LATEST NEWS ON PMS 2012 Agencies try out new performance management system

By Amanda Palleschi January 18, 2012

Details emerged on Wednesday,about a pilot program that aims to improve the performance management system for all government employees, with some agencies pledging to start the first training sessions this spring. The Office of Personnel Management will begin training managers on the new system by March or April, OPM Deputy Chief of Staff Justin Johnson said. OPM hopes to implement GEAR (goals, engagement, accountability and results) for the agency, collaborating with its local bargaining units, by the end of the year, he said. John Gage, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, questioned the usefulness of GEAR. He said he did not plan to "put out a recommendation" to work with the pilot. "I don't see anything different here when it comes to performance management," he said at the monthly meeting of the National Council on Federal Labor-Management Relations. Gage spoke following presentations from some of the agencies involved in the pilot, including the Energy, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development departments, and OPM. "Especially with some of these agencies -- HUD, DOE -- it's going to be a big year for these agencies," Gage said. "Laying on this type of human resources program . . . it just doesn't excite me." Johnson said OPM had the cooperation of its local unions and was working through the pilot to make sure a new system would not "do more harm than good." He described Gage as taking a "wait-and-see approach." "We're trying to make sure it adds value. We're confident it's going to," Johnson told Government Executive. GEAR focuses in particular on aligning employee performance with agency performance. At HUD, Senior Executive Service members have floated the idea of withholding SES eligibility for receiving an "outstanding" ranking if the agency did not perform well by certain metrics, said HUD Chief Human Capital Officer Karen Newton Cole. "This was kind of radical," Cole said in a presentation to the labor management council Wednesday. "We know there are severe problems in terms of how we're managing

performance and linking that performance to agency goals. The SES corps [at HUD] took that to heart and said, OK, we need to lead this effort using ourselves, essentially as a guinea pig." Energy also plans to develop milestones with actions over the next several months and is working with eight local bargaining units covering 7,500 employees. According to materials provided by Energy on Wednesday, the department's plans for GEAR include online performance management training, ePerformance software to support reporting and accountability for both SES and non-SES employees and quarterly progress reviews. Energy's CHCO, Michael Kane previously told Government Executive that his agency already was doing many of the things GEAR working groups were looking at. Secretary Steven Chu has agreed to what is known as 360 employee performance surveys -- where all SES employees, including department secretaries, must get input from colleagues at a variety of levels.
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24 FEB, 2012,

How India Inc is attempting to revive the lost art of meaningful performance appraisals
As March rolls around, an interesting exercise will get underway at HDFC Life's offices. Sneak around a bit and you could find an Associate Vice-President having a 'frank chat' with another about how his performance this past year left a lot to be desired and how he needed to get his act together. All this in full view of a few dozen senior managers. No, the insurance major doesn't have a sadistic streak. This is a pre-appraisal training session, one of many that Rajendra Ghag, executive vice-president - HR, HDFC Life will be conducting in the weeks to come. The idea is to train managers in the finer points of conducting an appraisal: from initiating the discussion to giving negative feedback. This initiative is one of several that have been rolled out at the company over the last three years. Employee workshops showed that most people, irrespective of seniority, saw the existing appraisal process as a mere formality. "Most people aren't comfortable giving bad news and this workshop serves as both, a training session as well as a confidence-building exercise," says Ghag. "We realised that appraisals were often being done half-heartedly and ratings were assigned without any real discussion."

Now, to make sure that doesn't happen, the manager has to sign an undertaking online saying that he has had a proper discussion with his subordinate about his performance in order to be able to send the appraisal formto his boss. The subordinate too has to 'click' and agree, else the form won't be submitted. Another company that is turning to technology to spruce up its appraisal process is the Aditya Birla Group. As a part of its performance management system, some key roles have been put online along with some preset goals that go along with that role. This, in turn, can be used by managers to set goals for themselves and their teams. "Goalsetting isn't necessarily an easy process," says Santrupt Misra, director-HR, Aditya Birla Group, "We realised that while the process we follow is fairly robust, it could be made more credible by focusing on skill-building and goal-setting," he explains. It's pointless to have a well structured appraisal process which doesn't link back to how it impacts the employee for the rest of the year. For many companies, fixing their approach to appraisals has been a side effect of bringing in more rigorous performance management systems. A common complaint for most employees has been that all the feedback is saved for the end of the year. "You could think that you are doing a great job, but come March, you realise that your boss has a very different point of view," says a senior project manager at a tech company.
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27 MAR, 2012, 10.39AM IST, DEVINA SENGUPTA,ET BUREAU

Adobe Systems set to scrap annual appraisals, to rely on regular feedback to reward staff
BANGALORE: About 10,000 employees at Adobe Systems, including 2,000 in India, have just completed what could probably be their last performance review. The global product services company plans to scrap the age-old practice of being pitted against colleagues and measured up by the bosses once a year. "We plan to abolish the performance review format," says Donna Morris, senior VPHR at the company. Still in its blueprint, the plan is to have managers give regular feedback to their teams to ensure a quicker and continuous self actualisation, rather than wait for the yearend. Adobe took the plunge after it entered the digital marketing space, which required a completely different gamut of customer base and marketing strategies that called for an

overhaul of HR processes as well. "Instead of feedback, we will look at feed-forward," says Jaleel Abdul, HR head for the Indian arm. Not a borrowed practice, the roots can be traced to management guru Marshall Goldsmith's theory on how instant and real-time feedback can boost performance. "Course correction is also faster and more immediate this way," says Abdul. Companies constantly innovate and tweak their appraisal systems. Google emphasises a 360-degree appraisal where employees are assessed by peers, bosses and subordinates. Microsoft now places greater emphasis on employee behaviour rather than on targets. But hardly any company has gone as far as Adobe. "Performance improves with more feedback and a structured way is not often required," says Abhijit Bhaduri, chief learning officer for Wipro, commenting on Adobe's plans. "However, for firms with larger staff, (annual) appraisal systems help." Krishnan cites the instance of a recruitment firm that years ago decided to remove targets from KRA of employees. The strategy worked very well for the first six months, but only for those in leadership levels. "It became difficult for those below, who lacked the maturity to handle work without targets. Also one cannot give feedback on a daily basis and for virtual teams there is no way one can get monitored every day," he says. But Adobe took that call when Morris noticed many grievances regarding appraisals every year. And often the boss would assess a member keeping his last achievements or failures in mind instead of the work done throughout the year, popularly called the 'recency effect'. Doing away with the annual reviews will help prevent 'the top of the mind recall' problem as well. Adobe is yet to fully decipher how it will work out promotions and increments, both of which will demand a relative assessment of employee performance.
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18 APR, 2012, 05.13PM IST

Open dialogues crucial for post appraisal feedback

Nearly 68% of the organisations deemed post appraisal feedback process as an essential part of performance management system in a survey conducted by TJinsite, the knowledge and research arm of TimesJobs.com. Supporting the need of post-appraisal feedback mechanism, Anagha Wankar, Head - Human Capital Management of Fujitsu Consulting India mentioned,

"Post appraisal feedback is just as important as the actual appraisal process. It gives us a look into how the efforts are being viewed and helps keep us grounded." In TJinsite's survey, nearly 62% organisations voted one-on-one discussions as one of the most preferred post appraisal feedback method. "There will always be a chance of expectation mismatch and surge of emotions after appraisals. Therefore, a direct dialogue with the supervisor and HR is the key", claimed Subrat Chakravarty, VP & Head HR - Business Services Division, HCL Technologies Ltd. Underlining other post-appraisal feedback tools, Anagha Wankar, Head - Human Capital Management of Fujitsu Consulting India mentioned, "We also use an anonymous survey tool to gather candid feedback on the way the process was run or the way the discussions were handled. Another manner in which the pulse is gathered is through informal forums and channels like over a cup of coffee or while travelling in the company bus. Spontaneous reactions sometimes reveal the truest of thoughts." Chakravarty advise to keep the communication channels open all through the performance management process and follow a no surprise policy. Demoralizing statements like "what can I do, this is what has been finally decided by HR / Corporate" weakens the position of the manager and dilutes the belief of employees in the assessment system. Hence, results in a disengaged employee", he asserted. Today, the industry, as whole, also recognises the fact that gathering feedback is a different thing but acting upon it is another, and herein lays the real essence of feedback process. Appropriate actions taken within specified time frame helps endorse the entire post appraisal feedback process. Further it helps prevent possible attrition, which tends to increase by 10-20% after appraisals, feels 40% of the surveyed organisations. According to industry experts, an effective appraisal strategy is a cyclic process of - planning, ongoing feedback and reviewing. In view of 23% of the organisations surveyed by TJinsite, a post appraisal feedback process need to be meticulous and result oriented in order to help refine the future policies.
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