TM - May 2008 - (Page 23) Automation Can Facilitate More Personal Assessments Lindsay Edmonds Wickman Accounting and consulting firm O’Sullivan Creel LLP found performing employee evaluations becomes a much more manageable task when it is an automated process. Where a paper-based operation is unstructured and disorganized, an automated one is clear, consistent and, ironically, more personalized. “When we were dealing with paper, and even when it would be saved electronically, I had no clue who had started an appraisal, who had finished, what the results were, [or if] we [had] any kind of consistency in and among the goals that were being set,” said Kathy Anthony, a Professional in Human Resources (PHR) and partner at the firm. “It felt disjointed, something I could never get my arms around. People saw it as a necessary evil that you had to do once a year.” She said employees no longer dread the company’s performance management process. In the first year of automation four years ago, the company saved 386 hours that had previously been spent completing the process. “Since we’ve added this, we’ve realized how easy it would be to add in that personal piece,” Anthony said. Employees can go into Halogen’s eAppraisal system prior to the annual performance management meeting and complete self-appraisals that detail their accomplishments for the year and their goals for the next. Then the performance adviser meets with each employee to discuss both past and future, and that’s when the collaboration happens and a detailed plan with specific goals is created. “So we have the plan: It’s there, can be looked at anytime through the year [and] can be updated on a daily basis if they choose,” Anthony said. “They come out of it with something that is so personalized to them, but it aligns with the vision of the firm. Everybody wants to believe that [his or her] performance is going to help the firm, and it does when you slice it, dice it and bring it down to the employee level.” Anthony said performance advisers spend as much time discussing an employee’s career as is needed. “We actually spend maybe an hour or two, and that’s our choice,” she explained. “We want to spend that much time talking about your career, what are your aspirations, and let’s help accomplish those. In the old days, we just filled out a form and went on down the road. It is a much more meaningful process now. We do touch base midyear, and we make sure everybody’s on track.” O’Sullivan Creel’s performance management assessments also have been successful in providing each employee with a personalized growth path. “You know it is working because people are achieving their objectives,” Anthony said. “I don’t think it’s any longer a one size fits all, especially in the accounting profession. Years ago, you came in at a level, you worked there for two years, [and] you’d go to the next level. It’s not like that anymore. Progression, career development, everything is now very personalized, and that tells me it’s a success when people are meeting their own personal career goals.” Automating employee evaluations is an increasingly common talent management strategy partly because it provides a real-time opportunity for personalization, which is exactly what employees, especially younger ones, want and demand. “[The young people] want to know what’s expected of them,” Anthony said. “They want to help plan their destiny, and if we’re not plugged into what they want and what they need from an employer, they’re not going to stay. They’re going to go wherever they want to go and do whatever they want to do, so we have to work twice as hard these days to create an environment where they want to be. And a big part of that environment is ongoing feedback.” talent management magazine www.TalentMgt.com 23 http://www.TalentMgt.com
Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of TM - May 2008 Talent Management - May 2008 Editor's Letter Contents Human Performance Leading Edge Learning Connections Make the Connection: Effective Employee Evaluations Vacation: The Benefit Many Employees Don't Take The Four Pillars of Managing Performance Transform Talent With Deeper Skill Specialization Mentoring's Role in Succession Planning Graybar: Supporting a Long-Term View of Talent Management American Diabetes Association: On a Mission to Improve Employee Health Taking the Talent Pulse: What Drives High Potentials? American Systems Employees Earn a Piece of the Pie Advertisers’ Index Editorial Resources Full Potential TM - May 2008 TM - May 2008 - (Page Intro) TM - May 2008 - Talent Management - May 2008 (Page Cover1) TM - May 2008 - Talent Management - May 2008 (Page Cover2) TM - May 2008 - Talent Management - May 2008 (Page 1) TM - May 2008 - Talent Management - May 2008 (Page 2) TM - May 2008 - Talent Management - May 2008 (Page 3) TM - May 2008 - Editor's Letter (Page 4) TM - May 2008 - Editor's Letter (Page 5) TM - May 2008 - Contents (Page 6) TM - May 2008 - Contents (Page 7) TM - May 2008 - Contents (Page 8) TM - May 2008 - Contents (Page 9) TM - May 2008 - Human Performance (Page 10) TM - May 2008 - Human Performance (Page 11) TM - May 2008 - Leading Edge (Page 12) TM - May 2008 - Leading Edge (Page 13) TM - May 2008 - Learning Connections (Page 14) TM - May 2008 - Learning Connections (Page 15) TM - May 2008 - Learning Connections (Page 16) TM - May 2008 - Learning Connections (Page 17) TM - May 2008 - Learning Connections (Page 18) TM - May 2008 - Learning Connections (Page 19) TM - May 2008 - Learning Connections (Page 20) TM - May 2008 - Learning Connections (Page 21) TM - May 2008 - Make the Connection: Effective Employee Evaluations (Page 22) TM - May 2008 - Make the Connection: Effective Employee Evaluations (Page 23) TM - May 2008 - Make the Connection: Effective Employee Evaluations (Page 24) TM - May 2008 - Make the Connection: Effective Employee Evaluations (Page 25) TM - May 2008 - Vacation: The Benefit Many Employees Don't Take (Page 26) TM - May 2008 - Vacation: The Benefit Many Employees Don't Take (Page 27) TM - May 2008 - Vacation: The Benefit Many Employees Don't Take (Page 28) TM - May 2008 - Vacation: The Benefit Many Employees Don't Take (Page 29) TM - May 2008 - The Four Pillars of Managing Performance (Page 30) TM - May 2008 - The Four Pillars of Managing Performance (Page 31) TM - May 2008 - The Four Pillars of Managing Performance (Page 32) TM - May 2008 - The Four Pillars of Managing Performance (Page 33) TM - May 2008 - Transform Talent With Deeper Skill Specialization (Page 34) TM - May 2008 - Transform Talent With Deeper Skill Specialization (Page 35) TM - May 2008 - Mentoring's Role in Succession Planning (Page 36) TM - May 2008 - Mentoring's Role in Succession Planning (Page 37) TM - May 2008 - Mentoring's Role in Succession Planning (Page 38) TM - May 2008 - Mentoring's Role in Succession Planning (Page 39) TM - May 2008 - Graybar: Supporting a Long-Term View of Talent Management (Page 40) TM - May 2008 - Graybar: Supporting a Long-Term View of Talent Management (Page 41) TM - May 2008 - American Diabetes Association: On a Mission to Improve Employee Health (Page 42) TM - May 2008 - American Diabetes Association: On a Mission to Improve Employee Health (Page 43) TM - May 2008 - Taking the Talent Pulse: What Drives High Potentials? (Page 44) TM - May 2008 - Taking the Talent Pulse: What Drives High Potentials? (Page 45) TM - May 2008 - Taking the Talent Pulse: What Drives High Potentials? (Page 46) TM - May 2008 - Taking the Talent Pulse: What Drives High Potentials? (Page 47) TM - May 2008 - American Systems Employees Earn a Piece of the Pie (Page 48) TM - May 2008 - Editorial Resources (Page 49) TM - May 2008 - Editorial Resources (Page 50) TM - May 2008 - Editorial Resources (Page 51) TM - May 2008 - Editorial Resources (Page 52) TM - May 2008 - Editorial Resources (Page Cover3) TM - May 2008 - Editorial Resources (Page Cover4)
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