A manager is in charge of many things in his company, including the people who work there. Because each employee is different in terms of skills and personality, their work is also different.
Managers must maintain teamwork and work plans to expand the company. So, it’s important for managers to do performance appraisals on their staff. An employee’s performance might get an evaluation to see if they deserve a raise or promotion.
Nowadays, you can use HRIS enterprise software to track employee performance easily and integrate assessments. Many companies, especially established ones, have traditionally ceased conducting assessments.
HRIS software makes it easy and seamless to keep track of employee performance. With HRIS software, you can keep track of and record all information about an employee’s presence.
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A good performance appraisal will help you determine each employee’s strengths so you can match them with duties. You must monitor shifts and work schedules to evaluate staff performance.
With HRIS software, it’s easier to keep track of everyone’s shifts and work schedules because everything will be done automatically. Companies also need to store performance evaluation data correctly so that it’s easy to manage. HRIS software helps you manage all employee data from account numbers to remuneration in one simple system.
This article compares traditional and modern performance evaluation methods and discusses the benefits of performance appraisal software.
Also read: KPI as an Indicator to Assess Employees’ Performance
Traditional Performance Appraisal Methods
Having a performance appraisal will help you be more productive, which will indirectly lead to better results. The performance of each employee will affect the work culture and the company’s work plan, so it’s important to evaluate employee performance.
There are still companies that do performance appraisals by hand, even though the results aren’t as accurate and detailed as they could be. Here are the traditional methods of performance appraisal that companies usually do.
Ranking method
The ranking is the most classic performance appraisal method. Each criterion used to judge performance is given points. Most employees who have a lot of points based on parameters that have already been set up show that they are doing a good job.
The good thing about this method is that it is easy to use, so it doesn’t take a lot of time. Either way, the results are also easy to understand. Aside from being simple, the ranking methods don’t give very accurate results because each person has different skills and attributes. This method also doesn’t take behavior and other things into account.
Checklist method
The checklist method is the next traditional way to evaluate someone’s work. This method is also something that many businesses use because it is easy and works well. Managers will give employees a series of questions in the form of multiple-choice, yes/no, and statement questions.
The employees will answer the questions, and the managers will be able to see how much or little they agree with the statement. Even if it’s straightforward and quick, it can be difficult to develop a complete questionnaire for a corporate context. Also, it’s possible that every question asked at every position is irrelevant, making the results less reliable.
Critical incidents method
This is one way to find out how employees think and act when they have to face a problem. This lets you see which employees’ ways of thinking to match your business goals and which ones you can’t evaluate.
Critical incidents are events that have an effect on how an employee does job functions, either for the better or for the worse. First, the critical incidents method makes a list of specific behaviors that can affect job roles.
Then, a group of experts decides how much weight to give each of these behaviors. Then you can judge how well an employee did by how they handled a critical situation. The problem with this method is that it can be hard to keep track of behavior all day long for a whole year.
Use the timesheet software from HashMicro to keep track of how often your employees come to work. This software lets you track employee project time and produce analysis reports.
Essay appraisal
The next traditional method is judging essays based on how well the people judging them can write. Most of the time, the assessors are managers who write essays about employee performance.
The writing skills of the manager have a big impact on how well the essay does. Later, managers will get a number of questions to help them write a more detailed report on an employee’s performance.
This essay will talk about the strengths and weaknesses of employees so that you can figure out where the problems are and come up with a plan to fix them. Small teams can benefit from the manager’s participation in the employee’s professional life. If the team is large, this strategy may not provide enough information to develop reliable opinions.
Paired comparison
The paired comparison method is one of the older ways to evaluate someone’s work. The trick is to compare the work of different employees. The person who is supposed to be the “rater” picks out slips with two names on them and then marks the one they think is better.
How high up on the list an employee is will depend on how many times their name is marked for certain traits. This method also has a formula. It says that the number of possible pairs is N (N–1)/2, where N is the number of employees being evaluated.
The comparison method is a good choice if this method is only for a few employees. But if it is carried out on a wide scale, this method will consume more time.
Modern Performance Appraisal Methods
The traditional way of evaluating performance has a lot of flaws, so different technologies are now being used to improve the process. Technologists use modern methods to do advanced and accurate assessments.
Most of the problems with the old way are that it takes a long time and is inefficient because you have to do each step separately. Here are modern performance appraisal methods that you can use as a reference:
MBO
Management of Objectives or MBO is one of the modern methods in performance appraisal. The goal of this method is to set clear goals. Managers and employees will work together to set objective goals or do other tasks that we can measure and be realistic.
MBO is one of the most popular and widely used ways to measure how well someone is doing their job. The good thing about this method is that the results of the evaluation will be fairer because it puts more focus on qualitative goals.
This is also a good way to find out what skills need to be worked on and trained more. The problem with this method is that it takes a little time and work to make sure it works.
360-Degree Appraisal
The 360-degree appraisal is another popular modern method that uses people around it to give an evaluation. People who work with the employee, such as coworkers and managers, give feedback on how the employee acts and how well he does his job.
Because it is so accurate, this method is thought to be good for evaluating performance and for self-evaluation. Then, the average ratings from the respondents are used to make the report, which can then be compared to the employee’s own rating.
The good thing about this method is that employees can find out what’s good and bad about the team’s personality so they can make changes. However, one problem is that respondents may be treated unfairly, which needs to be avoided.
You can use competency management software from HashMicro to help your employees get better at what they do. With this software, you can make a list of each employee’s skills so that the right people can work on the project.
BARS
The BARS method, which stands for the Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scale, is a modern way for companies to assess the performance of their employees. Compared to other methods, this one is quite pricey, but the results are also very accurate.
The idea behind the BARS method is that employees will use statements or questions to explain a trait about a person. Unlike other methods, this one takes an employee’s intangible qualities into account and maps them to a rating scale.
The BARS method will talk about 5 things: finding critical incidents, making and reallocating performance dimensions, quantitative scaling, and the final BARS instrument. The BARS method is used both qualitatively and quantitatively to get more accurate results.
Assessment centers
Assessment Centers are a modern way to measure how well people do their jobs. This method gives employees the transparency they need to know how they are being evaluated.
In the Assessment Centers method, employees are asked to play a role in a simulation of the social activities that have been set up, and their performance is then evaluated by the manager.
The employees will be evaluated on how responsible they are in their jobs and how well they do their jobs. Each company has criteria for evaluating each role in the company so companies can measure the right skills. This method is expensive and takes a long time, which makes it hard for companies to use.
Cost accounting method
The next modern method is the Cost Accounting method, which is a method of evaluating how well employees have done their jobs based on how much money they have made. The salary, benefits, and other costs that employees have to pay are compared to what they bring to the company.
Employees will get an evaluation on how well they do their jobs based on how well they spend the money the company gives them. Employees who have definitely used this method are salespeople who can figure out how much money they make based on how much they get their salary.
Financial performance analysis focuses on unit value, service quality, accidents, overheard discussions, and other things. But this method doesn’t always work for other jobs. For example, it can be hard to figure out how much a teacher has helped a certain student.
Benefits of Using Performance Management Software
Usually, companies do a performance appraisal once a year, and it’s hard to keep employee information for a whole year. It is hard to do an assessment by collecting information for a year, especially if you do it by hand.
In fact, performance appraisal is a very important thing that a company must do. It will affect how well the company does and how productive it is, so it is essential to look at it. There is software out there that can make it easier for you to do performance appraisals.
This software keeps employee data and information so you can undertake an annual review. Here are some of the good things that can happen when you use performance management software.
Multi-rated feedback: 360-degree evaluation of employees
With 360-degree evaluation, employees are assessed based on information from their peers, supervisors, managers, and other people in the company. You can easily use the 360-degree evaluation method with the help of performance appraisal software, which makes it easy to get feedback from many different people.
The system will build everything in and is easy to collect, especially since this method is anonymous. This will make it easier for the software to handle. With these benefits, managers will be able to do their jobs better and see how their employees are doing from different points of view.
Employee recognition
Performance appraisal is good not only for the company but also for the employees. For companies, you can use performance appraisal to evaluate the company’s system and work culture so you can fix things that employees think are bad.
In the same way, this assessment can help employees think about the problems that they need to fix. So, it’s important to get feedback often and use employee performance evaluation software, which makes it easy for the company to evaluate.
Reduced stigma
If a performance appraisal is done, most employees will feel worried and scared. This is because the performance appraisal will affect both salary and promotion, so employees are worried that their work so far hasn’t been good enough to raise their pay.
Also, some companies usually do performance reviews once a year or at most twice a year. This will have an effect on employees because they will know more about how they are doing for a longer period of time.
The process of doing periodic assessments is hard and takes a lot of time. By using performance appraisal software, companies will be able to do performance reviews on a timely basis and in a way that doesn’t make people feel terrified.
Ability to set goals: track progress and give a sense of accomplishment to employees
You can set goals in your performance management system by reviewing the software’s performance. The aim of the ability to set goals is to encourage employees to do their jobs well and do their best for the company.
The performance management software should make it simple and easy to set goals, and there should be options for setting goals at both the team and individual levels. Another benefit of this goal is that it will give employees a sense of accomplishment, which will motivate them to do their best every time the company meets a goal.
Performance appraisal software that lets you set goals and keep track of employees’ progress is a good way to do both.
Data accessibility and data security
The company keeps a lot of important information about its employees, which the company must keep it in decent form. You need to keep employee information safe, especially now that there are laws to protect personal information.
Along with offering a good performance appraisal, it’s important to keep data and personal information safe. So, if you use performance appraisal software, you can feel good about the fact that data about the company and the employees’ data will be kept safe.
As a company, you have to protect the whole performance management system 24/7 by securing application-level firewalls and two-factor authentication.
Mobile apps for on-the-fly evaluations
One of the benefits of using performance appraisal software is that you can use mobile apps to access it. With this app, managers can easily look at the performance reviews of their employees on their phones.
Employees can also use mobile-accessible assessment findings to make evaluations. This mobile app can help employees who work from home to do a more realistic assessment. You can do the assessment process anywhere and at any time, and anyone in the company can get to it.
Automatic reporting
The next thing you can enjoy is how easy it is to get reports since they will be sent to you automatically. You will automatically get evaluation reports from different parties, which will make your company more productive.
The process of evaluating performance doesn’t take as long as it used to because everything has been made to work together. This makes it easier to make reports and get them to the right people. The information that has been collected over the chosen time period can be easily put into the format that is needed.
Continuous assessment of employees using real-time feedback
Performance appraisal is better not only done once a year but a continuous assessment of employees is needed. This continuous evaluation will give employees a chance to fix their mistakes faster, so that the next time they are evaluated, it can be seen if they have understood the evaluation or not.
The more employees improve themselves, the more they have to do this method. Employees need to improve their flaws so they should know the company’s goal to speed up the evaluation process.
Also read: How to Register a Company in Singapore
Conclusion
One important thing that companies must do to make their employees more productive is to evaluate their work. The way employees act will have an effect on the company’s work plan, which will have an effect on the company’s results.
Through this performance appraisal, you’ll be able to see each employee’s flaws and strengths. With this evaluation, you can decide which ones you need to fix and which ones you should keep the same. These companies mostly use two ways to evaluate employee performance: the old-fashioned way and the newer way.
When you use modern methods, you don’t have to spend as much time, so it is more efficient. At the moment, there is HRIS software that can help with appraisals in an efficient way.
HashMicro’s HRIS software will make things like performance appraisals, payroll, employee data, and other administrative tasks easier. This software has features like attendance lists, tracking, finances, reports, and more that can help you evaluate employees. You can try out a free demo of HashMicro to learn more.
