The Value of Online Employee Performance Reviews

Organizations are successful when the entire staff performs to their full potential. Every employee needs to put their best foot forward each and every day.

However, effectively evaluating employee performance is easier said than done. Human resources and organizational leadership invest a lot of time and effort overseeing the employee evaluation process. Unfortunately, these assessments are often treated as more of a formality than an opportunity to grow and improve. Employees and managers tend to go through the motions, then revert back to doing things as they were.

The solution is to modernize employee performance reviews by moving the process online. In this article, we’ll outline how your organization can get the most out of employee assessments using Trakstar.

Promote year-round feedback

Conducting employee performance reviews once or even twice a year really isn’t enough. Your employees want to know how they’re doing at their jobs and it benefits your organization to give them feedback on a regular basis. Frequent check-ins not only keep employees focused and on track. The practice also boosts employee engagement which study-after-study shows to be immensely beneficial to employers. Gallup found that companies with engaged employees outperform those without by 202 percent, while achieving a 10 percent increase in customer ratings and a 20 percent increase in sales.

Trakstar makes it easy for managers and their team members to have meaningful check-ins. The manager can send a survey to the employee asking how their week is going, to what degree they feel empowered to perform, and how impactful they feel their work is. When the two sit down for their check-in meeting, they’ll have plenty to discuss beyond what the employee is working on.

Make annual reviews efficient and effective

Even with frequent check-ins, in-depth annual or semi-annual reviews are still a must. It presents an opportunity to learn if employees are meeting their individual objectives and how they’ve progressed professionally since their last assessment.

Online performance management software removes the administrative burdens of conducting organizational-wide evaluations. Every employee review is done using the solution so the process is consistent and centralized. Additionally, automated reminders are sent to everyone involved, ensuring each review is completed in a timely manner. Trakstar lets organizations experience all the benefits of in-depth performance reviews without any of the headaches that come from conducting evaluations for every single employee.

Expand the review process

An employee’s performance review is usually conducted by their manager. That makes sense to an extent since that’s who they take direction from and report to. But an employee interacts with a variety of people when they actually go about their daily responsibilities.

360-degree feedback, or multi-rater feedback, bring different voices to the review process. Employees receive feedback from their teammates, colleagues from other departments, direct reports, even people outside the organization—in addition to the feedback their manager provides.  

With Trakstar, you can invite anyone to participate in an employee’s performance review. The manager can control the feedback that is shared with the employee and if they’re able to see who provided it.

Set goals and measure progress

According to Harvard Business Review, a survey of more than 400 global CEOs found that executional excellence is their main challenge. Setting large organizational goals is easy but getting every employee to do their part in accomplishing them is an undertaking.

The key is to cascade goals throughout the organization, meaning broad organizational goals become more specific as they flow to departments and then to individual employees. Online performance review software makes it easy to set goals for employees and, more importantly, keep them top of mind throughout the year. Both the employee and manager can access the solution to check progress at any time. They’ll even receive automated email reminders so they continue to stay focused on work that has a positive impact on the organization.

Identify top performers

Successful employees often stand out—the salesperson who always exceeds their quota or the executive who excels at strategic planning. But you likely have a lot of other employees who are quietly doing amazing work.

When employee reviews are done well, your organization will discover all of its top performers. You’ll be able to find the people who not only meet their objectives but also have the other qualities your organization values in its employees. Using Trakstar, you can assess your staff on a variety of factors and uncover the employees who excel in multiple areas.

Plan for the future

Once you’ve identified your top performers, you can prepare them for career advancement so they don’t leave for another opportunity. A Deloitte survey found that 71 percent of Millennials will move on from their current jobs in the next two years because they’re unhappy with how their leadership skills are being developed.

Every organization should have a leadership development program for promising employees. Even if you have a full management team today, someone could unexpectedly leave their position tomorrow.

Going through the process of creating a succession plan will help you find the top performers with management potential. Using the 9 box grid in Trakstar, you can assess employees on factors related to both performance and potential. The employees who rate highly in both areas are suited for bigger and better things and should be groomed to step into a leadership role when the time comes.

Move your employee performance reviews online

There’s no reason to deal with a less than optimal performance review process. Contact us for a live demo and we’ll show you how Trakstar works!