16 Ways to Measure Employee Performance

Once an annual ritual, performance appraisal has become a continuous process by which an employees understanding of a companys goals and his or her progress toward contributing to them are measured. Performance measurement is an ongoing activity for all managers and their subordinates.

Performance measurement uses the following indicators of performance, as well as assessments of those indicators. 1. Quantity: The number of units produced, processed or sold is a good objective indicator of performance. Be careful of placing too much emphasis on quantity, lest quality suffer. 2. Quality: The quality of work performed can be measured by several means. The percentage of work output that must be redone or is rejected is one such indicator. In a sales environment, the percentage of inquiries converted to sales is an indicator of salesmanship quality. 3. Timeliness: How fast work is performed is another performance indicator that should be used with caution. In field service, the average customers downtime is a good indicator of timeliness. In manufacturing, it might be the number of units produced per hour. 4. Cost-Effectiveness: The cost of work performed should be used as a measure of performance only if the employee has some degree of control over costs. For example, a customer-service representatives performance is indicated by the percentage of calls that he or she must escalate to more experienced and expensive reps. 5. Absenteeism/Tardiness: An employee is obviously not performing when he or she is not at work. Other employees performance may be adversely impacted by absences, too. 6. Creativity: It can be difficult to quantify creativity as a performance indicator, but in many white-collar jobs, it is vitally important. Supervisors and employees should keep track of creative work examples and attempt to quantify them. 7. Adherence to Policy: This may seem to be the opposite of creativity, but it is merely a boundary on creativity. Deviations from policy indicate an employee whose performance goals are not well aligned with those of the company. 8. Gossip and Other Personal Habits: They may not seem performance-related to the

employee, but some personal habits, like gossip, can detract from job performance and interfere with the performance of others. The specific behaviors should be defined, and goals should be set for reducing their frequency. 9. Personal Appearance/Grooming: Most people know how to dress for work, but in many organizations, there is at least one employee who needs to be told. Examples of inappropriate appearance and grooming should be spelled out, their effects upon the employees performance and that of others explained, and corrective actions defined. Performance indicators must be assessed by some means in order to measure performance itself. Here are some of the ways in which performance is assessed from the aforementioned indicators. 10. Manager Appraisal: A manager appraises the employees performance and delivers the appraisal to the employee. Manager appraisal is by nature top-down and does not encourage the employees active participation. It is often met with resistance, because the employee has no investment in its development. 11. Self-Appraisal: The employee appraises his or her own performance, in many cases comparing the self-appraisal to management's review. Often, self-appraisals can highlight discrepancies between what the employee and management think are important performance factors and provide mutual feedback for meaningful adjustment of expectations. 12. Peer Appraisal: Employees in similar positions appraise an employees performance. This method is based on the assumption that co-workers are most familiar with an employees performance. Peer appraisal has long been used successfully in manufacturing environments, where objective criteria such as units produced prevail. Recently, peer appraisal has expanded to white-collar professions, where soft criteria such as works well with others can lead to ambiguous appraisals. Peer appraisals are often effective at focusing an employees attention on undesirable behaviors and motivating change. 13. Team Appraisal: Similar to peer appraisal in that members of a team, who may hold different positions, are asked to appraise each others work and work styles. This approach assumes that the teams objectives and each members expected contribution have been clearly defined. 14. Assessment Center: The employee is appraised by professional assessors who may evaluate simulated or actual work activities. Objectivity is one advantage of assessment centers, which produce reviews that are not clouded by personal relationships with employees. 15. 360-Degree or Full-Circle Appraisal: The employees performance is appraised by

everyone with whom he of she interacts, including managers, peers, customers and members of other departments. This is the most comprehensive and expensive way to measure performance, and it is generally reserved for key employees. 16. MBO (Management by Objectives): The employees achievement of objective goals set in concert with his or her manager is assessed. The MBO process begins with action statements such as, reduce rejected parts to 5 percent. Ongoing monitoring and review of objectives keeps the employee focused on achieving goals. At the annual review, progress toward objectives is assessed, and new goals are set. There are as many indicators of performance as there are companies and jobs. The various assessment methods can be used in combinations. It is important to choose indicators that align with your companys goals and assessment methods that effectively appraise those indicators.

PERFORMANCE CRITERIA AMBITION / INITIATIVE - Does employee demonstrate ambition in the position (not to move out of it, but to perform it) and take initiative to improve the process, product, or overall work environment?

ATTENDANCE - Has the employee's attendance (even within company guidelines) had a negative impact on the department productivity or morale? Has the employee's attendance been exemplary? Protect Your Business. Let Synergy Be Your IC Compliance Expert.

ATTITUDE / COOPERATION - What is the employee's attitude towards you, towards peers, towards the work in general? Is he or she a pleasure or a chore to work with? Is the employee reasonably flexible when asked to perform a job function outside his or her normal duties, or to work outside his or her normal hours for a special project?
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COMMUNICATION SKILLS - Does the employee have the ability to adequately communicate with peers, managers, and customers? Have there been any issues created, or solved, due to the employee's communication skills?
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DEPARTMENT AND COMPANY ORIENTED - Does the employee have a broader view and deeper understanding than simply his or her own duties? Does he or she speak of the department or company with pride?
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FOCUS - Is the employee able to maintain focus on the task at hand? Does he or she have difficulty prioritizing job duties above personal business or socializing with other employees?
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IMPROVEMENT FROM PREVIOUS EVALUATION - Has the employee demonstrated marked improvement from the previous performance evaluation?
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INTEGRITY - Does the employee demonstrate ethical behavior in the workplace? Does he or she respect the privacy of other employees and of customers?
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KNOWS WHEN TO ASK - Is the employee able to differentiate between independence and arrogance in the performance of job duties? Does he or she know when to ask a question rather than simply making a guess and moving on?
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10 LEVEL OF TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE - Does the employee have and demonstrate an acceptable level of technical knowledge to perform his or her job duties

PRODUCTIVITY / DEADLINES - Is the employee able to consistently meet productivity requirements and project deadlines?
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QUALITY OF WORK - Has there been positive or negative feedback from customers regarding the quality of the employee's work? What have you observed regarding the employee's work quality?
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13 RELIABILITY / GO-TO PERSON - Is the employee reliable? Does he or she consistently demonstrate competence and dependability? Is he or she your "go-to" person?

14 STRESS MANAGEMENT - How does the employee deal with changes in the work environment? Is he or she able to sift through the "noise" and focus on breaking down the task at hand in order to complete it on time? How does the employee interact with other members of the department when tensions are high?

15 TEAMWORK / PITCHING IN - If the department is short-handed, does the employee willingly pitch in to finish tasks assigned to others in the department as appropriate? Does the employee volunteer to assist?

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PERFORMANCE LEVELS 1) Needs Improvement - Employee has not fully mastered the requirements of the job or is not able to perform in a way that reflects understanding of the job duties. Needs additional training or practice to meet standards. 2) Minimally Acceptable - Employee meets some of the essential functions, but has not demonstrated mastery of all job requirements. 3) Meets Standards - Employee has little or no difficulty applying the technical/knowledge requirements of the position to perform in a fully competent manner. 4) Exceeds Standards - Employee often exceeds standards in some aspects of the job, and fully and consistently meets standards in all remaining aspects. 5) Outstanding - Employee possesses and applies a depth of job knowledge that makes the job look easy. Continually enhances knowledge and skills through selfstudy and structured training. Mentors other employees, as appropriate.