Page 172 - Retaining Top Employees

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160 Retaining Top Employees

• Data collection
Performance
• Appraisal
Management
This book focuses on per- • Feedback
formance management in terms of
Data Collection
retention. If you need help with the
basic principles of performance man- The first step in any effec-
agement,I can strongly recommend tive performance manage-
Performance Management by Robert ment process is to collect
Bacal (McGraw-Hill,1999),an appropriate data about the
esteemed authority on the topic. employee’s performance.
This activity may seem
routine and innocuous, but it can alienate employees and nega-
tively affect retention if you
don’t handle it properly.
Ask with Care!
Unless you take care in To minimize possible
collecting performance negative effects, follow
data,some employees can react nega- these steps in collecting
tively to what they might perceive as data:
an undue emphasis on the quantitative
• Tell the employee why
(e.g.,number of sales calls made,exper-
iments performed,patents filed). It may you’re collecting the
seem to them to be perfunctory,or information.
intrusive if not handled appropriately. • Involve the employee in
deciding what relevant
data should be collected.
• Ask the employee how best to collect the data.
• As much as possible, have the employee collate the
data, not someone else.
• If someone else must collect the data, make sure it’s
done in a non-judgmental manner. Remember: at this
stage you’re just gathering information. Appraisal comes
later!
• Collect the information in a timely way, not in a rush at
the end of the period.
Appraisal
After collecting the information, the next stage in performance
management is the appraisal process. In many organizations,