The consulting company Accenture is one of the biggest employers in the world, currently employing 330 thousand people in more than 120 countries, including the Czech Republic. All these employees can now be pleased with the decision to get rid of one of the least popular and least efficient HR processes. The company is putting an end to the traditional performance evaluation. This step is part of an extensive transformation of the performance management system which Accenture's CEO Pierre Nantero calls a "massive revolution".
The traditional once a year process of performance evaluation will be abolished starting from fiscal year 2016 which begins at Accenture on 1st September 2015. Instead, the company will implement a more flexible system based on sharing managerial feedback while working on various assignments throughout the entire year. Accenture now ranks among other major global companies that are discontinuing traditional evaluations because it does not contribute to improving employee performance, but only results in unnecessary administration and frustration among managers and employees.
Earlier this year, the competing consulting company Deloitte announced the same step. It launched a pilot program to test an evaluation process based on feedback throughout the year. Microsoft cancelled the traditional performance evaluation two years ago and so did another global software company, Adobe.
From paperwork to support
Although many large companies still have the traditional evaluation system, they realize that it is inefficient. A survey carried out by research company CEB, which was cited in Washington Post, can prove this. According to the survey, 95% of managers are not satisfied with how their employers evaluate performances and 90% of HR managers say that the traditional process of performance evaluation results in inaccurate information.
It often happens that the employees who get the top evaluations are those who know how to promote themselves the best - not those those who work the best. The average manager spends up to 200 hours per year doing activities related to employee performance evaluation. A company employing 10,000 people invests $35 million annually in evaluating employee performance.
“The process is too heavy, too costly for the outcome," says Pierre Nanterme. The purpose of launching the new performance evaluation system is not to save the money that would have to be invested, but to achieve more significant return on investment. It's time to shift from trying to measure the value of each employee's contribution to ongoing support of employees so they can perform better.
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