Performance Management: Getting Started

What is Performance Management?

Performance Management (PM) is the process that identifies, evaluates, develops and monitors employee performance in order to ensure that

The use of this module is aimed at all personnel involved in performance management  whether employees being performance managed or their managers assisting with the process and approving the results. The management of an employee’s performance is ideally a joint action between employee and manager. The steps involved in the performance appraisal process are:

Each of these steps is discussed in the rest of the performance management manual.

A list of definitions, abbreviations, acronyms and terminology can be found in Appendix A.

High Level Performance Management Process

Working with a Performance Contract

In the previous article we learned what is Performance Management, as well as the steps to follow in the performance appraisal process.

In this article we will learn how to work with a performance contract.

A performance contract is a contract between an employee and his/her manager to manage and keep track of the employee's performance during a review period. A performance contract consists of a performance agreement and occasionally some other components e.g. a 360˚ or value survey. A performance agreement in its turn consists of one or more assessment periods (e.g. quarterly, bi-annual or annual). An assessment period contains the actual items being measured and these could be grouped into different sections e.g. Key Performance Areas, Key Competencies, Stretch Targets, Company Values and Behaviours and Leadership Behaviours.

This module will be discussed from a manager's perspective.  

How did I get here?

What can I expect in this section?

What configuration and master library data should be in place?

Accessing the Performance Management Module

Login to the Signify HR system. From the Home page navigate to the Performance Management (PM) link in the Portal menu to open the performance management module.

Manage a Performance Agreement/Scorecard

A performance agreement is the agreed upon document determining an employee’s scope of work against which he will formally be measured or performance appraised.

The Manager Dashboard screen opens with a list of all the performance contracts for all the employees, reporting directly to the manager. Employees with contracts not started yet, will be listed by default.

The following selection criteria is available on the Manager Dashboard screen as indicated in the figure above.

If you are a manager and employees are reporting to you, the following will also be available in the Quick Links menu.

Click on the My Performance Agreement button to manage your own scorecard.

Create a New Performance Agreement

When the employee or his/her manager creates a new agreement, the following options are available:

The performance year and review frequency values displayed in the dropdown lists were provided by the System Administrator as master data.

The performance year is the year period, with a start date and end date, to which the performance contract will apply.

The review frequency is how often contract reviews will be held during the performance year e.g.:

Create a Blank Review Period

A performance agreement usually consists of one or more review periods e.g. semesters, quarters etc. Within the scope of a performance agreement each semester or quarter is called a review period.

You have the opportunity to create a blank review period.

To create a new blank review/assessment period for the performance year you've selected:

Your Performance Profile screen will be displayed showing the different sections with progress per section. Go to the Working with Your Performance Profile Dashboard article for more detail.

Copy From Employee's Previous Review Period

Copy from employee's previous review period:

If a previous performance agreement exists for an employee, its contents (except the ratings and comments) can be copied into the existing and newly created agreement. (Note again that the number of review periods in the resulting agreement will match the number of periods in the agreement that is being copied.)

Select the Copy from Employee's Previous Review Period. Enter the start date, end dates and select the review period from the dropdown list. Click on Continue.

Notice that by copying from a previous period you have...

Copy from a System Template

Copy from a system template:

Agreement templates are predefined and prepopulated agreements, setup by the System Administrator as master data, which can be used as a quick way to create a new agreement.

Search for the required template by Template Name and/or Review Frequency.

Click on the Action hyperlink next to the template name and choose the Copy function. The new agreement is created and is opened on the agreement page, allowing the employee and manager to continue working on the agreement.

Notice that by copying from an agreement template you have...

Copy an Agreement from one of my employees

If you are a manager with employees reporting directly to you, the additional option to copy an agreement of one of your employees is available.

Search for the required employee and contract.

Click on the Action hyperlink next to the template name and choose the Copy function. The new agreement is created and is opened on the agreement page, allowing the employee and manager to continue working on the agreement.

Notice that by copying from an agreement template you have...

Manager Dashboard

When selecting all contracts for employees who's contracts have started, the Manager Dashboard is displayed as figure above.

Every contract year is divided into steps or phases which have to be completed in a specific sequence. Use the tabs to switch between the different phases of the contract.

The progress on each phase is shown by tick marks to indicate a step is in progress or is completed. If the Dual Approval setting is ON, there will be a tick mark for manager and employee.

There will also be an indication if the review period's score is excluded in the final score calculations.

Click on the Open button to learn how to edit an existing review period.

Additional Actions

The following additional actions are available for managers:

Working with Your Performance Profile Dashboard

When selecting your contract, the Your Performance Profile screen is displayed as above.

Every contract year is divided into steps or phases which have to be completed in a specific sequence.

The progress on each phase is shown by tick marks to indicate the step is in progress or is completed. If the Dual Approval setting is ON, there will be a column for the manager and employee.

The following additional Actions are available on the review periods:

More functions available on a contract are:

Click on the Start or Open button in the performance agreement table to start working with a specific review period.

Working with the Assessment Period Contents

The assessment period page contains a number of elements to assist the user in working as efficiently as possible.

Working with the Assessment Period Quick Links Menu

Additional functionality is available in the Quick Links Menu:

Project Management Process Flow

The highlighted section in the diagram shows the process flow that will be described in the articles from Working with Key Performance Areas to How to Approve an Assessment Period's Contents.

Working with Key Performance Areas (KPA's)

In the previous article we learned how to work with a performance contract by creating a performance agreement and assessment periods.

In this article we will learn how to create the first component in the contents of a performance agreement namely Key Performance Areas (KPI's).

Perspectives are categories used to group KPA's together. Examples of perspectives are: financial perspective, customer perspective, internal process perspective, learning & growth perspective etc. Perspectives have to be created first before any KPA's can be added.

Key Performance Areas refer to the areas within the business for which a person is responsible e.g. Process Improvement, Safety and Health, Security, etc. A KPA is further defined or delineated by one or more key performance indicators (KPI's).

A Key Performance Indicator is a type of performance measurement that acts as a compass, helping you understand how you are performing towards strategic goals. To be effective, a KPI must be well-defined, quantifiable and be crucial to achieving your goal.

How did I get here?

What to expect in this section?

What configuration and master library data should be in place?

Create a New KPA Perspective

Select the Key Performance Areas tab and click on the Add New Perspective button.

New KPA Perspective Input

Perspectives are predefined values in master data, created by a System Administrator. Select a perspective description from the drop down list and enter a weight.

Click the Save And Close or Save Add New button.

How to Manage an Existing KPA Perspective

To Edit an existing perspective, click on the pencil icon next to the Perspective description.

Click on the document icon to upload, download or delete documents for the Perspective. More detail is available in the article How to Manage Documents.

Note: The total percentage of all the perspectives should be 100%.

Add a Key Performance Area

Click on Add Key Performance Area.

Key Performance Area Input

Choose a key performance area from the predefined list or enter a new KPA description. Enter the weight percentage and Save.

Edit a Key Performance Area

To Edit an existing perspective, click on the pencil icon next to the KPA description.

Note: The total percentage of all the KPA's should be 100% for each Perspective section.

Add a Key Performance Indicator

Click on Add Key Performance Indicator.

Key Performance Indicator Input

Choose a key performance indicator from the predefined list or enter a new KPI description.

Enter the measures, rating scale,weight percentage and due date. Click Save.

Edit a Key Performance Indicator

Click on Edit in the Actions dropdown to modify an existing KPI.

Click on the Manage Documents to upload, download or delete documents for the KPI. More detail is available in the article How to Manage Documents.

The View More link will display the Measures and Rating Scale for the KPI.

Note that the total percentage of all the KPI's should be 100% for each KPA section.

Delete a Key Performance Indicator

Select the check box in the row you want to delete. Click on the Delete button.

Add Personal Development Plan Activities

Depending on a company’s performance management module setup, a link with which to add PDP initiatives directly from the KPA section could also be available.  This is used by an employee or manager to identify further training requirements supporting his performance.

How to Manage Documents

The document upload functionality enables employees and managers to submit documentation (i.e. a portfolio of evidence), in support of their review, to their performance contract. Managers and Schema / System Administrators are also able to perform the same actions.

A Manage Documents screen displays a list of all the uploaded documents per employee per contract. This screen allows for uploading, downloading and deleting of documents.

The Manage Documents screen can be accessed from the list of performance agreements when you click on the document icons. When a document is uploaded, the total number of documents uploaded is displayed on the highest level of the agreement section (i.e. when documents are uploaded on KPI level the total is displayed on the Perspective Level). The total number of documents uploaded throughout the entire performance contract is displayed on the list of performance agreements in the ‘Contract Year’ column.

Working with Stretch Targets

In the previous article we learned how to load Key Performance Areas onto a performance agreement.

In this article we will learn how to add Stretch Targets to the contents of a performance agreement.

While Key Performance Areas refer to areas within the business for which a person is normally responsible as part of his job, Stretch Targets (Goals) are ambitious targets (KPA's) that force us to “stretch” our capabilities beyond our usual performance, current assumptions and processes. They differ from regular goals because of the level of difficulty; stretch targets are challenging but realistic targets that can be reached with additional effort.

A Key Performance Indicator is a type of performance measurement that acts as a compass, helping you understand how you are performing towards strategic goals. To be effective, a KPI must be well-defined, quantifiable and be crucial to achieving your goal.

Stretch Target Perspectives are categories used to group stretch targets (KPA's) together. Examples of stretch target perspectives are: financial perspective, customer perspective, internal process perspective, learning & growth perspective etc. Stretch Target perspectives have to be created first before any KPA's can be added.

How did I get here?

From the portal, click - Performance Management | My Performance Agreement | Open one of your existing agreements | Open one of the agreement’s assessment periods

What to expect in this section?

What configuration and Master library data should be in place?

Manage your Performance Agreement

Click on the hyperlink View/Edit to open the detail for a performance agreement.

Create a New Stretch Target Perspective

Select the Stretch Targets tab and click on the hyperlink Add New Perspective.

New Stretch Target Perspective Input

Perspectives are predefined values in master data, created by a System Administrator. Select a perspective description from the drop down list and enter a weight.

Click the Save And Close or Save Add New button.

Edit an Existing Stretch Target Perspective

To Edit an existing perspective, click on the pencil icon next to the Perspective description.

Click on the document icon to upload, download or delete documents for the Perspective.

Note: The total percentage of all the perspectives should be 100%.

Add a Stretch Target Key Performance Area

Click on Add Key Performance Area.

Stretch Target Key Performance Area Input

Choose a Key Performance Area from the predefined list or enter a new KPA description. Enter the weight percentage and Save.

Edit a Stretch Target Key Performance Area

To Edit an existing perspective, click on the pencil icon next to the KPA description.

Note: The total percentage of all the KPA's should be 100% for each Perspective section.

Add a Stretch Target Key Performance Indicator

Click on Add Key Performance Indicator.

Stretch Target Key Performance Indicator Input

Choose a key performance indicator from the predefined list or enter a new KPI description.

Enter the measures, rating scale,weight percentage and due date. Click Save.

Edit a Stretch Target Key Performance Indicator

Click on Edit in the Actions dropdown to modify an existing KPI.

Click on the Manage Documents upload, download or delete documents for the KPI.

The View More link will display the Measures and Rating Scale for the KPI.

Note that the total percentage of all the KPI's should be 100% for each KPA section.

Delete Stretch Target Perspectives, KPA's and KPI's

Select the check box in the row you want to delete. Press the Delete button.

Working with Company Values and Behaviours per Assessment Period

In the previous article we learned how to load stretch targets onto a performance agreement.

In this article we will learn how to add company values and behaviours to the contents of a performance agreement.

Company values and behaviours are clear statements of how you expect people in your company to act. By identifying your values and behaviours, and making them explicit, you shape your company's culture. This is important because the company values and behaviours provide a moral compass for the employees, establish a basis for consistent decision making by everyone and can give some guidelines for internal processes. Company values and behaviours are used to measure an employee’s performance against the company’s internal values and will automatically form part of each employee's performance contract.

How did I get here?

What to expect in this section?

What configuration and Master library data should be in place?

Company Values and Behaviours

Company values and behaviours are automatically loaded when a performance contract is created and cannot be added, edited or deleted on the performance contract. The functionality to add, edit or delete these values, are available in the Job Profiler module under Administration | Company Values List.

Working with Leadership Behaviours per Assessment Period

In this article we will learn how leadership behaviours are integrated into a performance agreement's contents.

Leadership behaviours are components in a performance agreement only available to employees in a leadership position, i.e. if the employee has other people reporting to him.

Leadership behaviours cannot be added here and are automatically loaded from the Leadership Behaviours library when the agreement is created initially. If a leadership behaviour record is added to the library afterwards, existing agreements are not automatically updated but they can be updated manually.

How did I get here?

What to expect in this section?

What configuration and master library data should be in place?

Leadership Behaviours

How to Import Leadership Behaviours

Leadership behaviours are automatically added to the agreements of employees in leadership positions. If however, some of the behaviours are changed in the library and the agreement needs to be updated as well, do the following:

Working with Key Competencies per Assessment Period

In the previous article we learned how to work with leadership behaviours in a performance agreement.

In this article we will learn how to add key competencies to the contents of a performance agreement.

Key competencies and their defining proficiencies form part of a job’s profile as compiled in the Job Profiler module. In Job Profiler a number of characteristics are used to profile or describe a job and subsequently also the positions derived from it. A key competency is one of those characteristics.

When adding key competencies to your performance contract, the competencies are read from the library maintained in the Job Profiler module. If a specific key competency is not available in your list, please ask the system administrator to add it to the Job Profiler library.

How did I get here?

What to expect in this section?

What configuration and Master library data should be in place?

How to Import Key Competencies

Add a New Key Competency

Select the Key Competencies tab and click on the Add New Key Competency button.

New Key Competency Input

Key competencies can be selected from a list of predefined values from master data or a new value can be added in the key competency field. Enter the required values and click the Save And Close or Save Add New button.

Edit an Existing Key Competency

Click on Edit in the Actions dropdown to modify an existing Key Competency.

Click on the Documents icon to upload, download or delete documents for the Key Competency.

The View More link will display the Rating Scale and Proficiency for the Key Competency.

Note that the total weight percentage of all the Key Competencies should be 100%.

 

Delete Key Competencies

Do delete the Key Competency, select the check box in the row you want to delete. Press the Delete button.

How to Approve an Assessment Period's Contents

In the previous sections you learned how to enter a performance agreement's contents e.g. key performance indicators, stretch targets, company values and behaviours, leadership behaviours and key competencies.

In this article you will learn how to approve the assessment period contents before the period can be assessed or rated.

Once all appropriate contents (KPAs/KCs/LBs and/or VBs) have been listed on the performance agreement, the employee is expected to dual-approve the assessment period contents before the period can be assessed or rated.

How did I get here?

What to expect in this section?

What should be in place before approving the assessment period contents?

Employee Approves the Assessment Period Contents

Once all the components of the agreement have been entered, an employee should indicate that he/she agrees with the content of the agreement. Click the check box and click the Submit Agreement Content button.

Confirm Agreement Content

Check values displayed and if you agree with the contents, click Confirm to submit the contents of the agreement.

Employee Un-approves the Assessment Period Contents

Occasionally the employee might want to change an assessment period’s contents. This is possible while the performance manager hasn’t approved the contents from his side yet.

Click on the Modify Agreement Content button.

A warning message will ask you to confirm the un-approval of the assessment period’s contents.

The assessment period's sections have now been opened for editing. Once changes have been done, remember to again Submit the contents.

What Happened in the Approving Process?

The assessment period’s progress bar indicates that you have approved/submitted the agreement content.

At this stage an email notification is sent to your performance manager, informing him that he/she needs to approve your review period’s contents before the rating can commence.

The next step in the process is: The employee and manager should discuss the agreement, make changes and the manager should approve the assessment period content.

Performance Manager Approves the Assessment Period Contents

After the performance manager has dual-approved the assessment period content, the assessment period’s contents are now locked and scoring fields have been added to each record. You will receive an email notification informing you of the content's approval by your performance manager.

From this moment it is no longer possible for an employee to un-approve his period’s contents in order to make changes. If changes are required, contact your performance manager requesting him to click on Modify Agreement Content on your agreement period.

The following functions are now available on the assessment period:

How to Score and Rate an Assessment Period

In the previous article you learned how to enter and dual-approve the assessment period's contents.

In this chapter you will learn how to score and approve each contract item of the assessment period. The manager's responsibility and work procedures to score and approve the contracts items will also be discussed.

A performance agreement’s compilation and eventual scoring should be a joint action between an employee and his performance manager. At the end of the agreement period, the formal performance appraisal typically consists of the following process:

How did I get here?

What to expect in this section?

What should be in place before scoring and rating an assessment period?

Rate and Approve Assessment Period Scores

The process flow of the rating and approval of assessment period scores is outlined in the diagram above.

Rating of Contract Items

After an assessment period’s contents were approved by the performance manager, the rating sections of the contract items on the different sections of assessment have been opened as shown above.

The rating section consists of the following elements:

Include in Score:

Weight: The relative weight or importance attached to a contract item.

Team member rating: The employee’s own rating of his performance against a contract item.

Rating Comments: Optional comments to accompany or clarify a rating especially in cases of differing opinions.

A team member or employee can now enter the include/exclude score indicator, rating and comments in the required fields.

Click the Calculate and Save Rating button.

Approve Assessment Period Scores

If the employee agrees with the score indicator, rating and comments, he can tick the check box and click on Submit Agreement Content to approve his own scores.

The following general rules apply to the approved scores:

An email is sent to the manager when scores have been approved by the employee and an email is sent to the employee when the manager approves the scores from his side.

Un-approve Assessment Period Scores

Occasionally the employee might want to change an assessment period’s scores. This is possible while the performance manager hasn’t approved the scores from his side yet.

Click on the Modify Agreement Content button.

A warning message will ask you to confirm the un-approval of the assessment period’s scores.

The assessment period's sections have now been opened for editing. Once changes have been done, remember to again Approve the scores.

What Happened in the Approving Scores Process?

The approval progress status is shown in the top right hand corner. Hour glass icons and tick marks indicate if the employee and manager's have approved the contents and ratings.

The agreement’s sections are now approved and locked, preventing further changes while awaiting the approval from the performance manager.

The next steps in the process are:

Performance Manager Rates and Approves Scores

The following steps have to be done by the performance manager before the performance evaluation process can proceed:

After the performance manager has entered and approved the scores, the assessment period’s contents are now locked. The overall calculated weighted averages (CWA) and section ratings (RA) for all sections have been updated at this point. The employee will receive an email notification informing them of the period's approval by their performance manager.

From this moment it is no longer possible for an employee to un-approve his period in order to make changes. If changes are required, contact the performance manager, requesting him to click on Modify Agreement Content on the agreement period.

Open Long Term Development plan

The Long Term Development Plan is available in the Quick Links Menu as shown above.

Acknowledge the items in the Long Term Development Plan and save by clicking on the Save Promotablity Index button.

Manager Approves Assessment Period Scores

If the manager agrees with the score indicator, rating and comments, he can tick the check box and click on Approve Agreement Content to approve the scores.

The following general rules apply to the approved scores:

View Agreement Scores

When all the review items have been rated by all the required parties. The approval progress status in the top right hand corner indicates that the employee and manager have approved the ratings.

The calculated score and section scores are displayed in the circular progress bars, once a section is finalised. These scores are determined using the managers’ final rating.

Employee Performance Profile Dashboard

After the assessment ratings were successfully entered and approved, the tick marks will indicate the progress for the Assessment Period sections as indicated above.

Manager Dashboard

After the assessment ratings were successfully entered and approved, the tick marks will indicate the progress for the Assessment Period sections as indicated above.

In the next section you will learn how to manage contract weight items and finalise the performance contract.

How to Finalise the Overall Evaluation of the Performance Agreement

In the previous article you learned how to enter ratings, calculate scores, dual-approve the assessment period's scores.

In this chapter you will learn how to update contract weights items and how to approve the overall performance contract.

At the end of the performance period, when all the agreement periods have been rated and approved, the following steps should be done to finalise the performance contract.

How did I get here?

What to expect in this section?

What should be in place before scoring and rating an assessment period?

Finalise the Performance Agreement

The above diagram outlines the performance agreement approval process and highlights the stage that is going to be discussed in this article.

Rating of Contract Weight Items

Contract Weight(ed) Items refer to any supporting or additional scores which should be added to the performance agreement in order to get the full picture of an employee's performance.  Job performance many times forms only one part of an employee's total work performance.

To open your contract weight items scores click the Open button in the Additional section.

Edit Contract Weight Items

To edit your contract weight items scores click the Edit button on the Contract Weight Items Detail screen.

The following information can be updated and saved on the Contract Weight Item Detail screen:

When the changes are saved, a message will be displayed to indicate the final calculated score.

Employee Finalises the Overall Evaluation

After the Contract Weight Items have been updated and approved, click the Overall Evaluation button as shown above.

Approve the Overall Evaluation - Employee

On this screen the employee is able to add further comments in support of the ratings. Approve the overall evaluation by clicking on the Approve Performance Year button.

Manager Finalises the Overall Evaluation

Select the Finalised tab and click the Overall Evaluation button as shown above.

Approve the Overall Evaluation - Manager

The manager has the opportunity to change the Final Scores (RA values) and enter acomment. The manager's comment block will only be visible to the employee after the manager has approved the ratings.

Both the employee and his manager should approve the overall evaluation by clicking on the Approve Performance Year button. The overall calculated weighted averages (CWA) and section ratings (RA) have been finalised at this point.

From this moment it is no longer possible for an employee to approve or un-approve this performance contract. Only the manager can open the contact again by clicking on the Un-approve Performance Year button - enabled for the manager.

What Happened after the Overall Evaluation was Finalised?

After the overall evaluation was successfully updated, the Performance Contract Dashboard shows check marks in the Finalise Overall Evaluation section to indicate that the performance agreement is now finalised.

How to Manage Final Scores

The System Administrator has the opportunity to revise the agreement final scores on employee's contracts.

How to access an employee's Performance Management Contract to revise?

How to Select an Employee's Final Score

Search and select and employee. Click View/Edit in the Action Column.

How to Edit Final Scores

Enter the revised final score and click Save.

What to do next?

Once the agreement contract for the agreement period has been approved and finalised the next step is an optional moderation process.

The chapter Performance Management Moderation: Getting Started describes the purpose and use of the moderation process.