Our traditional patterns of where and how work is completed were turned upside down in 2020. Many employers were managing a blended environment with team members working between the office and home.
Here are some tips to reasonable management performance in this new era courtesy of Aaron McEwans, Advisory Leader at Gartner. As a strategic advisor to Heads of HR and senior executives, Aaron advises and coaches them to innovate their HR strategies and challenge standard practice by harnessing data and insights derived from the world’s leading companies.
Read the full PDF How to Manage the Performance of Remote Workers or read a summarised version below.
How do we get the best from employees who work remotely?
Trusting employees to manage their own time is the first step, but there are other things to consider to ensure remote performance management runs smoothly.
Input vs Output
“When setting goals with your newly-remote workforce, keep in mind that progress should be tracked by output rather than input”, says McEwan.
One way to achieve this is by defining outputs in collaboration with the employee before tasks are undertaken, and keeping track of progress of outstanding tasks and task completion.
Not all roles can be appraised by outcomes, so for those that can’t, you might consider leveraging net promoter scores from internal custmers to serve as important measures of productivity.
Alignment
It’s easy to get off track when teams are dispersed, so it’s important to ensure that what employees are working on continues to align with the organisation’s overall mission.
Keep it Regular
When employees are working remotely, regular check-ins and transparency will ensure they are kept in the loop about how they’re performing.
Be Flexible
McEwan says course correction is key when it comes to remote performance management. “If priorities change, the last thing you want is employees still focusing on the old ones. Performance is more likely to be derailed when people are focusing on the wrong things rather than underperforming. That’s why it’s so important to have regular check-ins about course correction,” he says.
Underperformance
When an employee’s performance has started to decline since working remotely, it’s important to change tack and separate the performance from the person i.e. underperformance vs. the underperformer. There could be many factors contributing to the reduced performance. As an employer you should consider:
- The differences. Have things changed within the organisation or has the employee been suffering personal difficulties? Working remotely can be technically challenging and not everyone is capable of self-management.
- Organisational issues. Working remotely can highlight the weak spots in your organisation – whether that be outdated processes and technologies or a secretive culture. Managers should identify the organisational performance issues that are impacting the individual’s performance before pointing the finger.
- Fact over emotion. Try to separate emotions such as anxiety, anger and frustration from fact before entering into a discussion with the underperformer.
- Taking responsibility. Consider whether you have been clear in your expectations from the employee and if you have provided adequate resources, coaching and feedback.
Once the issue has been identified, engage the underperformer by asking what they might improve or any lessons that can be learned. Reassure them that missteps are okay when corrected and reiterate that you’re there for guidance.
Reward and Recognition
Rewards for performance and regular recognition are essential when managing a remote workers. Rather than reserving positive feedback for reviews, you should do that on a daily basis through a technology platform such as Microsoft Teams chat.
The Annual Review
McEwan recommends moving the goalposts. It’s likely much has changed since these goals were set, and employees may be dreading their review as their goals no longer apply.
He suggests a focus on employee contribution rather than traditional performance measures.
“We need to shift the focus to how our employees have behaved, how they have reacted to what we’ve thrown at them, what they’ve contributed, not just to the organisation, but to their peers and colleagues.”
But checking in on how employees are faring would go a long way too.
“The performance review is also a wonderful opportunity to say, ‘what do you need, how are you going, how are you finding the balance of work and life, do you have everything you require to get your work done, is there any clarity that should be provided on what should be focused on?’
