Performance management is a key component in every business and one expert says it’s time it was simplified and made ‘more human’
Performance management is one aspect of HR that causes a divide among practitioners. On the one hand, some HR professionals believe that it has to be done like clockwork every six months or once a year.
Others believe it should be abandoned altogether, while a third group believe that it should be more flexible in response to a constantly evolving workforce.
Stephan Amling, SVP, SAP SuccessFactors APJ & Greater China, believes the third group has the right idea.
“Employee performance ratings are regarded as outdated and obsolete instruments of employee motivation and engagement [but] claiming to abandon performance ratings while promoting a performance culture means to deny factual realities, and is a contradiction in and of itself,” he wrote in his blog post, Mindful Performance Management is Simply Human.
“A six monthly or annual review is [also] not to the best interests of the employees or the organisation. It is far too lethargic a process for organisational peak performance as we move forward into 2020 and beyond,” he told HRD.
He added that “rapid change is a constant, ‘as knowledge work matures into digital work’ and decisions are driven by data and made in real time.”
In his blog post, he also reiterated the need to evolve and adapt “current management practices to reflect the characteristics of today’s talent and economic markets”.
Building a digital HR organisation is one way HR professionals can address the issue of a more inclusive performance management review, particularly when a company has a diverse, multigenerational workforce.
“Digital HR provides each employee the ability to clearly demonstrate their uniqueness and individual success,” he said.
This information, along with the ways that the company plans to conduct the performance reviews should be transparent and “available organisationally … instead of being ‘hidden’ within a business unit”.
“This change ensures that the performance management process is balanced from both sides,” he emphasised.
Stephan Amling is set to speak at the upcoming SuccessConnect Singapore conference on 15 November where he will further share his perspectives on strategies for success.