Performance Management as a process dates back to over 60 years when the need to evaluate employee output was recognized. Since then, how we evaluate performance may have evolved, but the process still widely remains to be dependent on paper.

As an HR leader you’re all too familiar with how line managers perceive the annual performance management cycle – it’s always with a “oh no here we go again.” No doubt it’s a time consuming and mind raking process. It takes a lot of soul searching. Performance management requires managers to be creatively eloquent, constructively critical and supportively encouraging. That’s not easy. And if all that’s on paper? You’re really not encouraging your managers to do a good job of it.

Leap Ahead and Reap the Benefits

Performance Management shouldn’t be seen as a burden – by your line managers, your employees and for sure not your team either (who have to process and file the tall stack of paperwork). The process is critical and vital for your organization’s sustainability, growth and success. As their forward thinking HR leader you should definitely consider automating your performance management system.

Here’s what you gain by bringing about automation to your organization’s performance management system:

• Faster processing – a process that’s interactive, easy to use and accurate and of course weighs less administratively on your team
• Frequent Monitoring – paper-based systems are so tedious that they limit you to once or at most twice annually. Through automation, performance can be monitored on the go. You can set your own frequencies.
• Alignment – from the senior leaderships view the system can clearly show how organization’s goals are being cascaded down to individuals and teams, ensuring they all work towards a common objective.
• Integration – performance management has never been just about pay raises. And with an automated system you could link it to other modules/systems such as talent management, compensation training and development and even competencies.

Where to Start

So where do you begin? Here are a few popular performance management systems which can possibly work for you:

• Oracle Taleo Cloud Service – Oracle’s a global giant and known for its stability and reliability. There cloud services are no less.
• Cornerstone – Cornerstone Performance’s approach is to measure how impactful and valuable employees are to the company’s overall goals.
• OrangeHRM – Orange HRM is probably the most popular open source HRM software in the world offering flexibility and affordability.
• Workday – Workday’s another popular application that’s cloud based and highly comprehensive.
• Sentrifugo – Another popular open source HRMS tool with all the features of larger, paid HR software suites.

There are plenty more out there. Do share some that you’ve experienced or heard of in the comments below.

And while you’re bringing about this evolution to performance management, remember that at the core of it you’re trying to make the process interactive, intuitive and intelligent. As Edward E. Lawler states in his blog performance management should be about motivating and informing people. It shouldn’t be their beast of burden.

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