Any business is only as good as its people. The art of good management begins with hiring. But it doesn’t end there, it should be an ongoing process that is monitored and assessed. It’s important to use a variety of methods to achieve this. Here we look at five ways to evaluate your staff’s performance and improve for the future.
Official Review
As a bare minimum, every business should have a periodic review of staff performance. It should be never less than every twelve months but ideally should be more regularly. Every quarter would give a more regular update. These interactions should allow the management and the worker to discuss what is working well and what could do with improvement. Everything should be accurately recorded and kept in the employee’s file for future reference. If you identify any resolutions or targets, this gives a written record to refer back to at the next meeting. Be careful not to make recordings unless there are knowledge and permission from all involved.
Training Logs
As well as reviews we need to have a training plan for each employee. Often, we find some engage well with training and are eager to go the extra mile. There is essential training in many industries, especially safety training in industrial and manufacturing sectors or first aid. Other training opportunities are optional, and if interesting, you can hope that the staff takes those opportunities. It says a lot about an employee’s attitude if they take up these options or not? Make sure any training is accurately recorded and that these records are up to date.
Test the Market.
It is a good idea to compare your workforce to what is available and what other companies are looking for. If you check out what good jobs are available in your sector, it will give an insight as to what your competitors are looking for. If you post a job advert, you can find out what type of new candidate you could attract, and even though you have no obligation to hire anyone, you may find a hidden gem.
Performance Indicators
It’s important to have an objective system of monitoring performance that allows staff comparison based on data and facts. As much as we would love to think we don’t do it, but we all have biases, often subconscious. If you are employing salespeople you can monitor sales. But it should never be just that simple, you need to see what type of sales each person is making, where the sales leads come from, etc. Try to look beyond the core tasks that everyone achieves, there may be one individual whose sales are lower, but they take care of much of the back-office tasks.
Staff Self-Assessment
Allow staff the opportunity to assess their performance and if they feel any limiting factors are preventing better performance. This can lead to systems, training, and operational improvements you may not have considered before now.
