Establishing New Performance Measurements – Friday Distraction
Over the past year or so, we’ve talked about using measurements like employee net promoter score (eNPS) to understand employee engagement. I don’t know if it’s directly related to it, but I’m hearing more conversation about human resources professionals being evaluated based on talent acquisition metrics. For example, recruiters being evaluated on the time it takes to reach out to a candidate.
It reminds me of the promises that organizations make to customers. We’ll deliver your pizza within 30 minutes. When I travel home, Delta airlines tells me I will get my luggage within 20 minutes. The idea being that performance promises create a positive customer experience and build brand loyalty.
So, it goes without saying that, if organizations want to create a positive employee experience and build employee loyalty, then measuring HR and payroll response times could be helpful. But to be fair, if organizations are going to hold HR and payroll accountable to this standard, they need to do it the right way.
Hold people accountable for things they can control. I call this the ‘turnover example’. HR cannot be held accountable for the company’s turnover. Because they don’t control all the factors that go into turnover. Yes, HR can be held accountable for human resources department turnover. But not the rest of the company. Turnover belongs to everyone.
Define a realistic standard. Once the company has established a performance standard that payroll or HR can actually accomplish, it’s important to set standards that make sense. Let’s use turnover again. Setting a goal of zero percent turnover is unrealistic. And probably not even advisable. Organizations should want a bit of turnover.
Get buy-in from impacted individuals. If establishing these standards is new for the organization, take time to chat with payroll and HR. Talk about why creating new performance standards is important. Get their buy-in. Managers should let employees know that they feel confident the new standards can be met.
Payroll is important. Through the years, I’ve talked about payroll being one of those functions that should strive for perfection. That being said, in this Time Well Spent from our friends at Kronos, payroll should be given realistic performance goals that they can meet. While no one wants to make a payroll mistake and striving for perfection might be a goal, let’s be real and admit that occasionally mistakes are going to happen.
Zero payroll mistakes might not be realistic. That doesn’t mean that payroll and HR can’t have realistic, measurable goals that directly align with the candidate and employee experience.
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