Boost Employee Performance

By: Jennifer Leahy
February 12th, 2011

“Doing more with less” is more than just a trite saying that is now regularly bantered around offices by managers and business owners. As companies struggle to maintain profitability and control costs in a challenging economy, many are finding that elevated employee performance is the key to success. Employee performance is a bit nebulous and tough to define and refine. It can be even tougher to improve.

For many businesses, employees and their associated costs aren’t only the most expensive budget items, but they’re the items with the most variable outcome. The return on investment (ROI) derived from employees by a business is influenced by many factors. In the Aberdeen Group study titled “The Business Leader as Talent Leader,” researchers found that business owners are focusing efforts to improve business execution, making it a top priority. In every industry and every business, the best utilization of resources provides the best opportunity for success. Are you receiving optimum ROI from your employees?

Examine each employee and their job function. How does it align with the overall goals of the business? Does each task regularly performed propel the company forward in some manner?

Next determine if your employees are truly engaged. Unlike satisfaction, which can mean “I am happy to have a job and paycheck and thus am satisfied,” engaged employees are on board with the mission of the business and their actions aid in the betterment and growth of the enterprise. Clearly and regularly communicating the value of each employee’s actions and the impact it has on the success of the business is an invaluable management tool.

Study results indicate best in class companies follow these guidelines to link each employee’s actions with the greater goals of the company:

• Managers meet with employees on a regular basis

• A process exists to hold managers accountable for conducting employee reviews

• A process exists that allows managers to link employee goals to goals of the organization

• Managers are held accountable for employee performance

• Managers are trained to deliver effective reviews and communicate company strategy

• Such strategies lead to higher levels of employee engagement and ultimately to higher productivity. Companies benefit when employees feel an increased sense of value both as an employee and as an integral member of the business team and have an involved supervisor.

“This kind of connection is critical to maintain engagement on an ongoing basis, and not treat it as a one-off discussion. A manager taking the time to give frequent, informal feedback or take an interest in the goals and development of their employees was one of the keys to engagement cited in countless interviews with employees. These ongoing conversations surrounding the formal goal-setting process are where engagement is brought to life,” says Mollie Lombardi, study author and senior research analyst of human capital management for the Aberdeen Group.

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