightening for the employees.
- Manual involvement had created the impression of a biased report.
These are few such drawbacks of one mode of performance review followed earlier. The ongoing management has aimed to diminish the notion of performance review to be result centric and shifted the paradigm to solving issues which are adversely affecting the employee’s performance.
Let’s take a little dig and discuss the new trends in performance management:
Employee’s experience
Employee’s experience while functioning in the organization has gained momentum in recent times. The human experience of the employee in personalizing their work has been emphasized. As a result, employees have started to invest more effort in a positive manner. This has increased the productivity curve as a whole.
Aside from the inclined productivity curve, there has been a positive impact on the retention rate as well. The reason behind this can be stated as personalization of projects has increased employee engagement. Any employee who feels responsible for the growth of the organization eventually invests in making it a better place. It has derived them from quitting the job to resolving issues which have hurt growth.
Data driven
Data analytics have gained enormous attention. They have started to break into the human resource management space. They have started to gain a presence in performance evaluation as well.
Earlier performance reviews were executed by a huge panel of managers, team leads and the HR team. The involvement of humans created the impression of a biased report. It has been pointed out in the past by many employees that favoritism had a part to play in performance appraisal. Such notions created a disturbed environment even for the deserving candidates. The solution to such hurdles has come up as a new trend.
A data driven approach in performance review has demolished any kind of favoritism in reports. A data driven review produces reports that amplify the efforts of the employee in any projects assigned to them. It highlights the long hours and maintains an unbiased font for decision. Employee’s access to his/her own performance curve builds a transparent bond between the employee and the employer. A slight decline in the curve notifies the employee and the superiors to keep a check affecting performance.
Holistic approach
The data driven analysis of performance inspires a holistic approach in performance review. It engages in considering every aspect into account to draw a wholesome report. The employees behavior towards its colleagues and clients, and many more. It engages in guiding towards a desired shape of behaviour and outcomes at the end.
These are a few new trends that have uplifted the performance appraisal method. It has engaged elements that are not only focused on productivity or achievement but caters the experience of the employee. It has a 360 degree approach which considers all the elements that can mend with employees' performance. With the new world of work there is more to come in the field of performance appraisal.
So, these are the four areas you need to focus on while managing performance in a virtual setup.
Once you wrap up the performance management process, it will be time for performance appraisal. Now, here are some vital steps to be taken after the performance appraisal, in order to ensure an effective process while working virtually:
Follow-Up
No matter how efficient an appraisal system is, there will be some unsatisfied employees. Hence, HR managers should follow-up with every employee and try to understand their take. This is one of the most critical post-ritual practices.
Focus On Unhappy Ones
After following-up, the next step is to pay attention to employees that have expressed dissatisfaction with their performance appraisal. HR managers can take out some time and explain the entire appraisal process to such employees. This in turn will help them to understand the parameters they were evaluated on and the areas they failed to give their best, thereby eliminating any concerns about the system being biased towards them.
Seek Feedback
The third step is to collect feedback on the appraisal process and ask employees for suggestions to improve it in the future. The insights gained from this step can simplify the process, improve transparency, motivate employees, and maintain a dynamic feedback cycle in the virtual workforce.
We hope this blog helped you to understand how a performance management process should be carried out in a virtual setup.
Now, it is time for you to take a step ahead and design your performance management model as per the needs of today’s virtual business environment.
