Using Performance Management Software to Recognise Employee Accomplishments

How to use per­for­mance man­age­ment tools to moti­vate and encour­age high performance.

The area of employ­ee recog­ni­tion is increas­ing­ly impor­tant, both to the suc­cess of a com­pa­ny and to the employ­ees them­selves. Employ­ee recog­ni­tion direct­ly impacts the per­for­mance man­age­ment process, as employ­ees who reg­u­lar­ly feel under­val­ued, under­ap­pre­ci­at­ed, and over­looked are not inclined to per­form at their best. They are also unlike­ly to be an asset to your organ­i­sa­tion, as a lack of recog­ni­tion ulti­mate­ly leads to a lack of moti­va­tion and employ­ee engage­ment. The con­cept of recog­ni­tion is crit­i­cal in so many ways, and yet it is an ongo­ing man­age­r­i­al prob­lem, as not many com­pa­nies know how to effec­tive­ly recog­nise employ­ee behaviour.

For­tu­nate­ly for organ­i­sa­tions, far from being com­pli­cat­ed or expen­sive, employ­ee recog­ni­tion is actu­al­ly inex­pen­sive and sim­ple. It doesn’t require very much aside from time, authen­tic­i­ty, and com­mu­ni­ca­tion. Per­for­mance man­age­ment soft­ware can help the employ­ee recog­ni­tion process in a num­ber of ways, ulti­mate­ly stream­lin­ing the deliv­ery of recog­ni­tion. This ben­e­fits com­pa­nies, who will prof­it from hap­pi­er, more ambi­tious employees.

Why is employ­ee recog­ni­tion important?

A ded­i­cat­ed and engaged employ­ee is one who feels pride in their work and wants to do well, not only for the sake of their own careers, but to advance the com­pa­ny itself. These employ­ees are assets to any organ­i­sa­tion, but they are unlike­ly to stay engaged or dri­ven for long if it becomes clear that their hard work is going unnoticed.

One mis­con­cep­tion sur­round­ing employ­ee recog­ni­tion is that it has to come in the form of mon­e­tary com­pen­sa­tion. 43% of employ­ees claim that they would feel more moti­vat­ed by being treat­ed well than they would by a salary increase. Anoth­er study found that 80% of employ­ees stat­ed that they work hard­er when they feel appre­ci­at­ed. This goes to show that the best way to recog­nise and demon­strate your appre­ci­a­tion is sim­ple communication.

Use per­for­mance man­age­ment soft­ware to com­mu­ni­cate recognition

With per­for­mance man­age­ment soft­ware, feed­back can be instant­ly solicit­ed or pro­vid­ed online via com­put­er, mobile or tablet. A man­ag­er can send a mes­sage con­grat­u­lat­ing the employ­ee in ques­tion on their recent suc­cess, progress or effort which can then be dis­cussed in more detail at their next check-in. Clear Review is both user-friend­ly and intu­itive and repli­cates the ease of com­mu­ni­ca­tion pop­u­larised by social media plat­forms so that recog­ni­tion is sim­ple and straightforward.

An impor­tant con­sid­er­a­tion regard­ing recog­ni­tion is that when man­agers take the time to appro­pri­ate­ly com­mu­ni­cate recog­ni­tion, they are rein­forc­ing desir­able actions and behav­iour. This ulti­mate­ly leads to a more pro­duc­tive and skilled work­force. Remem­ber that recog­ni­tion in itself should be sim­ple, reg­u­lar, imme­di­ate, and authentic.

In light of accom­plish­ments, address Per­son­al Devel­op­ment Plans (PDPs)

If an employ­ee is work­ing hard and con­sis­tent­ly sur­pass­ing their goals, it is an indi­ca­tion that they are ambi­tious and eager to progress, both as an employ­ee and for the ben­e­fit of the com­pa­ny. Dis­cussing and agree­ing per­son­al devel­op­ment and career goals will demon­strate to the employ­ee that you are invest­ed in their pro­fes­sion­al devel­op­ment and that your rela­tion­ship is rec­i­p­ro­cal. The com­pa­ny is sup­port­ing them and cares enough to help them improve their cur­rent skills and potential.

Encour­age employ­ees to use your per­for­mance man­age­ment soft­ware to cap­ture and track their per­son­al devel­op­ment and career objec­tives. This will give their man­ag­er and HR vis­i­bil­i­ty of their per­son­al devel­op­ment needs and career plans enabling them to bet­ter sup­port the employ­ee. Remem­ber to reg­u­lar­ly revis­it per­son­al devel­op­ment plans so that they don’t become stagnant.

Hold reg­u­lar meet­ings and employ­ee catch-ups

Since the recent shift towards con­tin­u­ous per­for­mance man­age­ment and the rethink­ing of per­for­mance rat­ings, reg­u­lar one-on-ones with employ­ees are becom­ing an inte­gral part of HR life. These ​‘check-in’ meet­ings allow for a review of progress and pri­or­i­ties, exchange of infor­ma­tion and feed­back, and they also pro­vide man­agers with the oppor­tu­ni­ty to express their con­grat­u­la­tions on a job well done.

Meet­ings should be reg­u­lar, and employ­ees should be able to request meet­ings when­ev­er they deem appro­pri­ate. Per­for­mance man­age­ment soft­ware can give these meet­ings struc­ture, remind employ­ees when it is time to check-in and ensure that action points are cap­tured and fol­lowed up.

Know­ing when to recog­nise good per­for­mance with a raise or promotion

Some large com­pa­nies (includ­ing Gen­er­al Elec­tric and Microsoft) have made the deci­sion to for­go per­for­mance rat­ings. As such, ques­tions arise about how, with­out rat­ings, man­agers will know which employ­ees to pro­mote or reward with an increase in salary. Tra­di­tion­al­ly, rat­ings have always played a large role in this area.

Although there has been a recent shift away from reward­ing per­for­mance direct­ly with pay, deci­sions still need to be made about pro­mo­tions and bonus­es. Com­pa­nies such as Deloitte have opt­ed to get man­agers to ask cer­tain ques­tions to deter­mine whether or not a pro­mo­tion or a bonus is appro­pri­ate. Per­for­mance man­age­ment soft­ware can assist in this area. Clear Review has a fea­ture called ​“View­points”, which enables organ­i­sa­tions to con­fig­ure ques­tions for man­agers to answer peri­od­i­cal­ly about their team mem­bers. The answers to these ques­tions are then export­ed to Excel, ready to feed into reward and pro­mo­tion decisions.

Regard­less of the size of your organ­i­sa­tion, it is essen­tial that you begin to con­sid­er your approach to recog­nis­ing employ­ee efforts. With­out a sys­tem in place, it is unlike­ly that you will get the most out of your employ­ees, and they may well take their skills else­where. Take advan­tage of the tools and soft­ware avail­able to you and see your employ­ees’ per­for­mance go from strength to strength.