Do you track their performances?

As a staffing firm, Chameleon is invested in knowing whether our candidates are performing well at the jobs we staffed them at. And, this is where employee performance metrics come into place.

Although we don’t track how well our client’s employees are doing besides through feedback surveys and occasional visits, we do track how well our own employees are doing and we suggest you do the same.

Employee performance metrics benefit the employee and the company. It’s not meant to be a test or something scary but an indicator of quality, quantity, efficiency, and overall performance.

According to Analytics in HR, “there are various kinds of employee performance metrics,” which have been split into four main categories.

Work quality metrics

When it comes to work quality metrics, subjective appraisal by the direct manager is typically the best you’re going to get as it “speaks” a lot about the quality of the employee’s performance. But, to keep this as objective as possible, it’s smart to use a set of objectives made by the managers to “grade” the employee. This allows for a specific list of things to be checked off and for goals to be reached. Plus, both parties are aware of their needs and expectations and the process is made tangible.

As mentioned, other work quality metrics include the subjective appraisal by a manager, which can be done through bi-annually performance reviews. Other metrics include checking on the number of errors performed by the employee, the net promoter score, a 360-degree (or 180-degree) feedback assessment from employee’s peers, subordinates, customers, and manager on the employee, and a forced ranking (vitality curve) made by the manager, ranking the best to the worst employee in order, where the bottom 10% of the workforce can be fired and replaced by the top applicants from the company’s talent pool. These metrics have claimed to lead to an improvement in workforce potential.

Work quantity metrics

As for quantity metrics, an easy way to pinpoint a sales employee’s output is through the number of sales made. This is an “outcome metric” that can be used for any employee, depending on what their output (number of candidate submissions, emails sent, social media followers, number of phone calls made, number of company visits, number of active leads, etc.).

Other work quantity metrics include the number of units produced like when Bloomberg tracks the number of keys that their 2,400 journalists hit per minute on their keyboard, or handling time, first-call resolution, etc. Every company is going to have different quantity metrics; it’s important to know which one is specific to your industry and what you need to make better data-driven decisions.

Work efficiency metrics

Work efficiency metrics involves balancing quantity and quality as this metric considers the resources (such as time and money) used and needed to produce a certain output (the quality). This data showcases ways in which employees are using their time, money, and other resources to do their job, which could lead to minimizing one or the other to promote a more efficient working environment. Like we discussed in our previous blog post, “Data – Your Ultimate Wingman,” don’t forget that the data is only as valuable as the sense you make out of it. There’s no point in just having it if you’re not turning those insights into action. Data is meant to help out with furthering the company’s growth and success.

Organizational performance metrics

Last but not least, the organizational performance metrics include revenue per employee, profit per FTE, human capital ROI, absenteeism rate, and overtime per FTE. Essentially, not only do these metrics help employers see how well an employee is performing but also helps the employee assess their own competitiveness.

What we hope you have learned through this article is that there is not one single way to track an employees performance. The best metrics are a combination of qualitative and quantitative metrics.

Through the use of all these metrics, you will get a comprehensive overview of your employee, leading to actionable insight and the ability to create appropriate changes to stimulate better performance.