Weekly Insight - July 19, 2010

Rethink the Performance Review

I've read more than a few blogs and magazine columns lately that decry the dreaded performance review. They all pretty much follow this line of argument: Why, they ask, do we have to spend so much time on something that produces such little value? No one really cares about these reviews, and they don't really matter. It's the big, bad HR department that makes us do it! We don't need no performance review, and we don't need no stinkin' HR department either!

On the one hand, they have a point. Many of the performance review processes I've seen are poorly designed, don't produce much value and waste a lot of time. However, just because something was poorly implemented doesn't mean that the whole idea needs to be thrown out. With today's technology and a bit of process redesign, reviewing and appraising employee performance can be relatively painless and produce value for the employee, manager, HR and the organization as a whole:

Review less, more often, and automate it via self-services

When I work with my manager to define what I do, where I need to develop, and what my goals are that can all be recorded in the SAP HR system. And then the system can present that back to me and my manager in smaller pieces that we can work on without disrupting the rest of our work. There's no need to wait and do it only once a year – let's do it as the work and opportunities arise, let's do it once a month, let's integrate it into the processes we use to start, track, and complete our projects. As a manager, I can fit those smaller tasks into my regular work without much disruption. As an employee, I get a more real-time view of where I'm at. In fact, both the manager and employee benefit from more frequent performance feedback. As an HR leader, that data can be aggregated via Business Warehouse and/or Business Objects and analyzed to determine hot spots of performance problems (or managers who need some help), and to have a better handle on who are the rising high performers.

Looking at the business need instead of being boxed-in by old process definitions, understanding how your existing SAP HR technology can be used, and being open to changing the the way work gets done are essential to getting more value from your technology and processes.

Thinking Ahead for SAP HR and HR

SAP HR supports the country-specific regulations and payroll processing for over 50 countries – see the list at Service Marketplace in the quick-link 'erp-hcm' > SAP ERP Human Capital Management > Country Information > Country Versions. How does your company's expansion plans line up to that list? As your company expands into new markets, HR will have to be there to keep employment records, comply with local labor regulations, pay employees, and integrate all that data into the overall HR reporting & analytics. What is your HR approach for entering these new markets? How will you gain local-country expertise? How will you leverage SAP HR to manage employee information? (Hint: Insight helps clients with all those questions, all the time)

Steve Bogner, Managing Partner
www.insightcp.com

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