Trakstar Blog

For a long time, organizations took a simplistic approach to evaluating employee performance. Once a year, managers filled out the same appraisal form for each direct report and the results were used to determine raises, promotions, and other workforce management decisions. Employees unsurprisingly grew to resent this process. The annual review had major ramifications but […]

Today, we’re excited to announce that Trakstar will have a new and improved look. Our customers will enjoy all the great performance management features they know and love, organized in a modern, simple, and clean interface and navigation.  Here is a preview of the improvements you can expect to see the next time you log […]

Using stack ranking, every employees’ performance review score is ordered and grouped. The group with the highest scores are deemed top performers. These are the employees who consistently exceed expectations and deliver better results than their peers. The largest portion of employees fall into the middle group and are considered adequate at their jobs—neither overly […]

At the heart of every organization’s employee review process is the rating scale. It’s the medium in which managers and other raters express how well an employee performs at their job, conducts themselves in the workplace, and embodies the organization’s values. It also provides a system for quantifying evaluations and generating data for succession and […]

  Today, we’re excited to announce a new feature that will help our customers get even more out of our software—the launch of our Application Programming Interface (API). Using our API, Trakstar can communicate and share details with your other employee management and HR software. Automating data entry frees you to use Trakstar to focus […]

Think about your favorite people you’ve worked with. Yes, they were good at their jobs but that is probably not why you remember them so fondly. In all likelihood, it was the attitude they brought to work every day that stands out. Great colleagues are friendly, supportive, encouraging, and an overall positive presence in the […]

Big news! We’re excited to share that Trakstar has been recognized for being a leader in the employee performance management industry. FinancesOnline has presented us with their Expert’s Choice 2019, Great User Experience 2019, and Supreme Software 2019 awards in the performance appraisal software category. FinancesOnline is the fastest-growing independent review platform for B2B SaaS […]

Employees have more job options than ever and there are an increasing number of individuals who see job hopping as an opportunity for fulfillment and career growth. In this current climate of increased employee turnover, it’s more important than ever to have an organization that is laser focused on managing the performance of its workers […]

There are countless podcasts and articles out there that shed light on the negative feelings that can be associated with the performance review process. Most of us can probably relate to this feeling at some point in our careers. Most of us can also probably see the need for a performance review. Imagine if we […]

So you’ve done it. You’ve spent the past year working closely with your team, giving them feedback and working towards long term goals. You’ve documented that feedback and have specific, concrete examples of what your team does well and what they can do to improve. You have feedback from peer reviews and each employee’s self […]

For many companies, performance reviews can be an afterthought until the process goes live, and many employees may feel forced to write glowing reviews about colleagues they hardly interact with. Because of this, performance reviews are often overlooked or not even completed at all.  However, if we look at statistics focusing on what it is […]

It’s uncommon but when the performance review process is finished, an employee will sometimes raise concerns with their evaluation results. They may challenge their manager in the review meeting, take their complaint to HR, or go as far as to refuse to formally accept their evaluation. The good news is much can be done to […]

There is more that goes into job success than carrying out role responsibilities and completing projects. Organizations are successful when employees work well together, support each other, and buy into the long-term mission. That is why it’s so important to ensure your team members embody your culture and values in everything they do.  However, many […]

June is Pride Month and organizations around the world are sharing stories about diversity and inclusion. We here at Trakstar felt inspired to share our stories too.  We presented our team with a few simple questions they could choose to write about. What does Pride mean to you? How can we show others they are […]

We’re excited to share some new updates to our Trakstar Engagement module! The module helps organizations get valuable insights into employee engagement through frequent check-ins, surveys, and polls. We’ve been hard at work expanding two key areas of our offering: the Company Pulse Survey and the powerful reporting that comes out of it. Company Pulse […]

Trakstar Engagement is designed to provide anonymity to survey respondents. Your employees will feel compelled to honestly respond to your engagement surveys if they know their identity is protected. And accurate feedback is how your organization learns what it’s doing well and how it can improve. Trakstar ensures the anonymity of survey respondents in the […]

A lot of organizations talk about culture. The CEO raves about it when they stand in front of the staff. HR strives to build an inclusive and open culture. Recruiters try to hire people who fit the culture. But too many companies have an indistinct culture. One might exist in some form but it’s often […]

The following is a guest interview, written and contributed by Janine Nicole Truitt, Chief Innovations Officer for Talent Think Innovations, LLC Succession Planning is an important component of the health of a business. In order to be a sustainable enterprise you not only need to have a tried and true method for attracting and hiring […]

The following is a guest blog post, written and contributed by Tim Sackett, SPHR, SCP It goes against every HR bone in your body, doesn’t it!? What do you mean “stop trying to increase employee engagement!?” We have to increase employee engagement, it’s really our only job in HR! Let’s say you’re a 91 out […]

While employee performance reviews are an important activity for any organization, there can be a negative sentiment among the people who participate in them. It goes without saying the average employee is apprehensive about having their performance put under a microscope. But many managers are also put off by a typical assessment process. The time […]

Your organization finished its latest round of performance reviews. Congratulations! Your employees were likely happy to learn how they’re doing and are now looking forward to getting back to their usual routine. But if you oversee the review process, there is still work to be done. You uncovered a lot of interesting insights by conducting […]