Are businesses really embracing continuous performance management?

HR professionals in Australia and New Zealand share what performance management looks like in their organisation.

Performance management is people management. It represents the way businesses approach the growth, development and feedback for their people – which is directly linked to the success and growth of any business. It’s an easy logic line to follow: performance management is something every business should take seriously and approach with thought and care. It isn’t just a term us good folks in HR throw around when it’s time to complete an evaluation form. As people management expert Josh Bersin, founder of Bersin & Associates, says “Performance management has to reflect the way you want to run your company, and that’s why it’s so complex.”.

Times are changing

The approach people take to performance management has been evolving in recent years. Where once a top-down evaluation approach of accomplishments, value and employee worth was preferred, now the philosophy has changed so that employees are treated with more respect and humanity. Research has supported this transformation. Gallup found that employees who receive frequent feedback and have an active relationship with their managers are three times more likely to be engaged at work. The new generations of employees (millennials and Gen Z) are entering the workforce expecting 50 per cent more feedback than their predecessors. Times are changing, and businesses have received the message that continuous performance management (CPM) is the new standard. But knowing something to be true and acting on it are two different things. It demands the question: businesses know they should be using CPM, but have they been able to make the transition in practice?

Making it happen

Cornerstone OnDemand sought to talk to small and medium businesses about CPM. We asked 161 HR professionals in Australia and New Zealand how they see the role of CPM and what the current status of performance management is within their company. It was no surprise that continuous performance management was highly regarded. As one HR professional put it:

CPM is critical in any business.

With more millennials joining the workforce, there is a stronger need to develop, drive and build the younger generation, retain staff and develop a strong retention model to reduce costs and employee retention rates. It is important employees are given the opportunity to grow and improve on their abilities through regular constructive feedback from management. However, we found that businesses still have challenges to overcome in implementing CPM. • 43 per cent only do reviews bi annually or annual • 42 per cent say there is a lack of skill set or perceived value by managers • 42 per cent only conduct regular check-ins to check the status of work • 60 per cent use Excel or other manual processes (like email) to record performance surveys.

You can see from our results that CPM is perceived to be valuable, but businesses are struggling to implement a culture of feedback.

Cornerstone has published the full results of this in-depth survey in a white paper. To learn more about the state of performance feedback today and better understand the obstacles, you can download the report at: go.cornerstoneondemand.com/ performance_management_survey_ WP

Sue Turk is Managing Director of Cornerstone ANZ. She helps organisations across Australia and New Zealand improve their ability to attract, manage and develop their employees. With an obsession for customer success and employee engagement, Sue helps HR professionals navigate the skills economy and digital transformation, helping them realise competitive advantage through their people. Sue brings more than 22 years’ corporate, HR and leadership experience. W: Cornerstone_ANZ@csod.com