Kojar Ahmed
All employers need a maintainable and accurate way of monitoring the performance of their
employees, whether it be for a general performance review or to determine if someone has
earned a promotion. Either way, there are multiple methods a business can use, first off the
business must identify performance indicators, these vary depending on the types of work
being done but are generally a good way of analysing an employee. A performance indicator
may be how many customers an employee serves in 10 minutes or how fast they are
working, in other departments they could measure how many sales an employee is making
and use this to determine how competent they are in their role. All in all, performance
indicators are a good resource to use if a business wants a simple understanding of the
employee’s capabilities
Performance indicators cannot always be identified or used by a business in some
circumstances, such as in factories with large amounts of workers who can't all be reviewed.
Some businesses will also have their own methods of measuring employee performance,
such as banks who have their own appraisal systems. This means not all methods of
measuring employee performance are universal.
Goal theory is the theory that setting goals for employees to accomplish will lead to better
work results. These goals should ideally be developed with input from both the employer and
the employee to ensure it is achievable and realistic, this will help in increasing employee
morale when one or multiple goals have been reached. The idea of goal setting has long
been in use by employees to improve performance, probably because it actually works and
has a positive impact on employee performance, although in some cases it may not improve
much. The success of these goals also depends on the employee’s motivation and if they
actually want to achieve their goals, otherwise goals will not work as intended. One of the
most effective ways of setting a goal is to use SMART targets, SMART is a business tool
used which stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time bound. These
parameters ensure employees set goals that they can manage and are actually achievable,
preventing them from setting unachievable and unrealistic goals which could lead to lower
morale.
When employees start their employment at a new place of work, their first couple of weeks
may be on ‘probation’. This is a period where an employee's performance will be closely
monitored to determine if they are suitable for the role, this is useful in identifying anyone
who has the inadequate skills, and replacing them before time and money can be spent on
their training. It is also an opportunity for the employee to determine if they enjoy the role,
giving them the opportunity to quit with little notice if they are not enjoying it. At the end of a
probation period, an employer will go conduct an interview with the employee and will
provide feedback on their performance, also determining whether or not they will continue
working there.
Appraisal systems are designed to reward and motivate employees who have shown
outstanding capabilities, they do this in a way that is similar to setting SMART targets, in that
both the employee and employer will have a say on what targets are set. Once targets have
been determined, the employee and employer will go through the targets and find out what
was accomplished well and what wasn't, giving appraisals and rewards for good
performance and suggesting improvements for those that did not get accomplished.