It’s more important now than ever to make sure that you’re hiring qualified and honest personnel as companies simply can’t afford to make a hiring mistake or hold on to an underperforming employee.
Businesses also need to be prepared for when the economy recovers and there is a change in the balance of power between companies hiring and people looking for work.
To make sure that you’re in a solid position, you need to measure performance and set clear goals for employees. And if you have a solid incentive plan, it’s more likely that employees will stay with your company, creating even greater levels of loyalty and engagement.
“Performance measurement and goal setting are an essential part of any business,” says Adam Wadecki, manager of operations, Cendrowski Corporate Advisors LLC. “These processes ensure that everyone is working toward a set of unified goals and that employees are properly incentivized in performing their jobs.”
In today’s world, money talks. Employees place a high value on incentives and — like it or not — incentives are strong motivators. A well-designed incentive program gives your employees an extra reason to perform at the highest levels and a good program will help you attract the top talent in the job market.
Smart Business spoke with Wadecki about performance measurement and goal setting, the value of a good incentive plan and how to determine — and deliver — the incentives and benefits that today’s employees value most.
What types of metrics should be included in a business’s goal-setting process?
Before the 1990s, many organizations primarily focused on financial metrics in their goal-setting processes. However, with the advent of the Balanced Scorecard, organizations today set goals in several areas, including operations, customer satisfaction and internal growth. The Balanced Scorecard is a strategic performance management tool for measuring whether the smaller-scale operational activities of a company are aligned with its larger-scale objectives in terms of vision and strategy.
By focusing not only on financial outcomes but also on the operational, marketing and developmental inputs to these, the Balanced Scorecard helps provide a more comprehensive view of a business, which, in turn, helps organizations act in their best long-term interests.
Operations goals might include those associated with the attainment of specific levels of quality or waste reduction, and customer satisfaction goals help the organization ensure that its products remain relevant in the marketplace. Also, internal growth goals are key to making sure employees maintain a high degree of satisfaction with their jobs.