Because KPIs are, as the name unironically suggests, key. These documents can be very powerful tools for employers that impose clarity and transparency, improve productivity, make performance easier to assess, and when combined with position descriptions, even help in termination and restructure processes.
And it’s not only senior employees who should have KPIs. All roles, from the junior apprentice to the CEO, should have clearly defined documents that set out their role’s purpose, minimum qualifications and skills, and the key performance indicators of that position. It may sound like a fair chunk of hard work to set this set up in your business, but we can promise you that it will be worth it in the long term.
While it may seem like your business is in ‘reactionary’ mode while we struggle to free ourselves from the lingering effects of the pandemic, it is just as important to ever to implement performance indicators so that you and your staff know what to aim for. Well-established targets motivate and guide your staff, reducing the HR problems you have to deal with while you’re busy focusing on rebuilding your business.
Here are some of the benefits of implementing well-defined KPIs:
1. Clear goals and achievements equals immeasurable value
Both the employee, their manager, and the business as a whole, have an understanding of what the role is supposed to achieve. The employee knows what to spend their hours of work doing, the manager is aware of whether the employee is on the right track, and the employer can assess the employee’s contribution to the business.
It may sound obvious but consider the reverse: an employee who isn’t sure what job they’re supposed to perform so they only do the tasks they enjoy or have traditionally undertaken, a manager who isn’t comfortable directing the employee to perform different tasks or disciplining them for poor performance, and an employer who never points out an employee’s performance because there’s nothing to assess them against.
A well-thought-out KPI structure can add immeasurable value to the business in terms of confidence, productivity, and efficiency.
2. Smoother performance management
With performance indicators to compare against, an employee can be performance managed quicker and with less risk. It is important to have a clear set of expectations that can be easily identified if an employee meets those criteria. Without KPIs, an employer will find it difficult to take performance management action against an employee: these employers will need to implement an additional time-consuming step of outlining their expectations of the employee and their role before further action can be taken such as a performance improvement plan.
Additionally, clearly communicated KPIs help performance discussions to be undertaken more efficiently, reducing allegations of individual managers acting unfairly or capriciously, or concerns that the business has “moved the goalposts” in respect of the expectations.
3. A sense of purpose
Particularly when combined with a job description, KPIs can give employees a sense of purpose, an understanding of where they fit into the business structure, and the importance of their contributions to the overall organisation. KPIs help the employees to aim for goals, to push themselves and their teams, to reach and exceed expectations, and understand where their performance is lacking so it can be improved upon.
KPIs should be drafted as obtainable, appropriate, and realistic goals that reflect the employee’s experience and seniority, the purposes of the business, and the nature of the industry. KPIs can be flexible, expressed as ranges or with stretch goals, and if identified to be unrealistic, should be promptly amended to better suit the employee and employer.
It’s a mutually beneficial arrangement: KPIs which are well-considered and consistently relied upon can provide substantial benefits to both the employee and the business in terms of productivity, efficiency and transparency.
To discuss performance management and other issues related to employee performance, please contact Ceri Hohner, Senior Associate, or Bianca Seeto, Partner, on 07 3046 2100.
Date: 18 May 2021
