The Millennial generation will be the majority of the workforce soon and GenZ is knocking on the door. These generations are looking at ‘work’ differently than the generations before. Often they see work and the company as a ‘project’ where you stay if you are able to learn and grow. You move on when you cannot. Therefore it is time HR completely revises the way they approach and manage these generations.
It is often said that both generations are the so called Facebook generation. They expect from their boss that they give clear feedback, straight away and not just three times per year. They want to develop and therefore expect their manager and company to have a clear path for them. And last both not least they want to work for a company that matters. If the company has no moral compass or WHY they will not join/stay.
Therefore you cannot get away with the traditional nineties cycle of Goal setting, Mid-Year review and End Year Review.
In this blog I will try to explain some of the golden rules and lessons learned I think are important.
Employee experience
In the end it’s all about the ‘employee experience. Therefore you cannot include ‘Performance management’ alone you need to check and possible revise the whole end to end HR processes which are related to performance (e.g. talent management, Succession, career paths etc.)
Keep it Simple
Old performance management systems are often too complicated and deviate from its sole purpose: Encouraging dialogue between managers and employees. I have seen all kinds off systems. Some had only goal setting and evaluating, others included complete competency libraries. In the latter often you have an enormous book with all kind of competencies which you have to master in 5 different levels. I hate to break it to all HR professionals, but no one ever used these libraries.
Keep it simple and encourage frequent dialogues that focus on two way feedback and growth.
Kill Mathematics and go holistic
Most of the nineties tools (especially in engineering companies) have a mathematical approach. The employee is scored on several items, sometimes with a different weight and it the end the IT system calculates the end score preferably with two digits behind the comma. I have seen many times managers and employees having endless discussions on why the employee scored a 3,17 this year while last year it was a 3,25. No body benefits if someone can hide behind the numbers.
My advice: Go holistic and kill mathematics. The managers and employees are not helped with the mathematical approach. When you go holistic you solve this and the manager needs to explain his end year review to the employee anyhow.
Focus on WHAT and HOW
New generations are genuinely interested in achieving goals and getting the reward (the thumbs up) for it. They also want to work for a company that matters and is have values which they can identify themselves with. The HOW in this example are the behavioral drivers of which the company believes they are needed to reach success in a respectful and sustainable way.
Therefore focus on both WHAT (Goals) as well as HOW both equally important.
Install Continuous dialogues
You cannot get away with three formal meetings per year nor should you want to. The new generations demand instant feedback, but also want to give instant feedback. As said the Facebook generation want to get their thumbs up immediately or know where and how they can grow. Therefore make sure you design a process that encourages continuous dialogues and make sure progress and feedback are logged in a state of the art system like Workday or SAP SuccessFactors
It is a two way street
Both parties are equally responsible to make it happen. Still in 2018 I come across employees (some even Directors level) that complaint that they do not have goals or their manager did not give feedback during an End Year review. With the new generations I expect the chances are lower (They will come and get it), but it does not hurt when you implement to make it explicit that growing and feedback is a Shared Responsibility
For all employees
All employees want feedback and know how they can grow. And still, a lot of (manufacturing) companies only do performance management for their indirect workforce. I just do not get it. Is it obvious that if you give people attention, feedback and the ability to grow they will value your company, work hard and stay? They will work for you with their blood, sweat and tears as Simon Sinek once said. If you treat people as disposable employees they will come for their paycheck…
It’s all about development
Employees respect honest feedback that helps them grow. The best and most simple way I came across were the following feedback a manager must give to their employees:
- Keep doing
- Stop doing
- Try this.
Simple, sound and to the point
Cascade goals
The new generations want to know why they have to do what they are doing. They want to understand how they contribute to the ultimate goal of the company. It is therefore needed to cascade goals top down and bottom up so everyone can identify their personal goals with the company goals
Calibrate!
Calibration is vital to ensure a uniform way of working. Should you install forced distribution? Absolutely not. But, when the sample size is big enough (>50+ comparable employees) you should expect a normal distribution. If not, you should understand why not. If you cannot, adjust the ratings
Good luck and feedback is welcome!
Bas Eggelaar
SuccessDay
Originally posted on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/millennial-gen-z-performance-management-10-golden-bas-eggelaar-mba/
