Nowadays, a great significance is being given to Performance Management, as companies incorporate them in their effective management strategies. However, a lot of people find this process a complicated one, mostly because of the many options that it offers ? on the organization, a specific department/branch, a product or service, and on employees, among others.

In order to minimize this confusion, the items below will give you a general idea of what Performance Management is all about as well as the activities that are involved in this process.

What is Performance Management?

Performance management is a process that provides both the manager and the employee (the person being supervised) the chance to determine the shared goals that relates to the overall goals of the company by looking into employee performance.

Why is it important?

Performance Management establishes an outline for employees and their performance managers to assess and to come to an agreement on certain concerns and aims that are in accordance with the overall structure of the company. This enables both parties to have clear objectives that would help them in their work and in their professional growth.

Who conducts Performance Management?

Performance Management is carried out by those who oversee the performance of other people ? work/team leaders, supervisors, managers, directors, or department chairs.

What are the processes involved?

Below are the phases of the Performance Management process:

1. Planning

This phase of Performance Management process includes establishing job descriptions and identifying the employee’s essential functions as well as defining the strategic plan/s of the department or the company as a whole.

Job Description

A job description is used to advertise a vacant position, which typically specifies the following:

- The specific functions, tasks, and responsibilities of the position
- The amount of time needed to act upon each function
- The qualifications needed (skills, knowledge and abilities) to perform the job
- The physical and mental requirements of the position
- Salary range for the position
- To whom the position reports

Job descriptions should be disclosed to the employee as soon as he or she is hired. Note, however, that job descriptions are listed using words that make it difficult to measure the employee’s performance. They are in contrast with competencies, which list the skills needed in performing such tasks and are described using terms that can be measured.

Strategic Plan

In effect, a strategic plan tells you three things:

- Where the company is heading in the coming year/s.
- How the company is going to get there.
- How the company will know if it is already there or not.

Included in a strategic plan are the following:

Mission statement ? the primary reason why your department (or company) exists.

Goals ? associated with the mission statement, they determine the results that will advance said statement/s.

Strategic initiatives ? specifies definite steps that must be taken to accomplish each goal. It is a dynamic process, usually examined during periods such as one or two years.

2. Developing

This phase of Performance Management process includes developing performance standards, which offers a scale that describes how a specific job should be performed in order to meet (or exceed) expectations. They are explained to newly hired employees and are later used to evaluate work performance.

Performance standards are generally outlined with the help of the employees who actually perform the tasks or functions. There are a number of advantages with this approach:

- The standards will be suitable to the requirements of the job
- The standards will be applicable to actual work conditions
- The standards will be easily understood by the employee (and performance manager as well)
- The standards will be acknowledged (and received) by the employee and the performance manager

Standards of performance are usually in the form of ratings (1 to 5, A to E) that are used by performance managers to rate the employee’s actual level of performance.

3. Monitoring

This phase of the Performance Management process includes monitoring employee’s work performances and giving feedback about them.

As the basis of feedback, observations should be verifiable: they should involve noticeable and work-related facts, events, behaviors, actions, statements, and results. Feedback of this type is called behavioral feedback, and they help employees improve and/or sustain good performance by precisely identifying the areas that the employee needs to improve without judging his or her character or motives.

4. Rating

This phase includes conducting performance evaluations. This is the critical aspect of the Performance Management process, especially because it is important for performance managers to arrive at an unbiased assessment.

A performance appraisal form has the following features:

- Employee information
- Performance standards
- Rating scale
- Signatures
- Employee performance development recommendations
- Employee comments
- Employee’s Self-appraisal

Why conduct performance appraisals? It provides an opportunity to improve performance in the future not only for employees, but for managers as well. Performance appraisals enable managers to acquire information from employees that will help them make employee’s jobs more productive.

5. Development Planning

This phase of the Performance Management process includes establishing plans for improved employee performance and development goals. This advances the overall goal of the company and at the same time increases the quality of work by employees by:

- Encouraging constant learning and professional growth.
- Helping employees maintain the level of performance that meets (and exceeds) expectations.
- Improving job – or career-related skills and experience.

In closing, Performance Management is a process that, when executed fairly and effectively, can improve the quality of the company’s workforce, raise standards, increase job satisfaction, and develop professionalism and expertise that would benefit not only the employees but the entire organization as well.

The advantages of time management include reducing stress, gaining time, reducing avoidance, while promoting reviews and eliminating cramming. Another advantage is that managing time helps us to stay motivated while we avoid procrastination.

The trick to successful time management is setting up goals that work, while having an awareness of those goals and prioritizing your list of goals. When you set up an effective time management plan, you are growing and upholding a personal commitment to yourself, with the ability to be more flexible.

When you have a great time management plan, you are giving yourself an individual chance to, to generate a timetable that works to suit your busy caseload. When you create a good plan, you will soon find time to do all the things that matter most to you in life. In addition, when you have a good time management plan, you are saving your health.

Plans have a schedule timed, which includes all the activities you are responsible to handle. Your Master Timetable should include all the most important activities you are responsible to handle. It is important that you modify this schedule according to your time changes. When you set up a Master Timetable, you will need to list the priorities first, and work your way down to the least important tasks.

It is important that you follow as you write the tasks first listed. In other words, if you state on your Master Timetable that you need to write up some documents for your business, then do this task first and proceed to the next task. Try to avoid handling multitasking at once, unless it is your job and you are sufficient, and have laid out a time management plan.

You will also need to include meals, sleep, family, friends, yourself, and other tasks if you they are a part of your time management. By setting up a Master Timetable, you can work out your time scheme by working through the list on the time chart. Try to avoid skipping a scheduled task, or procrastinating, since this will only delay your plan.

It is important to keep in mind, that time is essential. When we waste time, we are wasting money. After you have laid out a suitable Schedule Timetable, you will soon learn that your motivation has increased, while your progress is moving ahead. In addition, you will soon find that your stress level is at a normal state. When you are not focused, or do not have a time management plan, you are only hurting yourself in the long run.

Most people without a time management plan often suffer with poor health, insomnia, and other discomforting issues. Some people even find themselves in court waiting for the judge to say “You are now divorced.” So you can see that time management is important since it affects everyone around you, but most of all, it affects you.

A final tip: Exercise and eating right plays an essential role to time management, since when you feel good, you work well under a management plan.

That absence management is a key component of workforce management does not really need an explicit mention. However, planned and unplanned absence is a universal fact of work and many organizations might take it as something that cannot be avoided.

There are ways to minimize both absence and its impact. First, we need to look the factors that cause absence, particularly unplanned absence that is more disruptive to work.

Measuring Absence and its Cost

Many organizations do not take the trouble to find out the cost of employee absence, the reasons for the absence and ways of reducing its impact. With proper focus, absence is controllable to some extent, and the resultant benefits can be significant.

By accumulating absent hours (including late hours) and comparing it to total available hours during the period, we can calculate the percentage of time lost owing to absence. By comparing the percentage for different periods, the trend of absence can be monitored.

By department and section wise monitoring of the trend, it might even be possible to identify some of the reasons underlying high absenteeism. For example, poor working conditions or a bad manager or supervisor might be aggravating the problem in a department or section.

Absence can also be measured by individual workers. The number and length of absences of each employee during a 52-week period is noted. Problem employees can be identified and the reasons underlying their absence can be investigated.

Policies and Actions for Absence Management

Surveys have revealed that sickness is a major factor for absence. The studies also indicate that stress-related absence is increasing compared to earlier periods.

Absence management starts with clear policies for allowing employees to take time off due to sickness. The policies should meet the minimum requirements under the law, and can be more liberal to attract better employees.

The policies must be communicated clearly to employees. In particular, employees must be fully aware of the procedures for availing sick leave, such as whom to notify, when a doctor’s certificate or examination by company doctor is required and also any return-to-work interview requirements.

Implement systems to measure absence by departments/sections and by employee. Seeking the help of occupational health professionals to reduce the incidence sickness and stress can help reduce incidence of occupational health and injury problems.

Unacceptably high and persistent levels of absence need to be handled through disciplinary procedures.
Conclusion

Absence management is an important component of workforce management. Absences can occur owing to different factors. Managing absences start with the organization measuring the levels of absence and identifying the reasons for it. Once a clear picture is available, organizations would find it easier to tackle unacceptably high levels of absence.

Studies indicate that sickness and stress are major contributory factors to absence. These are unplanned absences and cause more disruption. We look at sickness absence in more detail in a separate article.