Performance assessment of the future, digitalized

30 of June, 2022

A performance assessment is an HR tool to assess in quantifiable terms employee performance. Consequently, according to how well the employee did over the year, that “performance” is measured against agreed-upon objectives. Keep on reading and find out how performance evaluations can help you build the best work environment in your company and boost the potential of your employees.

The data behind performance assessment 

No one likes them. A 2019 study from Gallup found only 10 percent of US workers felt more motivated after their performance assessments. Nearly 30 % started looking for a new job. Only 55 % of workers thought their performance actually improved after the assessment. No more than 4 percent of HR managers have faith in their management performance system. And yet performance assessments are here to stay. But only through taking full use of digital performance evaluations designed for HR functions.

Why do performance assessments fail?

The pace of computer-driven work is lightning fast, and that means an annual review is always too little, too late. As a scientific instrument, quantitative assessment has to be reliable and valid. These refer to how well the measuring tool works in identifying the entire range of employee performance.

‘Recency bias’ happens when managers judge an employee’s most recent performance and apply it to the whole year.

One employee may have a lousy year with a great finish. Another a great year with failure right before performance assessment. Guess who gets a good annual evaluation. Some employees work more in a team-project framework, and have different supervisors on different projects.  Making it almost impossible to track effectively employee contribution as an individualized experience.

The principal flaw with annual reviews is that they’re delivered after a project has ended. The feedback at that time is no longer educational or useful. That means that performance management practices have to evolve into flexible systems that provide 360 review feedback. However, given all the pressures facing HR managers, that is easier said than done.

Performance-based assessment in education and its relevance to the HR industry

Formerly, before the digitalization, at universities your grades depended on the final exam. Many students did all nighters and crammed for the final exam upon which so much depended. This was especially difficult when you wrote two exams on the same day. Then came the Computer Revolution, and everything changed.

You almost didn’t notice how your university tracked and graded by performance-assessment principles as authentic measures of your learning. After completing your assignments online, professors not only provided feedback for the projects, but stayed by email constantly available.

Needless to say, all that is possible through digital communication and document management. Well-designed platforms that gather voluminous data in a central repository and in an organized manner.

The future of performance evaluations, digitalized

The world of work is rapidly changing in every possible way in manufacturing, retail, or healthcare sectors because of digitalization. Many employees had performed their duties through varied communication devices so well during the pandemic that luring them back to the office, even on the basis of hybrid work, will be a major HRM headache for years to come. What seems at first glance to be a human resources management disaster, for the performance assessment of the future may be an enormous blessing in the end.

Recently, at Sesame, we secured a €10 Million investment for our platform specifically designed for just such HR functions. The Sesame HR platform has features so that each employee receives an individualized assessment experience through a broad ecosystem of work functions. Sesame deploys for this purpose advanced business intelligence and AI through a series of specialized tools and automation options that document an employees’ progress from onboarding through the first and most difficult year of employment, and the rest of his or her career with the organization.  There is no going back to the pen-and-paper exams, nor can we go back to the legacy forms of very subjective annual evaluations. Digitalization is the future of HR performance-assessment processes.