Many customers come to Appraisd because they want to move away from paper-based performance management processes. Organisations like Activereach and Microbyte have reached a size where they found a manual system was simply not fit for purpose. Apart from being difficult to track and inconsistent, a paper-based approach is also very time-consuming. But how much time and money can a performance management system like Appraisd save you?
Performance management reviews can be lengthy
One of the main issues employees have with the annual appraisal is that it takes time. From discussions we had with customers, paper-based processes can take as long as five hours per person per review. This combined of the following activities:
- Preparation: Gathering information; reviewing past reviews to get ready for a productive conversation.
- The review conversation: An in-depth review will take on average between 60 and 90 minutes.
- Follow-up: All the admin tasks after a review, such as printing, scanning and emailing forms and tracking and collating feedback.
Depending on your performance management process, each of these stages can take 90 minutes or more. The follow-up stage tends to be the most arduous and time-consuming. These laborious tasks can be very tedious and divert employees away from their usual duties.
Performance mangement reviews can be costly
The time required to focus on the appraisal process can be costly. For HR teams the time spent on designing and implementing the process can be significant. Yet, most time most of the time wastage happens in the follow-up process, where HR needs to ensure all reviews have been completed and documented.
Managers also spend time apart from the actual review conversation. From preparation to set up and follow up, all these tasks take time and could easily be automated.
Regardless of seniority, time spent by managers, HR and operation teams in this process has a cost. Associated with this there is also the cost of implementing a system and IT maintenance.
Online Performance management systems
The use of dedicated systems can help organisations save time, and with it money. Savings are visible from the moment organisations run their first review. Administrative tasks, such as collecting information, or scheduling reviews, are faster through automation. Managers' time is also reduced allowing more focus on conversations.
Effective performance conversations
Organisations can also enjoy hidden savings when using a dedicated performance management tool.
If there is extensive preparation and execution for each review, it can be draining for both managers and employees. We’ve had many clients who’ve told us about how much everyone used to dread their old paper-based appraisals. The focus was on the administration issues, overshadowing the positives that reviews should bring.
By removing administrative pain, everyone has more energy to devote to what they should be talking about. Their objectives, their development and their career progression become the focus. The conversations are more productive, and employees begin to look forward to their next review,
If all the information is in one place, it is easy to get a better picture of how each employee is performing. Managers and HR can begin to see patterns emerging across the workforce. Identifying what areas are meeting objectives and where attention may be needed.
The sign of savings
Through the use of dedicated software, we estimate the review process is about 25% faster. So, with a team of eight people, doing two formal reviews twice per year, they will save about 16 hours. If we replicate this across a business of 500 employees, that could be around 1,000 hours saved a year.
Appraisd free ROI calculator lets you calculate this for your own business. Download the calculator and check out the savings that you could make for your business.
