For the last two years, kitchen tables and home offices have become the new office cubicle. As manufacturing and service employees return to work, office employees continue to work from home. Employees today, no matter the industry, are finding themselves reexamining their changing manager interactions, often due to location, priorities, and access.

I've learned firsthand that making artificial modifications to performance management doesn’t work. If you're a seasoned HR pro, you've likely had the same experience: repeatedly fine-tuning things like ratings and processes that you hope will work but don't.  

Continuous Performance Management Saves the Day

One of the most fundamental parts of a manager’s job is giving timely feedback.  When you adopt best practice continuous performance management there's no need to remind managers to give feedback early and often.  I'll explain why and how:

At-Risk Employees Versus Low Or Problem Performers

When performance is off-target, and the manager has yet to engage in a conversation, I advise against labeling people as low or problem performers. Instead, I describe this person as at-risk.

The catalyst for dropping annual performance reviews at A.I.M. Mutual Insurance started with Mike Standing, President, and C.E.O., asking Mark Millett, HR Manager, to fix the system. Announcing the end of annual appraisals earned Mark a rousing round of applause at the all-colleague meeting.