7 benefits of moving on-line for 360 review

Want to know what the key benefits to moving to on-line 360 as highlighted in our recent survey?  Some are obvious, some less so.  Read on.

1.     Reduction in administration time.  77% of organisations in our recent survey have observed this time saving. It seems that some of this time is 're-invested'.

2.     More time spent on development planning. 46% of survey respondents signal that they now spend more time on development planning. 

3.     Better individual understanding of own strengths and development areas: 91% have found this to be the case showing the improvement since going on-line.

4.     Greater commitment to the development plan: 73% reported that their people were more committed to their individual development plan after moving on-line. 

5.     Easier comparison of people across departments and the organisation with 55% commenting that this is easier since going on-line.

6.     Faster analytics: 60% of respondents say that the analytics are faster with the on-line system.

7.     Spotting of those with high potential made easier:  57% comment that is it easier to now identify those employees with high potential.

If you’d like to know more about our research or are looking to see how moving on-line with your performance review can bring these benefits, do get in touch.

The ups and the downs of moving on-line for performance review

If you’re an organisation which has already invested significant time, resource and energy into the design and roll-out of a performance management process, the last thing you may want to hear is how much better it is if you now move on-line!

Our recent research looked at the criticisms and downsides as reported by those who are still working with an off-line process, and also reported on the benefits as seen by those who have made the move to an on-line system to support their performance management and review activities.

Interesting reading.

The most common criticism seems to be the lack of consistency across the organisation in the way in which objectives are set with 71% reporting this.  This lack of organisational view of objectives is also reported by 31% and a difficulty in monitoring performance across the organisation by 34% of those completing the survey.

Time is seen as a key downside – with 71% saying that the line managers say that the process takes too long – and yet, those who have moved on-line report that whilst there are great business advantages to the move, time saving is not a significant one.  Only 20% say the sessions are shorter and the meetings taking place with more or less the same frequency – and three quarters report the performance review sessions take the length of same time. 

So what are the benefits to moving to on-line performance review? Better quality seems to be the major shift. 

The quality of the conversation improves.

·         Just over half report that performance is tackled more readily.

·         A quarter see managers themselves become better coaches.

The quality in performance increases.

·         Two thirds have seen an increase in the quality of performance.

·         80% see there to be better goal alignment between the individual and those of the organisation.

·         Two thirds have witnessed a greater achievement of objectives.

If you’d like to know more about our research or are looking to see how moving on-line with your performance review can bring these benefits, do call us.

It’s pay back time!

It the recent Head Light survey - Justifying spend in hard times: measuring Return on Investment for 360 and Performance Reviews – we asked when users of on-line 360 and performance reviews saw a return on their investment.

Only a fifth of those who had moved, had looked at ROI – but where they had…

• 46% of those moving to an on-line 360 system saw a return on investment within 12 months and over three-quarters (77%) within two years
  
• 17 % of those stepping up to an on-line performance review process saw a return within 6 months,  42% saw a return within 12 months  – and 92% see pay back within two years. 

 Compelling figures for those looking to make the move!

Calculating ROI – are we all doing this?

With economic uncertainty comes the need for greater scrutiny of spend and examination of return of any investment.  But how does this apply to areas of talent management spend?  Are we all justifying our spend, building a business case and looking at the payback on the investment once made?

Our recent survey - Justifying spend in hard times: measuring Return on Investment for 360 and Performance Reviews – looked at just this and took a snapshot of the current practice of ROI measurement and business case creation.

Towards the end of 2012, following questions from customers about how to best demonstrate the value effective talent can bring, we decided to survey the HR and Learning & Development decision makers with whom we regularly communicate.  We chose to focus our research on two of the most widely-used talent activities: 360 feedback and performance review, asking these HR and L&D decision makers and practitioners to complete our on-line survey anonymously during December 2012 and January 2013.

The results are in.

Less than one fifth of those moving to an on-line system have calculated an ROI figure – although a third of respondents to our survey intend to. 18% of respondents to the survey stated that they had already looked at ROI for their on-line 360 system – and a further 39% plan to.  It is a similar picture for those who have introduced on-line performance review systems, with 13% already having looked at ROI and 31% intending to.

But a quarter of both of these talent activity respondents commented that they have no intention to look at the return on investment.

It seems the most common reason cited for not looking at ROI to date is because it is thought to be too soon in the implementation – although 35% of those with on-line performance review systems report that they are not clear how they would go through this exercise. 

To this end, we’re developing a step-by-step guide to help calculate a return on investment figure.  To learn more and to keep in touch, contact us at http://head-light.co.uk/contact/informationrequest.asp