Community Action Agency of Battle Creek, MI Success Story

The Community Action Agency of South Central Michigan’s mission statement is “Dedicated to helping people achieve and maintain independence.” This is exemplified by their outstanding work in providing services to more than 10,000 people spanning over 4 counties. They’re responsible for numerous programs such as Head Start for 1,000 children, utilities/rent assistance, transportation for seniors, and weatherization for homes in their community. Community Action has a lot on its shoulders and expects staff to deliver on their passionate mission statement.

To ensure a high standard of excellence, Community Action needed to utilize a state-of-the-art, robust performance management software like LightWork Performance Management. “Previously, we were doing all performance appraisals in Word,” says Director of HR Dawn McDonald. Since Community Action was established in 1966, that’s a long time to go without an intuitive performance  management software. She continues: “It didn’t provide much of a performance assessment tool, but rather it was used for tracking professional development.”

Not only are Community Action employees developing professional goals with LightWork, but they’re also journaling and marking successes throughout the year. This allows the agency to have a more comprehensive approach to their annual appraisals. “It’s easier now for us to better evaluate and track performance,” says McDonald. The journals, the ability to attach documents, and the integration with their HRMS system were highlights of LightWork’s features for McDonald and Community Action, but they also like how it fits within their budgetary needs. “We compared a lot of different programs and LightWork had what we needed at a cost that fits within our financial plan.” Being a non-profit service organization that relies heavily on transparency, Community Action only invests in software that’s going to give them the most bang for their buck.

Getting everything into place was a breeze. “Implementation went really well,” says McDonald, “our consultant was resourceful, worked with us on instructional pamphlets, and even gave a presentation to our leadership team.” That hands-on experience was invaluable when putting performance management software into place. It affects so many departments and oftentimes the entire workforce: everything needs to be seamless. Additionally, Community Action continues to have a resourceful tool in the LightWork support desk. McDonald commented on how the consultants she worked with post-implementation have been “open, helpful, and very responsive.” It’s encouraged Community Action to embrace LightWork’s features even more. A goal they hope to accomplish in the future is to transfer all of their personnel files into LightWork. That kind of service and technology is exactly what LightWork wants to be known for with clients such as Community Action. While the Community Action Agency of South Central Michigan dedicates themselves to their community’s independence, LightWork dedicates themselves to ensure clients like Community Action have the ability to maintain the talented workforce they need for a top-performing organization. Interested in the PDF?