5 Top Factors in Selecting Employee Performance Management Software

Employee appraisals are a time-consuming process. On average, a manager can expect to spend at least 210 hours a year on performance reviews and other related activities, such as filling out forms and delivering evaluations. Even so, most managers do not find employee appraisals to be accurate, as tedious as they can be.

Staying current with goals and maintaining ongoing, detailed notes between appraisal periods is crucial for accuracy: without either, managers often fly blind. This vital step is frequently skipped over, however, but for good reason. Over the past decade, the average number of reporting employees has doubled, making it increasingly difficult for managers to keep up with their paperwork load. Luckily, the use of software can easily simplify this daunting process. Here are some of the things you should be looking for in a performance management software:

1. Reviewer Flexibility:

A great performance management software should give you options as to who should be involved in the appraisal process. The choices should include supervisor only appraisals, peer appraisals, 360 appraisals, and there should even be an option to do select custom appraisal reviewers with a list of your choice.

2. Configurable Appraisal Routing Process:

The ability to customize an appraisal workflow is essential to most management teams. Depending on your organization’s role arrangement, an appraisal may need to go through many approval levels, including the supervisor, the employee, and even HR. A streamlined performance management software should give you the ability to have the necessary approval levels, and it should make it easy to send the appraisal to the appropriate people.

3. Goal Management:

Managers and employees alike should be able to define individual employee goals of a professional or personal nature for a holistic development plan. What’s more, future goals and objectives should be set to appear on the next appraisal for easy assessment and follow up, simplifying the process even further.

4. Journals:

Maintaining ongoing, detailed notes is crucial for accuracy within employee appraisals, but can amount to a plethora of paperwork. Having a performance management software that allows managers and their employees to record notes on goals and performance between appraisal cycles reduces and eases that part of the process, not to mention making feedback more accurate.

5. Integration:

Perhaps most importantly, a performance management software should have the ability to integrate with any HR or payroll solution. A performance management software integration that only pairs with some HRMS systems usually does not make for easy deployment or consistent user experience, and if your payroll needs change, you are tied to your current solution rather than having the flexibility to keep your current performance management system.

While all of these features are imperative to have in performance management software, they are not the only features that are important and time-saving. Look for a software that has all of these things and more in order to make your appraisal process the most efficient it can be. If your current performance management software does not meet all your needs needs, consider contacting us to help identify your company’s needs and ensure your next appraisals are the easiest ones yet!