Performance management is a crucial aspect of employee management for any organization. Hence, the human resources department is tasked with managing the performance of the employees by monitoring their output and ensuring they meet the required Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) set by their company.
With ‘The Great Resignation’ leaving a lasting impact on the companies, the HR departments are under extra stress to manage, engage and retain employees. Hence, performance management has become an effective means of making employees stay longer with the companies.
Since much of the workforce comprises millennials nowadays, many companies have also started tailoring their workspace and company culture around this generation of employees. Because of these changes, the basic structure of working has changed significantly, and how teams are managed has undergone a comprehensive overhaul.
To remain relevant and exciting in these changing times, you must innovate and evolve based on the new-age employee requirements. Read on to understand the latest performance management trends in 2023 and beyond, defining your employer brand and company image.
What is Performance Management?
Performance Management refers to the continuous alignment of company goals with the performance of the employees. To achieve such alignment, companies generally define goals and performance measures for the employees to follow. Such performance measures include KPIs, KRAs, and other tools to evaluate employee performance effectively.
Companies often employ various tools and strategies to monitor and evaluate an employee’s performance. They ensure that the employees perform their best by providing them with all the necessary tools and making their office work environment favourable. Hence, employee performance management usually entails accountability of tasks and transparency in organizations.
Deploying a robust performance management program provides managers and supervisors with practical tools that help align the employee’s job responsibilities with the organizational objectives. To achieve these objectives, performance management initiatives utilize the legacy tools such as creating and measuring work goals and setting milestones.
In the modern workplace, the traditional method of annual performance reviews feels outdated. Hence, HR managers and supervisors are experimenting with continuous feedback and reviews to motivate their employees. Modern HRMS and ERP also aid them by providing insightful data which can be used for course correction and further optimization of processes. All these factors ensure that the employees feel motivated to work for their employer and stay longer with them.
Common Performance Management Trends in 2023
The recent global pandemic has changed employees’ mindset towards their jobs and having a work-life balance. Many employees have resigned from their hectic positions and started pursuing their hobbies. Many have turned to the gig economy to make money off their creative pursuits. As a result, companies are facing a shortage of talented staff. HR managers of significant companies are busy strategizing innovative solutions to curb employee turnover and improve engagement and retention rates.
Because of the factors mentioned above, performance management in companies has come under the limelight as it is an effective method of retaining talent. However, due to the rise in the young workforce, traditional performance management methods are not enough.
Hence, let us check out ten major performance management trends for 2023 and beyond:
1. Millennials’ Leadership
Millennials and Gen Z are the significant percentages of the current workforce. Additionally, the rate of millennials in the workforce is increasing, and they will soon be a dominating faction in the labour force. With changing times, the traditional performance management trend should also evolve to remain appealing to the new young workforce. For example, the legacy method of annual feedback would not be effective with millennials as they wish to constantly receive continuous feedback to improve themselves.
Additionally, the millennials who are freshers or working in entry-level positions will soon be taking over leadership positions. Companies need to upgrade their performance management strategies to manage them effectively. Hence, businesses should update their practices to appeal to the tech-savvy millennial workforce while providing them with added flexibility to maintain a healthy work-life balance.
2. Challenging Retention
Due to the shift in the mindset of the employees, retention has become challenging for companies. With the rise of the gig economy, much talented staff are finding more value in freelancing and providing their services on popular freelancing websites. Additionally, many people have successfully converted their creativity into successful side hustles during the global pandemic-induced lockdown. Additionally, many companies actively poach their rival company’s employees with better packages nowadays.
Due to these factors, it has become very challenging for companies to retain their talented staff. However, multiple pieces of research point to the fact that employees will stay with their current organization if they have an engaging work culture. Human beings generally love to stay with like-minded individuals. As a result, if you have a great work culture, employees will last longer in your organization.
3. Rising Gig Economy
As mentioned earlier, the recent pandemic-induced lockdown has encouraged everyone to take up freelancing jobs. Additionally, many companies laid off employees who could not secure jobs during an unstable financial structure. As a result, many employees turned to freelance opportunities, and many are finding it hard to return to a daily 9-to-5 job. They are happier with the multiple benefits provided by the gig economy, such as flexible work hours, remote working, etc.
As for the companies, the performance management of its temporary staff is not much of a concern as they can easily replace them. With the increased high-speed internet penetration, more individuals are likely to go freelancing. As a result, companies should be open to having freelance and contractual staff and think of them when developing work culture-related policies.
4. Flexible Working
With the rise of internet connectivity, remote working has become the norm in many organizations. Additionally, many individuals find it easier to work from home due to the additional flexibility it provides. Multiple companies are also open to remote and hybrid working environments due to the added benefits it offers.
Due to remote working, companies have also started welcoming the culture of flexible working hours. Additionally, with the rise of mobile technology and internet speeds, people are also undertaking their tasks right from their smartphones. Although the mileage of work done with mobiles and tablets vary by the nature of work, it is undoubtedly a viable option nowadays. Multiple organizations are already providing app versions of their ESS portals and training modules to encourage employees to consider working from their mobiles and tablets.
5. Continuous Feedback
When it comes to their performance management, the legacy performance management trend of annual feedback seems outdated. With the changing work culture and methodologies, employees require constant feedback from their superiors to ensure better productivity. Yearly performance reviews might work in workplaces where work is repetitive and monotonous. However, a continuous feedback approach makes more sense regarding other kinds of work.
Similarly, managers and supervisors must learn to accept criticism for their management style. Hence, companies have started ongoing feedback loops, continuous coaching, 360-degree feedback, and more to provide employees with opportunities to learn and grow professionally.
6. Meaningful Recognition
Another common trend in effective performance management is ‘providing meaningful recognition’. Employees wish to be recognized for their work publicly. Hence, companies have started implementing an awards system that bestows them with certificates and a small ceremony to make the occasion memorable. Being recognized for their work in front of their peers enables the staff to put more effort into their work.
Companies have also started personalizing their rewards for their employees to maintain the desire to achieve them. It improves their productivity and infuses new energy into the company’s work culture. Such positive reinforcements also help the staff become loyal and stay longer with their company.
7. Data Visualization
Data has become the currency of the digital age. With analytics being one of the cornerstones of the human resources department, data-driven decisions have become easier with the help of modern technology. It also avoids the bias and stigma associated with human decisions regarding employee appraisals.
Similarly, modern HRMS has also become good at predictive analytics, which predicts employee behaviour based on experience with the company. As a result, management can take data-backed decisions that give the employees an additional incentive to stay longer with them. For example, if past data shows that 90% of employees may take a leave on a particular day, they are also likely to take leave on the same day this year. Hence, management can provide a holiday on that day, endearing the employees to their company.
8. Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence has already penetrated the HR domain with ATS and HRMS systems. AI will be a significant game-changer for HR as AI can deploy multiple tools in its arsenal to support HR in effectively managing its employees. For example, HRMS can learn user behaviour to understand their thought process and apply it effectively for predictive analysis. Similarly, HRMS can employ machine learning to understand the everyday tasks performed by the user and provide the same options in the dashboard.
Similarly, an AI-based HRMS can recommend training to employees based on their aptitude and the responsibilities of their designation, which has multiple benefits. The employee would be eager to learn a new skill that helps them progress. At the same time, the company gains skilled staff, which leads to an increase in the quality of its goods and services.
9. Employee Satisfaction
In 2023, it is imperative to measure employees’ satisfaction to have an actively engaged community of staff members. Having an engaged workforce is essential for the success of the company. Hence, many companies have started implementing employee happiness-related KPIs for their staff. While filling their work reports, the employees are also required to fill in their happiness KPIs. They are encouraged to highlight any issues they face that might affect their happiness index in the organization.
An employee’s satisfaction can be linked to multiple factors, such as how meaningful they perceive their work to be, how engaged they are, whether they are being paid adequately, their workload, flexibility of working, and many more. Hence, companies should develop a list of such factors and try to provide the best options feasible.
Conclusion
Performance management is an essential component of employee management. The recent changes in employee mindset have led to significant changes in its implementation. Companies have adopted new technologies such as AI, machine learning and more to provide their employees with an enhanced performance management experience. However, a significant challenge is to continue the same experiences for longer. Hence, one should also involve the employees while developing new strategies for newer performance management trends.
