Trakstar Blog

Qualitative employee performance reviews are often viewed as an outdated practice. It used to be that an employee would be evaluated on a series of generic competencies that weren’t directly related to their job. Unsurprisingly, they received vague feedback that didn’t quite help them learn how to improve their performance. With the emergence of modern […]

When you’re a small, nimble organization, it’s fine to have informal human resources processes. If an employee needs a day off, they can just ask their manager. If a new project pops up, it can be assigned to any qualified team member. However, that approach isn’t sustainable as your organization grows. You’ll need to create […]

The new year has arrived and HR professionals are busy preparing their organizations and employees for an outstanding 2021. A few months ago, we sent a survey to the Trakstar user base and posed the question, “What is your top employee/HR initiative for 2021?” The open-ended question generated a total of 359 responses. Survey participants […]

As the year comes to an end, HR and training professionals are getting ready to help their employees acquire the skills and knowledge needed to have an outstanding 2021. We recently surveyed the userbase for our Learning Management System (LMS) and asked what their main employee training initiatives are for the coming year. We received […]

As 2020 comes to a close, HR and recruiting professionals are busy preparing their organizations for success in the coming year. We recently surveyed the user base of our Applicant Tracking System (ATS) offering and asked what the top recruiting and hiring initiatives will be. The survey generated a total of 274 responses. Participants were […]

There is a common saying in business, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.” Performance reviews are meant to help employees improve, but all too often, an employee leaves their meeting with their manager unsure of exactly how they can get better at their job. This happens because a quarterly or annual evaluation […]

Inequality in the workplace is well known yet still prevalent. According to Fortune 500 data, nearly three-quarters of business executives in the United States are white men. While getting a great job is hard enough for anyone outside that group, reaching the top of the corporate ladder is incredibly challenging when you consider a stat […]

Modern performance management goes beyond the occasional performance review. Today’s organizations ensure managers and direct reports meet regularly to discuss priorities, challenges, and how the employee can improve their approach to work. Check-in meetings are usually conducted weekly but can occur every two weeks or monthly, depending on the role. A check-in shouldn’t just be […]

Creating a performance review process is straightforward in most organizations. Managers are responsible for completing evaluations and meeting with direct reports to share results. There isn’t any friction as long as performance management best practices are followed. After all, employees expect feedback from their manager. At least, that is how it works in a traditional […]

Today’s leaders understand that productive employees will only take their organizations so far. It’s the employees who are productive and happy who go above and beyond. The act of doing their jobs is fulfilling so they continue to deliver outstanding results, day-after-day.  In the simplest terms, employee engagement is achieved when team members check both […]

Setting goals is an important activity in any area of life. Whenever we decide we want to improve at something or overcome a challenge, setting goals helps us see how we’ll make it happen. Any organization with growth ambitions needs to have the same philosophy. Every employee has to focus on work that moves the […]

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 […]