An effective recruitment and onboarding process can go a long way toward setting new team members up for success. But in a rapidly changing employment landscape — with automation, remote work, and even artificial intelligence changing the way we work — an annual performance review may not be enough to keep things running smoothly.
Many organizations are shifting to a continuous performance management process, in which employees have regular check-ins with their managers and receive continuous feedback to further organizational goals and support employee growth.
Here’s how HR professionals can transform their traditional performance management process into a continuous performance management system that works.
What Is Continuous Performance Management?
Continuous performance management refers to a practice of delivering more frequent feedback to employees than traditional performance management methods. Although you can still use a standardized performance review process, it should happen on an ongoing basis rather than being a one-time check-in or annual appraisal.
Continuous performance management is increasingly considered to be a more flexible, collaborative, and effective performance management strategy compared to traditional practices. Employees can expect real-time feedback, more constructive performance improvement plans, and improved professional development opportunities.
In addition to motivating employees and increasing employee engagement, employers benefit from increased work efficiency and more accurate performance metrics.
Key Components of Continuous Performance Management
It can be helpful to think of continuous performance management as a cycle. Instead of setting a single date on the calendar for a performance review, you’ll keep the lines of communication open year-round with ongoing performance conversations. Here are four key components of an effective performance management strategy:
Regular feedback
In most cases, feedback takes the form of a one-on-one meeting between an employee and their manager. These check-ins are an opportunity to discuss what’s working, what isn’t, and what you can do about it. Receiving ongoing feedback can be less stressful than sitting down for an annual performance appraisal at the end of the year.
For best results, schedule check-ins monthly or quarterly, with the option to check in more frequently if necessary. This fosters a culture of clear communication and open dialogue in which team members can bring up concerns when they arise rather than waiting for months for an opportunity to address them.
Goal setting
Tracking employee performance metrics only works if employees know what standards they’re being held to. And since goals can shift over time, it’s easy to lose sight of your objectives if you don’t take time to review them on a regular basis.
Continuous performance management allows you to set clear goals and get buy-in from everyone involved in a project. Consider establishing objectives and key results (OKRs) and updating them over time to reflect both long-term and short-term priorities.
Employee development
Continuous performance management isn’t just about the here and now. It also involves looking to the future and establishing career development plans for your employees. By reviewing performance metrics on a regular basis, you can uncover skill gaps and find opportunities for career advancement for high-performing employees.
Plus, by checking in with employees regularly, you’ll have a better idea of what’s going on in their lives. You can use a performance improvement plan when an employee is underperforming, experiencing personal issues, or needs more training.
Data-driven performance assessments
Continuous performance management allows you to make data-driven decisions that improve your bottom line. You can use standardized templates to collect 360-degree feedback in the form of peer reviews, self-assessments, and performance ratings.
When you streamline your performance management process with Pulpstream, you’ll also get access to advanced workforce analytics and other tools that help you make sense of the data you’re collecting. Our built-in AI engine will even provide you with appropriate recommendations for common employee relations issues.
Benefits of Continuous Performance Management
Why implement continuous performance management if you can continue doing things the same way you always have? Won’t it require more effort and take more time? While getting started with continuous performance management may require some effort, it can pay off in the long run with these three key benefits:
Positive work environment
Creating a culture of continuous feedback fosters a more positive work environment for your team. With more frequent check-ins, employees don’t have to wonder how they’re doing: They can have a constructive dialogue about it. This builds trust between team members and managers, and takes the sting out of negative feedback.
Greater productivity
Continuous performance management helps to increase work efficiency by addressing performance issues in real-time. If an employee is underperforming, you don’t have to wait for the right opportunity to address it. You can offer training or mentorship on an as-needed basis, and find ways to hack workplace productivity as a team.
You can even implement high-performance management, in which the emphasis is on unlocking employees’ full potential rather than just getting things done.
Increased retention
Continuous performance management can help you increase retention throughout the employee lifecycle. By checking in with employees about their professional goals, you can demonstrate your commitment to their job satisfaction and well-being.
Employees are more likely to stick around when they know they have opportunities for professional development and career advancement.
How to Implement Continuous Performance Management
Chances are you already have some form of performance management taking place at your organization. Whether you plan to retain some of your existing practices or create a new process from scratch, here are three things to keep in mind as you get started:
Get buy-in
First, explain the benefits of continuous performance management to your employees. Employees may be concerned that they’ll be under more pressure to get things done, while managers may worry that it will increase their workload.
The more buy-in you get from your team members, human resources team, and upper management, the more likely your new approach will be a success.
Determine a schedule
Next, determine how often you’ll expect managers to have one-on-one meetings with their team members. Just because the feedback process is continuous doesn’t mean that it has to happen every day. Depending on the size of your organization and the complexity of your projects, consider a monthly or quarterly review cycle.
Choose the right platform
Finally, choose the right performance management software to streamline the process. You’ll use this software to track performance metrics, administer performance reviews, and develop performance improvement plans for underperforming employees.
Pulpstream’s cloud-based platform makes it easy to develop and oversee a continuous performance management process. Use standardized templates to reduce complexity and bias, and even send out automated reminders so you never miss a check-in.
Plus, Pulpstream integrates with Workday, Salesforce, ADP, and other HR tools so you can administer performance management alongside other employee processes.
Master Employee Performance Management with Pulpstream
Continuous performance management involves checking in with team members on a regular basis to set goals and provide ongoing feedback. Unlike traditional performance reviews, which can be stressful and ineffective, continuous performance management fosters a culture of clear communication, building trust between employees and their managers and supporting their professional development.
Pulpstream’s employee relations platform allows you to track employee performance metrics and standardize the performance review process. Reduce manual effort and paper-based feedback by managing it all from a single cloud-based system.
From offering employee counseling to taking disciplinary action, Pulpstream helps you identify performance issues and implement appropriate solutions. Get a 360-degree view of each case and use our built-in AI engine to provide recommendations.
Request a demo today to see Pulpstream in action and discover your new continuous performance management system!
