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The performance review is crucial for businesses of different sizes since it allows to assess and reward employees properly for their work. Thanks to performance appraisal business owners can motivate their employees, improve overall business efficiency, set new bigger goals, and achieve business growth.
So basically you need a holistic report or feedback on the basis of which you can in a formal, objective, and standardized way compare your employee’s achievements. Those reports or feedbacks are usually created by head department managers of the company and they can cover several areas:
Every business may have its own special criteria that it needs to monitor. So if you have a big company with many employees it may be too hard to track all indexes, analyze them, and generate precise reports and feedbacks without special software. That is why we would like to dive into the topic of software optimization that helps to do better performance reviews. So, without further ado, let’s discuss all advantages of such software, the most popular types of it, and how you can integrate it into your working environment.
Obvious benefits of performance review software
All businesses nowadays experience tough competition and struggle to get a leading position on the market. Therefore it is important to continuously monitor the progress you are making and create a strong connection between the individual professional goals of your employees and the global objectives of the whole company. Software optimization not only allows you to get a clear understanding of your employee’s performance but it also lets you focus more on processes that require improvements and add value to your business. But these are not the only advantages you can get if you develop your own custom performance review solution. Here are some additional pros that it has.
Achieve better connection and visibility
Many companies that still do not have performance review software tend to keep all their work-related records in Google sheets or on paper. This all makes it harder to get real performance related figures and understand where your business stands right now. On top of that, some crucial data may get lost because you’ve either forgotten to add it or haven’t seen it while generating a report manually.
To fix this situation we would recommend considering the development of a cloud-based performance review solution. Why should it be cloud-based? Because this technology will allow your managers to access and alter data from any device and any time. The data will be securely stored in one place which creates a better connection between the departments and makes your progress more visible.
Get real-time feedback
This is a perfect option allowing you to motivate your employees to work better, provide them with some crucial and illustrative indexes that should be achieved further, and ensure instant communication. Real-time feedback can boost company productivity and implement the practice of constructive criticism and appraisal.
Moreover, if your company has some partners and you need to establish productive relations between your team and the team of your partner, it is easier to do this using performance review software. It helps to take a look at the overall progress and to combine the efforts to eliminate some work-related challenges faster and more effectively.
Create personal growth plans
Every employee is a valuable member of your team moving your company forward. Therefore, it is important to keep your employees engaged and dedicated. The better way to do this is by incorporating personal growth plans. To promote the most skilled employees you need to identify them and train.
By using a performance management solution it is possible to identify what a person has achieved better results and should be invested in and provided with the personal development plan. The software can also help you with hiring new team members and growing them into successful professionals within your company.
Generate reports automatically
Performance review software can help to unload your managers and all employees. They will no longer need to write out extensive reports and feedbacks since that can be done automatically. The results will be more precise and they will be securely stored and easily accessible.
The data can be collected from all your crucial corporate systems like ERP or CRM and processed. Therefore you will be always aware of the real situation related to your business. It will be easier to identify what departments work should be improved and which one should be unloaded. Also, the reports and feedbacks can be generated more frequently which allows to adapt to all current changes on the market and adds flexibility to your business approach.
So if you develop your own performance appraisal software you will:
- Let your managers be reliable mentors for new employees.
- Save a lot of time you’ve spent on paperwork.
- Get a more holistic picture of your business environment.
- Receive valuable and accurate data related to your employees and business efficiency.
- Define your own performance criteria that will help you get to a new level.
- Develop a more personal approach to your employees and let them grow.
- Perform better planning and develop a more effective business strategy.
How to implement a performance appraisal system in your company?
First of all, let’s talk about performance appraisal software development. It can be not only a separate solution but rather a part of your internal business system. It is possible to connect this software with your CRM, ERP, and any other solution you are using within your company for employee management. We would also recommend considering a cloud-based approach as it is more fast, secure, and convenient for every user. You can add several authentication levels to provide access to the crucial data to specially entitled managers.
Here are some features that should be a peasant in a performance review solution:
What about ready-made solutions?
You may be wondering if there are some already existing solutions on the market that businesses use to perform review of employees productivity. Of course there is plenty of such solutions that you can find, buy and integrate into your working environment. However, they are not so great as custom solution can be. But we will get back to this later. And now let’s review a couple of performance review solutions so that you can check them and draw inspiration for your own one.
Bamboo HR
Image source: Bamboo HR
The motto of this solution is “focus on people, not processes”. And its main goal is to automate data and analysis of employees (current and possible ones). Bamboo HR offers a variety of options among which you’ll find automated data entry, tracking of indexes, automated pre-boarding and onboarding tools, time tracking options, numerous tools for performance management, etc.
It has 1,8 millions of employee users and 19,000 client organizations. Which is quite impressive. You can try this solution for free and if it fits your business requirements, then you may consider buying it. However, customization options are quite limited so you will not be able to adjust much in case your working processes will require it.
Deputy
Image source: Deputy
Deputy differs from Bamboo HR since it is more about managing workload and monitoring productivity of employees within company. Deputy offers numerous useful features for employers and team leaders, among which you can see: online scheduling of work, tools for connecting teams with each other, management tools for working with live balances and requests, tools for sharing critical updates, etc. Deputy is a prefect solution for companies that are involved in manufacturing, logistics, healthcare, security, retail, on-demand services.
Like Bamboo HR, Deputy offers a free trial period after which you can buy a software and fully integrate it into your company. It is already used all over the world and has quite high appraisal.
What’s best for business – ready-made solution or custom one?
Thinking about performance review software you may ask yourself a question: “Why would I invest in its development if there are ready-made solutions on the market? Like BambooHR, Deputy, Engagedly, etc.?” That is a reasonable question. However, all existing solutions may miss some aspects related to your particular business.
One more serious disadvantage of all ready-made solutions is that you are not in control of their security. The providers assure you that all your files are safe, however, if anything happens and either a server or some files get hacked, the sensitive information related to your employees can be disclosed. And you will be liable for the privacy violation as a company owner. Therefore the custom solution is better if you are going to implement performance review practice in your business.
Now as to the motivation factor, all ready-made solutions offer a certain kind of employee rating according to the performance scores. These charts with numbers make employees focus more on their rating number rather than on informative feedback. So the performance review collected within a system you are using will not be objective and will not reflect the real situation. If you need your employees to focus more on feedback and working processes, then it is better to develop your own performance review solution taking this into account and making ratings less influential feature. It would also be preferable to implement a 360 review feature to get feedback generated taking into account employees’ self-reviews and peer reviews.
Moreover, you will have to make monthly payments to use those solutions and end up spending more than you would have invested in your own one. It is also possible that those solutions will not be able to connect to your internal software and therefore the picture that you’ll get will not be full, it will miss some crucial indexes and details. However, if you really like any of the features of the existing solutions, you can add them to your own software with some alterations meeting your business needs. Just consult a professional Business Analyst to make clear requirements and understand what will work for you.
FAQ
In conclusion
Every modern company needs its own performance review software because this is the best way not only to track business efficiency but also to make more evidence-led and thoughtful decisions. With such a system you can focus more on growing real professionals within your company and making it more competitive, professional, and profitable.
Performance review software reduces paperwork, provides a clear picture of your business environment, and discloses on what working moments you should focus more. It is crucial to keep your employees engaged and motivated because they achieve better results which are key for business success.
