Mind the Gap: what HR wants from performance management – and why they struggle to get it
| Pages | 89-90 |
| Published date | 01 April 2020 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/SHR-04-2020-179 |
| Date | 01 April 2020 |
| Author | Stuart Hearn |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Employee behaviour |
Strategic commentary
Mind the Gap: what HR wants from
performance management –and why
they struggle to get it
Stuart Hearn
When we set out to write our UK
Performance Management Report,we
found the most fruitful groundfor
debate in the gaps betweenHR
perception, manager perception and
employee perception.
It is no great surprise, really. Everyone
has their own take on performance
management, just as they do on
learning or any other HR function. HR
has an aim for a process or initiative,
but the wider organisation has their
own ideas. Who does it work for? Who
does it serve?
When we asked HR leaders what
purpose performance management
served at their organisation, the
numbers covered a fairly broad
range. The number one factor was
“developing performance”,with 39
per cent of the vote, but then (in quick
succession) came succession
planning (26.3 per cent), pay and
ratings (18.3 per cent) and ranking
employees (15.3 per cent). If we are
being honest, those latter three
options serve HR and HR’s role within
the organisation. I supposeyou
could argue that pay and succession
favours some employees, but only
if they succeed under the terms
of the system. They are there for it,
rather than it being there for
them.
But when we ask what performance
management should be doing, well
over half (52.7 per cent) agree that it
should be about developing people.
This change comes largely at the
expense of ranking employees (only
2.7 per cent say that this shouldbe its
purpose). Putting people into
(metaphorical) boxes and introducing
forced distribution to cater for an
impersonal and process-ledsystem,
is now being seen for what itis: a
century-old relic that businessesuse
as an alternative to investing effort
and time in improving their
employees.
This aspiration on the part of HR to do
the right thing, so to speak,chimes
very much with our experiencein
meetings. In the three years we have
been speaking to potential
customers, extolling the virtuesof a
system that carries people along with
it and aims to improve their working
lives, almost every HR leader we meet
has a clear understanding of the
benefits of continuous performance
management. And it is that
understanding –that aspirationto
take a more future-focussed
approach –that almost certainlysits
behind a couple of other stats. 70.7
per cent are still using annual
appraisals, even if more than half of
those are on the lookout for a more
continuous way of doing things. And
then there is a real line in the sand:
92.3 per cent say that “performance
management is a critical area thatI
Stuart Hearn based at None,
Springdale, Arkansas, USA.
DOI 10.1108/SHR-04-2020-179 VOL. 19 NO. 2 2020, pp. 89-90, ©Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 1475-4398 jSTRATEGIC HR REVIEW jPAGE 89
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