Case Study - Performance Management

Footprint partners worked with a local medium sized company to develop a Performance Management system and process to enhance the high level of service being provided to their customers.

Stage One

The Chief Executive and Board of Directors were consulted to establish the Critical Success Factors of the desired Performance Management system. They were defined as follows:

• To launch a Performance Management system to all employees and managers in the Operation in Year One;
• To ensure that the reward element of the Performance Management system met a budget, based on a standard distribution curve;
• To establish a Performance Management process which could be used across the remainder of the business from Year Two onwards;
• To positively impact on the performance of the business (including retention of staff).

Research was then carried out internally (to determine what the employees wanted to see in this system) and externally (to ensure that the system introduced was progressive and current).

Stage Two

The Performance Management system needed to be designed, built and delivered within very short timescales. We achieved this by utilising our expertise in this area along with some of the valuable research we had undertaken with external benchmarking.

It was decided that three key result areas would be used, namely:

1. Customer (reflecting the service delivered to front-line customers);
2. Standards (reflecting the standards expected from this particular company and making the system very bespoke) and
3. Behaviours.

A bespoke Behaviours Directory was designed to accompany this work, with 20 specific behaviours that the Board of Directors wanted to see reflected in all areas of the business. This was created by a combination of behavioural based interviews with a number of key staff in addition to researching best practices in the marketplace.

Stage Three

The system was then launched within 3 months of the project commencing. Launch Events were delivered by the Chief Executive and HR Director to emphasise the importance of the work.

Pilot Implementation Workshops were delivered to one particular front-line department, selected for their positive attitude and willingness to provide constructive feedback.

Following the pilot period, the Implementation Workshops were rolled out to every Team Leader, Manager and Senior Manager from the Operation. Management Trainers were specifically up-skilled to deliver these workshops (including how to manage the process in addition to the people skills required, such as coaching, feedback and managing under performance).

All front-line service and sales staff received an Implementation Pack, designed to provide them with the relevant information on how this new system would benefit them personally and financially.

Stage Four

Following the first 6 month period, Workshop evaluation was summarised and delivered to the Board of Directors. This evaluation provided tangible evidence that the workshops had delivered the key messages in a positive and motivational way and had equipped the delegates to formally launch the system to their teams.

The next step of evaluation was to assess the financial rewards paid following the first 6 month appraisal period. As mentioned previously, the financial rewards offered to employees to reward good performance were targeted based on a standard distribution curve, as follows:

Needs Development rating – 10% of employees

Acceptable rating – 40% of employees

Good rating – 40% of employees

Excellent rating – 10% of employees

The results showed the following:

Needs Development rating – 39.82% of employees

Acceptable rating – 44.62% of employees

Good rating – 15.27% of employees

Excellent rating – 0.3% of employees

A review/audit process ensured the rating was objective as past experience has shown some managers may shy away from agreeing an excellent rating.

The results proved beneficial from regarding impact on company budget but also highlighted that there was a need to provide solutions which would raise the performance of the people across the organisation. The evaluation and Performance Management system provided this company with specific areas which required additional development in order to grow and progress.

Outcomes:

• 98% completion of Performance Plans and ratings for all front-line employees in the Operations directorate (missing 2% was due to sickness and other absences).
• Exceeded expectations of delivery against the standard distribution curve resulting in an expected saving of over £100,000 against projected budget.

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