How to Measure Performance

Meeting established workplace goals requires employees to perform their job duties efficiently. Without proper oversight, acceptable standards may be ignored, which can lead to mission failure. Managers play an integral role in ensuring employees receive adequate training and supervision. Measuring employee performance is essential to making the most productive business decisions. Knowing how well employees are performing can aid in setting realistic goals and in improving work culture.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Conduct regularly scheduled employee assessments. Evaluate employees using both general and job-specific duties and expectations. Create comprehensive assessment forms based on official job descriptions, using input from departmental supervisors. This helps ensure that employees are evaluated on overall attitude as well as job-specific knowledge. Establish a standard rating system to make it easier to compare employee performance against previous and current data.

2. Implement quality control checks based on the employee's job duties. For example, recording and reviewing random employee phone calls can measure performance in a call center. Examining documentation logs can measure performance in the social services industry. This spot-checking allows you to view employees' "everyday" behavior, which may differ from performance immediately before scheduled reviews.

3. Speak with clients regarding satisfaction. This gives you another viewpoint to measure overall performance. A smiling face doesn't always translate into acceptable work practices. Including comment cards and setting up phone surveys can give customers an opportunity to address issues or give praise. Using this type of analysis can help ensure you have a complete picture of employee performance.

4. Ask coworkers to complete peer reviews. Knowing how well employees interact with peers can help you measure work ethic and professionalism. It can also help you catch problems and identity employees with management potential. Create standard assessment forms, which include open-ended questions about specific incidents. Encourage employees to take their peer evaluation duties seriously.

5. Request that employees make self-assessments. Giving employees a chance to share opinions about their performance can help you understand their goals and obstacles. It can also alert you to differing views regarding work quality and enthusiasm. Letting an employee compare her self-assessment to those from management and her peers, can help with her workplace development.

Tips & Warnings

• Consider conducting pre-assessments a month before official reviews to give employees a chance to correct negative behaviors.
• Avoid measuring performance based solely on one type of assessment. Using a variety of evaluation tools gives you a more accurate representation of performance.

References

• HR World: 16 Ways to Measure Employee Performance
• Change Factory: How to Measure People's Performance
• Gaebler: Measuring Employee Performance

Resources

• Nolo: How to Conduct Employee Evaluations