for Performance
Management Systems
A Handbook for Human Resources
Executives and Managers
Josh Bersin
Principal Analyst
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
4
What Is Employee Performance Management?
5
Performance Management Is Fundamental to Talent
Management
7
The Business Case for Employee Performance
Management
9
Three Categories of Business Benefits
9
1. Efficiency and Compliance (driven by HR) 9 2. Process Improvement (driven by organizational development) 9 3. Business Transformation (driven by business executives) and
Business Performance 11
The Benefits of Performance Management Software
12
First-Generation Solutions (1980s – 1990s) 12 Second-Generation Solutions (1999 – 2000s) 13Third-Generation Solutions (emerging) 13
Defining the Benefits
15
Efficiency and Compliance Benefits
16
Process Improvement Benefits
17
Case in Point: Pep Boys 18
Case in Point: An Example 19
Business Transformation Benefits
19
Pay for Performance 20
Organizational Transformation
20
Improving the Leadership Pipeline
20
Improving Quality of Hire and Workforce Mobility 22
Building the Business Case: Factors to Consider
4
Process First, System Second
24
Focus on Ease of Use – Adoption Is Key
25
Budget Time and Energy on Process Design
26
Budget for Change Management, Training,
Communications, Monitoring and Governance
27
Obtaining the Funding – Presentation to Upper
Management
28
For More Information or Assistance
1
Come Visit with Us in 2008
31
Join Our Research Membership Program
31
Appendix I: Figures
Appendix II: Table of Figures
About Us
4
Introduction
One of the fastest-growing segments of HR software today is the market for online employee performance management systems. Our current research estimates that this market will reach $409 million in 2008 – growing by more than 25 percent per year. Today, there are more than 30 companies providing solutions in this rapidly growing market, each with unique and innovative solutions to address this segment.
This research report is designed to help HR and line managers
understand the business drivers and benefits of such systems – to aid in the development of the business case and planning process for selecting and implementing such systems.
What Is Employee Performance
Management?
The term “performance management” is well-known to HR managers. Traditionally, it refers to the process of establishing goals, assessing employees and implementing the annual performance appraisal process. The goal of performance management is to create a consistent, fair and equitable process for the establishment of performance standards across an organization. This process is fundamental to a high-performing organization because it establishes the way in which people are managed. Our research has found seven independent parts of performance
management in most organizations. These include: 1. Development of indiviudual goals;
2. Alignment of goals across the organization; 3. Manager assessment of performance; 4. Employee self-assessment of performance;
5. Peer or 360 assessment of performance (also called “multirater” assessment);
6. Competency assessment (often called assessment of “potential”); and, 7. Coaching and development, and related planning for future
career positions.
Each of these processes is complex – and is performed in different ways by different organizations. While there are hundreds of books on how to “conduct performance appraisals,” ultimately “performance management is management.” It forms the basis for the way in which employees work with their managers every day.
Our research has found that these seven processes form and enhance the relationship between managers and employees. Well-implemented performance management systems will reinforce and institutionalize your company’s overall process of management.
Unfortunately, in many organizations (approximately 70 percent), performance management itself is not a well-established, consistent process. Even in those that have a consistent process, it often tends
toward the “annual appraisal” – leaving much of the other processes up to the whims of a manager.
Our research shows that, despite the great importance of performance management in HR departments:
• Sixty-one percent of line managers do not feel that the process they have today is driving greater performance;
• Fifty-six percent of managers are not satisfied with the process; and,
• Fifty percent of HR managers are not happy with the process.1
The biggest complaint from managers is that they are not given enough guidelines on how to assess people, and the biggest complaint from employees is that the process is not “equitable and fair.” (A consistent software-driven process, coupled with excellent training, can avoid these problems.)
So in the vast majority of organizations, performance management is a “work in progress.”
1 For more information, High-Impact Performance Management: Comprehensive Industry Study: Market Analysis, Trends, Best Practices, and Vendor Profiles, Bersin & Associates / Josh Bersin, June 2006. Available to research members at www.elearningresearch.com or for purchase at www.bersin.com/perfmgt.
Performance Management
Is Fundamental to Talent
Management
Driven by today’s competitive business environment and the changing demographics of the workforce, organizations of all sizes are
implementing integrated talent management strategies. These programs are designed to improve the leadership pipeline, improve workforce skills, and increase retention and staffing to meet the needs of growing organizations. Our High-Impact Talent Management® research
illustrated how dramatically this shift is taking place. Almost two-thirds of HR organizations are building integrated talent management strategies – which look at HR processes as an integrated whole (not only as separate functional processes).
Ultimately, however you define talent management, our research clearly shows that performance management is foundational – it establishes the ground rules for conversations between managers and employees. How, for example, do you decide who gets the bigger raise? How do you decide who is promoted into a given position? How do you decide who to lay off during a downturn? How do you decide who should be given an opportunity to take on a challenging, business-critical new assignment? Everywhere you look, these talent management decisions are dependent upon the appraisal of an individual’s performance, capabilities and
potential. In most HR textbooks (and in many organizations), performance assessment is broken into the following two fundamental pieces.
• The “What” – What did this person accomplish? What value is he / she delivering to the organization? Is he / she achieving his / her business objectives?
• The “How” – How did this person achieve such results? What is his / her skills and competencies? How well are they aligned with our corporate values?
2 For more information, High-Impact Talent Management: Trends, Best Practices and Industry Solutions, Bersin & Associates / Josh Bersin, May 2007. Available to research members at www.elearningresearch.com or for purchase at www.bersin.com/hitm.
Figure 1: Bersin & Associates High-Impact Talent Management Framework®
In most organizations, a performance “rating” is some combination of both of these. The “what” is typically used to establish compensation, and the “how” is used to establish promotability and development planning. But there is no hard and fast rule here. Some organizations weigh heavily toward the “what” (e.g., organizations with a very results-driven culture), and others weigh more toward the “how” (e.g., organizations with a more career-oriented culture). Again, our research clearly shows that, while “performance-driven” organizations do well in the short term, long-term value in organizations is driven much more by focusing on the “how” – because these processes are used to help people develop, improve and move into the right jobs in the future.
Our High-Impact Talent Management Framework® (see Figure 1) illustrates how performance management forms the foundation of integrated talent management.
Figure 1: Bersin & Associates Talent Management Framework®
Source:Bersin & Associates, 2007.
Co
m
pe
ns
at
io
n
Talent Strategy & Planning
Critical Talent
Strategy & MeasurementTarget Metrics GovernanceProcess StrategySystems Business Strategy
Performance
Management
Goal-Setting Cascading Goals Self-Assessment Manager Assessment 360 Assessment Development Planning Competency AssessmentSourcing &
Recruiting
Sourcing Candidate Pools Assessment Employer Brand Recruiting SelectionCareer and
Succession
Management
Calibration Meetings Talent Reviews HiPo Identification Career Planning Talent Migration PlanFormal Programs Stretch Assignments Executive Education Coaching Mentoring Job Rotation Assessment Evaluation
Leadership
Development
H
R
Sy
st
em
s
&
M
et
ri
cs
Competency Management ProfilesJob CorporateValues CompetenciesLeadership CompetenciesFunctional
Compensation Planning Base Compensation Plans Pay for Performance Short- and Long-Term Incentives
Learning and Development
Onboarding Management
Training LeadershipCurricula Coaching / Mentoring Programs Role-Based Curricula Certification Programs Operational Training Learning Strategy Developmental Assignments Content Development and Delivery
e-The Business Case for Employee
Performance Management
Before discussing the importance of performance management software and the many benefits it provides, it is first important to discuss the business case for performance management itself. How does this process create business value?
Three Categories of Business Benefits
Generally speaking, there are three major business benefits from the performance management process.
1. Efficiency and Compliance (driven by HR)
• Legally Defensible Employee Management – The first andforemost purpose for performance management is to create
consistent, defensible performance standards for employees to help managers with the process of management. The process should create equity and alignment in compensation and promotional decisions, and in the legal defense of terminations. These benefits are legal mandates – employers can be sued for undocumented decisions about compensation, termination and promotion without such a process.
• Compensation Optimization – Without a performance
management process (and system), many compensation decisions are made on an ad-hoc or personal-opinion basis, leading to
overspending on salary increases, bonuses and other incentives. One of our research members found that, through the integration of a new performance management process (and system), the company saved more than $10 million per year on discretionary bonuses alone.
. Process Improvement (driven by organizational
development)
• Increasing Employee Retention – There are many ways in which performance management increases retention. First, by having regular and clear goals and performance standards, employees feel
more aligned with their managers and are much more likely to feel committed to the company. Second, the process itself (if well-designed) encourages managers and employees to talk regularly about goals and development plans – creating a more engaged manager and employee. Third, the process helps recruiters and prospective employees understand the company’s culture and performance standards, helping to hire the “right people” who are most likely to succeed.
• Costs Associated with Losing Employees – Data from Cornell University and Hewitt show that the cost of losing a single position is from 30 percent to 150 percent of the annual salary. In a firm with 40,000 full-time positions, the difference between a 15 percent turnover rate and a 25 percent turnover rate is more than $40 million annually.
• Improvement in Employee Engagement and Development – By implementing a complete performance management process (one which includes development planning and coaching), organizations greatly improve the career development, skills and engagement of their employees. Our High-Impact Talent Management4 research looked at 62 different talent management processes and found that the one which drives the highest level of business impact is coaching. Coaching describes the process of a manager listening, assisting and developing his / her people. A well-designed performance management process formalizes this ongoing relationship.
• Improving Efficiency and Effectiveness of Training –
Organizations spend between two percent and four percent of their payroll on training. These dollars go into a wide array of programs that are often changing every few months. The use of a well-designed performance management process creates development planning as part of performance planning, aligned with the business strategy. It gives training managers the tools to often eliminate or redeploy 20 percent to 30 percent of their training budgets toward more urgent and needed programs.
3 Source: http://www.cornell.edu/research.
4 For more information, High-Impact Talent Management: Trends, Best Practices and Industry Solutions, Bersin & Associates / Josh Bersin, May 2007.
. Business Transformation (driven by business
executives) and Business Performance
• Workforce Goal Alignment – One of the biggest benefits of modern performance management is that it creates a process for common goal alignment across the workforce. Through the use of new performance management software, it is now possible to make sure that all employees have goals that are aligned with corporate goals. This gives employees, managers and executives new levels of visibility into their organizations – enabling them to identify areas of misalignment and giving everyone information on how they can more easily help the business succeed.
• Increasing Employee Productivity and Performance – Through the performance management processes, organizations can
implement special programs (such as “pay for performance,” incentive bonuses and many others) that encourage employees to perform at higher levels. Organizations with well-established performance management programs (65 percent of organizations in our High-Impact Performance Management research5) have 47 percent higher self-reported outcomes in “creating a higher-performing workforce” than those without well-established
performance management processes. These benefits, when leveraged across an entire corporation, are tremendous.
• Improving the Leadership Pipeline – The performance management process establishes the base for many talent
management processes, as described earlier. It enables the company to find potential leaders more quickly and effectively, better develop these leaders, and identify successors to any and all critical job
roles. Our research shows that the number one issue plaguing HR executives today is the hollowing out of their management and leadership pipelines. Only through a performance management process can these organizations identify and prepare the future leaders to fill these roles.
5 For more information, High-Impact Performance Management: Comprehensive Industry Study: Market Analysis, Trends, Best Practices, and Vendor Profiles, Bersin & Associates / Josh Bersin, June 2006.
6 For more information, High-Impact Talent Management: Trends, Best Practices and Industry Solutions, Bersin & Associates / Josh Bersin, May 2007..
Figure 2: The Evolution of Performance Management Systems
The Benefits of Performance Management
Software
Now let us look at the role of performance management software, and how it enhances and facilitates these three areas of benefit. First, it is important to understand the evolution of these systems.
First-Generation Solutions (190s – 1990s)
In the 1980s and 1990s, organizations implemented Microsoft Word- and Excel-based forms automation systems that focused on automating the completion of performance appraisal forms. Initially, these systems focused on making it easier for managers to complete appraisals – and then later, tools were added to help managers write (i.e., writing assistants), maintain legal compliance (i.e., checkers for illegal or discriminatory statements) and compute ratings (i.e., tools to weight and check ratings for equity and accuracy). As Figure 2 shows, these systems focused heavily on facilitating the efficiency and compliance benefits of performance management.
Figure 2: The Evolution of Performance Management Systems
Source:Bersin & Associates, 2007.
1980s 1999 − 2000s 2007+
Third Generation Ongoing Employee Performance Management (Employee and Manager planning, decision-making, and networking tool – used frequently)
Second Generation Web-Based Performance Management (Web forms appraisal workflow
used a few times per year)
First Generation
Forms Automation
(Word and Excel Templates – used once per year)
Efficiency and Compliance Process Improvement Business Transformation Bu si ne ss Be ne fit s
Second-Generation Solutions (1999 – 000s)
In the late 1990s and through the 2000s, the Internet enabled organizations to build highly networked online performance
management systems. These were (and still are) essentially web-based forms automation solutions. They include easy-to-use web forms to help managers and employees develop goals, assess competencies, and develop feedback and performance plans. These systems help
managers capture information from others (as well as other areas) in the organization to include in the performance plan. They include powerful charting and analysis tools to help compare employees to each other – and to assist in succession planning decisions. Employees and managers gain visibility into goal development, achievement, competency gaps and other information across the organization.
These second-generation solutions go far beyond efficiency and compliance – and focus heavily on implementing and improving the entire process of managing people. They have become more and more indispensable in the process of integrated talent management. In fact, many of these systems are now highly integrated with recruiting, learning and compensation – to help the organization implement a tightly connected process for integrated talent management (often called the “talent management suite7”).
Through tools (like goal alignment and enterprisewide goal
transparency), these systems are now able to facilitate true business transformation, as we will discuss.
Third-Generation Solutions (emerging)
There is a new, third generation of these systems now emerging. Here, we call this “systems for everyday employee performance management.” Most second-generation systems (while very well-designed) are still based on forms and tabs, and are only used occasionally by employees (a few times per year).
7 For more information, Talent Management Suites: A Comprehensive Look at Integrated HR Systems, Bersin & Associates / Leighanne Levensaler, January 2008. Available to research members at www.elearningresearch.com or for purchase at www.bersin.com/tmsuite.
Figure 3: Next-Generation Employee Performance Management Solutions
These next-generation systems are designed to drive business
transformation by encouraging use by everyone in a regular and daily way. They manage more than just goals and employee development plans – these systems go forward to help employees manage all the decisions they make on a daily basis. The next-generation systems look more like Web 2.0 applications (e.g., Facebook) – and are designed to work through seamless integration to office productivity tools (like Microsoft Outlook). This integration means that mangers can capture performance management feedback throughout the year in the online system, without ever having actually logged into the system. Other tools include collaboration and networking, as well as embedded decision-support tools like analytics and workforce planning.
Figure 3: Next-Generation Employee Performance Management Solutions
While such systems are still in their early stages, we believe they are the inevitable next step in this market and will help accelerate business transformation. Buyers should consider these third-generation systems and features as part of their long-term talent management systems strategy.
Defining the Benefits
As we look at the benefits of performance management software, we find that they map directly to the three business drivers of performance management itself.
Figure 4: Three Levels of Business Benefits for Performance Management Systems
Business V
alue
Source:Bersin & Associates, 2007.
Automating Performance Appraisals Developing Standard Rating Model Developing Standard Competency Model Increasing Performance through Development
Increasing Engagement and Retention through Feedback and Coaching
Improving Business Results through Goal Alignment Driving Performance Culture through Pay for Performance
Improving Leadership Pipeline through Succession Planning
HR
Driver
OD
Driver
Bus
Exec
Driver
ROI = .5-2X ROI = 2-4X ROI = 5-10X
Efficiency and Compliance Process Improvement Business Transformation
Your organization will likely see benefits throughout this continuum. Your business case should focus on the areas in which there is the most urgency, awareness and need today – and into the near future. Let us show some examples of benefits in each area.
Efficiency and Compliance Benefits
Any performance management software solution will provide many benefits in this area, including:
• Saving a manager’s time with the appraisal process;
• Reducing errors in the performance management process; and,
• Saving the time of HR managers in consolidating and recording ratings.
Such “automation savings” are typically small but often big enough to cost-justify a system. Today, these kinds of business cases are harder to justify, but you can build a business case on forms automation alone. If you consider that the system may save several hours per year across all managers in a large organization, the real savings can be very large. Imagine an organization of 5,000 employees that uses an “ad-hoc” paper-based approach to performance management. Even if forms are regularly used, there are many costs that can be saved. Imagine that 5,000 appraisal forms are filled out by hand and each is sent to HR. (In all likelihood, many will never make it to HR.) The human resources organization will typically encode these into an Excel spreadsheet Figure 5: Benefits of Performance Management Systems
Category of Benefits Driver Typical Return on Investment
Efficiency and Compliance HR 0.5 to 2 Times Investment
Process Improvement Organizational Development 2 to 4 Times Investment
Business Transformation Business Executives 5 to 10+ Times Investment
to be used for compensation planning – and this information will be redistributed to the employees for annual compensation planning. That forms collection, encoding and distribution process often takes four to six weeks (or longer), and rarely enables the organization to iterate and calibrate the appraisal ratings. These costs (including the cost of management time spent on paper processing) often approach the tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
An even bigger driver here is the savings in potential legal exposure. If an employee sues an organization for discrimination in compensation or termination, the legal costs will be hundreds of thousands of dollars or higher. With a paper-based process, the organization may not have the right records available, or (even worse) the manager may have written something that is inappropriate or legally liable. Performance management software prevents such problems by including writing tips and communications archives between all managers and their employees. Our research finds that organizations easily realize a 50 percent to 200 percent return on investments (ROI) from efficiency and compliance.
Process Improvement Benefits
The second category of business benefits involves the improvement or adoption of important talent-related business processes. These benefits typically require the implementation of a second-generation system or a talent management suite.
Consider, for example, the possible benefits of establishing a standard rating and competency model, and creating clearly aligned goals. Here, there could be tremendous financial benefits, such as:
• More equitably allocating compensation across employees, reducing total expense;
• Reducing compensation expense by not misallocating budget to employees who did not actually achieve goals; and,
• Reducing employees’ expectations for compensation by more clearly explaining performance standards.
Case in Point: Pep Boys
One organization we spoke with (Pep Boys, a large automotive parts retailer) told us that the company saved more than $10 million in compensation expenses after the adoption of its new system – simply because managers now felt less “obligated” to give out bonuses to employees who were not performing well. Prior to the use of the system, managers would hand out annual bonuses based on overall business objectives and general guidelines. After the new performance management process was put in place, managers were given clear bonus guidelines tied directly to local organizational business objectives. The result is far fewer bonuses and a far more performance-oriented process.
Consider the benefits of creating an integrated process for employee development, aligned to corporate goals and competencies.
First, such a system (as many pioneers in this market have seen) integrates the performance management process with the development resources in the company. Benefits include:
• Managers can more efficiently and easily assign the right development activities to employees;
• Training staff and dollars can be allocated to the most urgent and pressing development needs;
• HR executives and managers can assess the true value of their learning and development investments;
• Employees feel far more engaged because they can create their own development plan, using the support of your organization; and,
• Underutilized training programs and external programs can be cut or realigned.
Since most companies spend between two percent and four percent of payroll on development (approximately $1,300 per employee on average across all employees in the U.S.), any savings or improvement in efficiency here can have large financial benefits.
Case in Point: An Example
Consider the potential savings in learning and development (L&D) spending. Most training organizations struggle to stay closely aligned with business needs. If a 5,000 employee-sized company spends two percent of its payroll on training, the total L&D budget will be around $5 million to $7 million per year. Organizations with well-defined performance management processes that are linked to development are typically 25 percent to 30 percent more efficient at allocating training dollars. This means the potential savings of $1 million to $2 million in efficient allocation of training programs.
Do not underestimate the more intangible business value of integrated development planning. Organizations with integrated development planning processes can greatly:
• Improve their leadership pipelines;
• Reduce the need to hire external employees; and,
• Improve retention through career development programs.
Many large organizations (e.g., Aetna, Seagate and Textron) have turned themselves around by focusing on the “coaching and development” aspects of performance management.9
Business Transformation Benefits
The third type of business benefits for performance management systems falls into the category of business transformation. Many of the newer performance management systems (including the “next-generation solutions”) focus in this area. Here, the organization can use the system
This information is based on our industry report, High-Impact Learning Organization,
the report for which is available now – with a new edition coming in 2008. For more information, please visit www.bersin.com/hilo.
9 In-depth case studies of Aetna, Seagate, Textron and others are available to
Bersin & Associates research members. For more information on our research membership program, please visit www.bersin.com/membership.
to develop and implement new, integrated performance-driven processes that align and drive behavior, improve business planning, and facilitate business performance improvement.
Pay for Performance
For example, do you have a “pay-for-performance” culture in your organization today? Can you motivate employees toward organizationwide goals (such as revenue growth, cost containment, customer satisfaction measures, or other important operational measures)? Such goal alignment is often the dream of a CEO. With today’s new performance management systems, such goal alignment and direct computation of goal attainment is now possible.
Organizational Transformation
One organization with which we spoke (a large European bank) used its new performance management process to manage a large acquisition. These two banks (one Spanish and one English) had vastly different cultures, systems and products. The company used its performance management process to establish a set of operational goals that force all employees to work on common initiatives and programs vital to making the merger work. In the first year of this rollout, more than 85 percent of all employees were given goals that directly aligned with a set of merger-based initiatives. The organization forced alignment with this process, creating tremendous benefits in process improvement.
Of course even in this case, it is still up to the individual manager to create the ongoing support and environment to achieve such goals. But with such a goal alignment process, the directors and vice presidents can clearly see who is “onboard” and who is not.
Improving the Leadership Pipeline
Imagine an even bigger challenge. Today, our research shows us that the biggest challenge in organizations is the development of the leadership pipeline.10
10 For more information, High-Impact Talent Management: Trends, Best Practices and Industry Solutions, Bersin & Associates / Josh Bersin, May 2007.
Figure 6: Top Talent Challenges in Organizations Today
These problems manifest themselves in many ways. In the case of
Starbucks, the inability to hire regional managers means that the company cannot enter certain markets. In the case of PepsiCo, a lack of regional distributors ready for international assignments may limit the company’s growth into Eastern Europe. In the case of a defense contractor like Raytheon, the lack of senior engineers and project managers means that the company cannot compete for certain contracts. These gaps cost money. So, how do you fill such gaps as these? Leadership gaps are filled by implementing an expensive leadership development program – and by identifying future leaders early, providing them with the coaching, developmental assignments and formal training to become ready for these jobs. An integrated performance management system (today’s systems typically include features for succession planning) is fundamental to these important processes.
Figure 6: Top Talent Challenges in Organizations Today
Source:Bersin & Associates, 2007.
% of Respondents
New Skills for Product and
Business Changes 24% Skills Gap in Critical Positions (e.g., Engineering, IT) 27% Difficulty Filling Key Positions 38%
Creating a Performance-Driven Culture 46%
Rapid Hiring Due to Growth 27%
Gaps in Leadership Pipeline 51%
Retirement of Key Workers 23%
So some of the critical “new benefits” that can be achieved with performance management systems include:
• Improving business results (e.g., revenue, cost reduction, customer service and other measures) through pay for performance;
• Improving responsiveness and alignment during business transitions through goal alignment; and,
• Deepening the leadership pipeline through organizationwide
succession planning and the identification of high-potential leaders11, thus reducing leadership gaps.
Improving Quality of Hire and Workforce Mobility
Consider the following benefits of an integrated performance
management process that provides visibility and information-sharing to your applicant-tracking and recruiting system.
• Managers and recruiters can search for internal career candidates (those with developmental interests along the lines of open positions) before looking for external hires.
• Recruiters can review critical job competencies and the profiles of high performers in the development of their sourcing strategies.
• Talent acquisition teams can measure “quality of hire” by tracking the performance of individuals of certain backgrounds through their careers and performance appraisals, therefore, improving the science of sourcing and recruiting.
• Job-specific competency models and job descriptions can be shared between line managers and recruiters to help build high-value behavioral assessments.
• Scientific assessments can be purchased to improve pre-hire
screening, based on the known competencies and behaviors of high-performing employees.
11 A “high-potential employee” is an employee who has been identified as having the potential, ability and aspiration for successive leadership positions within the company. Often, these employees are provided with focused development as part of a succession plan and are referred to as “HiPos.”
These benefits can be huge. An insurance company we spoke with told us that the company’s entire system was cost-justified when it had a massive reorganization. Instead of searching throughout the organization for people with the skills and backgrounds for the new organization, people with the right experience, profiles and competencies could be quickly found to fill positions in the new operating division. The financial impact of putting “the best person” into a job is huge.
Similarly, a healthcare organization was able to leverage its profile-based recruiting system to capture the profiles of all of its administrative workers during a reorganization. The company successfully leveraged these profiles to place most of the existing administrative employees into new jobs in the reorganized company. As a result, this visibility:
• Lead to even greater efficiency throughout the process;
• Enabled the retention of most of the workforce (which in a traditional reorganization might have been dismissed) and, ultimately,
• Produced significant savings for the company on new external recruiting costs.
Building the Business Case: Factors
to Consider
As you build your business case, you must go beyond the potential savings and benefits. Organizations that successfully implement new performance and talent management systems build a complete “story” describing the proposed solution. This story should include the:
• Problems identified;
• Proposed solution;
• Implementation plan;
• Costs and resources; and,
• Roadmap for the future.
The following sections offer a few key factors to consider.
Process First, System Second
First, you must remember to focus on process first and system second. Before you shop for a vendor, it is critical to describe the process you want to implement or change. This means developing a business strategy and set of processes that you want to implement immediately, in phase two and in phase three. Typically, these systems take two to three years to fully deploy and, during this period of time, the vendor landscape will change. During the first year, you will probably implement a pilot project among a small number of employees; in the second year, you will likely go through an enterprise rollout; and, in the third year, the system will start to truly “take hold.” One of our research members told us that, after five years of an integrated performance and development system, they are still dealing with issues of management training and process adoption.
If you are crystal clear on the process you want to use, you will be able to use this information to both:
• Select the most appropriate system; and,
• Define a training, change management and communications program to teach managers how to use the system.
Remember, “performance management is management.” You are not simply training people to use the system – you are training them on “how to manage.”
Consider the Type of Vendors to Evaluate
As we discussed earlier, there are many types of vendors from which to select. As you evaluate their solutions, consider the evolution of such systems. You will find solutions available from your HRMS vendor, your payroll vendor and your existing HR systems vendors. Our research has found that this market is evolving and changing very rapidly, so we strongly recommend that you talk with vendors with a strong focus on performance management as one of their core product offerings.
If you decide that your business benefits are likely to fall into the process improvement or business transformation areas, make sure you are talking with vendors which have clearly demonstrated capabilities and directions in these more advanced areas.
Focus on Ease of Use – Adoption Is Key
Unfortunately, despite the tremendous amount of research and development in this market, many of the vendors are implementing highly complex features that may be hard to use. Ultimately, the users of these systems will be line managers, not HR managers – and they must find the system easy to “walk up to and use.” Consider not just “ease of use” but also “ease of learning.” Managers may not use this system very often, so it must have a simple, help-laden user interface that is intuitive to a novice user.
How do you gauge ease of use? The best way to do this is to build what we call “use cases1.” Use cases are examples of steps in your process for performance management that you can document and give to prospective vendors. Ask the vendor to demonstrate your specific use cases (not their standard demonstrations). Only by seeing how these use cases work (and having line managers join you for the demonstrations) will you see how easy the system will truly be in your environment.
12 A “use case” provides a description of a sequence of interactions between actors, and the system necessary to complete a specific goal or function. Use cases are often co-authored by systems analysts and end-users, and are presented as a sequence of simple steps.
It is particularly important to look at the newer, more modern user interfaces in these systems. New entrants to the market have designed user interfaces that look more like modern websites and less like forms with tabs. Remember that the users of these systems are everyday employees and managers, and we want to encourage them to use the system for day-to-day management, not only the annual appraisal process.
Please note that your business case is dependent on widespread adoption and use of the system. We highly recommend that you evaluate systems with the help of line managers, and make sure the system is very intuitive and easy to learn – not just easy to use.
Budget Time and Energy on Process Design
As you build the business case for systems, you must include budget and staffing plans for a variety of other important, interrelated steps. These steps include the time and effort required to define your performance management process in detail – more specifically, consider the following.
• Time and Effort to Build a Workable Competency Model – While it is not necessary to build a detailed, in-depth model for each and every job in your organization, you must have a set of basic principles and leadership competencies to succeed at performance management. Development of these models will typically take several months, and will require a multidisciplinary team of line managers, executives and HR staff.
• Time and Effort to Define the Rating Process – As we described earlier, if you do not already have a successful performance
management process, you must decide:
o How numeric ratings will be computed;
o What the relative ratings will mean; and,
o What guidelines you will give managers for developing these ratings.
This process is also likely to take research and several months of effort.
• Development of Compensation Linkages – One of the biggest reasons for performance management is to fairly distribute
compensation. Again, if you do not already have the linkages
between performance management and compensation defined, this important step must be completed. Questions to consider here are as follows.
o What are the relative ranges available to managers for each level of performance?
o How will bonuses be computed and allocated?
o What pay-for-performance metrics will you use and how will they be established?
o How will compensation decisions be approved?
• Development of Support Tools for Managers – No performance management process is successful without extensive support tools for managers. These include process guidelines, writing assistants, coaching and direct support during the process.
• Development of Training Materials and Programs for
Managers – Again, “performance management is management.” Organizations must develop training materials and programs that can be integrated into other leadership development programs in order to create widespread healthy adoption.
Budget for Change Management, Training,
Communications, Monitoring and
Governance
As with the rollout of any new process or system, change management is paramount. Most organizations roll out their new performance management systems (and processes) in stages, going first to a pilot audience and then a year later to a broader audience. Your business case must include staff time for the necessary change management, communications, process monitoring and governance (e.g., working with line managers to adapt the process to fit their needs). Our research shows that expenses in these areas typically include one to two people over a period of quarters to develop the entire plan for training, communications, rollout and ongoing support.
Obtaining the Funding – Presentation to
Upper Management
Once your business case is established, it is very important to obtain high-level signoff on the program. This means presenting the business case to your CEO, CFO or other senior leaders. This business case should include the complete “story” of your proposed performance management system. There are two reasons for this – first, to obtain the necessary funding and resources; second, and more importantly, to inform senior executives of this critical new system and enlist their full support for the rollout. Remember, performance management is a process owned by managers (not HR), so you need business-level support to ensure the process is well-adopted and implemented.
How do you handle the meeting with business executives? We find that organizations succeed most quickly when they focus on the following issues in this presentation.
• Focus on the company’s existing business strategies (e.g., growth, consolidation, acquisition, product launch and so on), and
explain how this new system will facilitate and greatly support these initiatives.
• Clearly explain how important talent management is to your
organization and point out the issues discussed in this report (e.g., the dramatic impact that performance management has on performance, engagement, retention, equity and compensation efficiency).
• Show your executives how you selected the right platform and cite examples of other organizations using this system with highly successful results. (This, of course, demands that you make reference calls to customers of the vendor you select.)
• Explain the rollout plan and make sure they understand that the system will likely take one to two years to fully roll out. Explain how this process is integral to the company’s entire talent management strategy. Make sure that IT fully supports your decision, so that there are no “surprises” by the time you obtain funding.
• Demonstrate confidence in your success by being prepared to discuss issues in change management and training.
Figure 7: The Elements of a Business Case
Some business executives are likely to ask for “hard savings” through the purchase of a new software system. In most cases, the “true costs” of such a system are zero, because the system itself typically costs $20 to $40 per employee to purchase, and potentially an equivalent amount of money for implementation and rollout. This cost (approximately $60 to $80 per employee) is usually saved simply through time-savings alone. While this is not the way to cost-justify a system, in most companies the time and paperwork saved by performance management software more than pays for its investment.
In other cases, you may already have an existing system in place. If you do, compare the cost of the new system with the cost of developing and maintaining the existing system. Again, you are likely to find that the new system is no more expensive than the existing one.
Figure 7: The Elements of a Business Case
Source:Bersin & Associates, 2007.
Statement of the Problem
• Business situation and challenges
• HR situation and challenges
Statement of Current State Environment
• What systems do we have
• What is broken or done inefficiently
Statement of Proposed Solution
• System and functionality
• Scheduled rollout plan
• Staffing and IT budget and headcount
Benefits of Solution
• Data and decisions
• Benefits to employees
• Benefits to executives
• Benefits to management
• Benefits to HR
• Tell the story of the future
Implementation Plan
• Costs
• Governance and change management
• Schedule and long-term benefits by phase
• What help we need from executive management
• Risks and how they will be mitigated
Business Case
for Talent Management
System
Remember to focus on the higher-level business issues. Employee performance, compensation equity, retention, employee satisfaction, engagement, and development of the leadership pipeline are issues that most business people understand. By continuously focusing on these benefits (and not the process automation efficiencies), you will help your business sponsors see the big benefits.
If you follow this approach, your system will be well-supported with dollars, resources and executive support.
For More Information or Assistance
Bersin & Associates provides advisory services, workshops and events to help organizations build the business case, select the right platform, and implement performance and talent management systems.
Come Visit with Us in 00
In 2008, we will be further expanding our workshop and events program to bring research and best practices to your organization. In particular, we will be launching our first-ever research conference, IMPACT 2008: The Business of Talent®1. We hope you will join us to hear more than 60 senior HR and L&D executives share their experiences and best practices with you.
Our workshop program14 in 2008 will focus on providing you with the research and best practices to help your organization succeed. Some of these include:
• Building a High-Impact Learning Organization®;
• The Talent Management Masters Series®;
• Implementing High-Impact Leadership Development; and,
• Building the Business Case for Talent Management Systems.
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13 For more information about this conference, please visit www.bersin.com/impact.
14 For more information on our upcoming events and webinars, please visit www.bersin.com/newsevents.
Figure 8: Checklist for the Business Case
Appendix I: Figures
1. Key Business Drivers Affecting Your Organization
Growth, expansion, new product launches, consolidation, mergers and so on.
2. Key Talent Drivers Affecting Your Organization
Shortage of leaders, recruiting challenges, low engagement, high turnover and so on.
3. Current Maturity of Performance Management in Your Organization Current process or lack of process, and current talent management
program and owners.
4. Current HR Systems Environment (and possible systems to be replaced or integrated)
Current HRMS and performance management process – strengths and weaknesses; and,
How the new system will fit into this environment. 5. Proposed Solution
Recommended systems strategy and estimates of cost;
Staffing and budget for implementation, change management, training and operations;
Team members consulted and involved in project ownership; and,
Three to five year plan for rollout and integration with other systems. 6. Major Potential Benefits
Compliance and efficiency;
Process improvement; and,
Transformational new initiatives. 7. Benefits to the Business
Specifically, how will this system help solve the specific problems highlighted in item 2 (stated in business terms).
8. Project Risks and Plans to Mitigate Risks 9. Next Steps for Executive Commitment
Figure 1: Bersin & Associates High-Impact Talent Management Framework® 8
Figure 2: The Evolution of Performance Management Systems 12
Figure 3: Next-Generation Employee Performance Management Solutions 14
Figure 4: Three Levels of Business Benefits for Performance Management Systems 15
Figure 5: Benefits of Performance Management Systems 16
Figure 6: Top Talent Challenges in Organizations Today 21
Figure 7: The Elements of a Business Case 29
Figure 8: Checklist for the Business Case 32
About Us
Bersin & Associates is the only research and advisory consulting firm focused solely on WhatWorks® research in enterprise learning and talent management. With more than 25 years of experience in enterprise learning, technology and HR business processes, Bersin & Associates provides actionable, research-based services to help learning and HR managers and executives improve operational effectiveness and business impact.
Bersin & Associates research members gain access to a comprehensive library of best practices, case studies, benchmarks and in-depth market analyses designed to help executives and practitioners make fast, effective decisions. Member benefits include: in-depth advisory services, access to proprietary webcasts and industry user groups, strategic workshops, and strategic consulting to improve operational effectiveness and business alignment. More than 3,500 organizations in a wide range of industries benefit from Bersin & Associates research and services.
Bersin & Associates can be reached at http://www.bersin.com or at (510) 654-8500.
About This Research
Copyright© 2008 Bersin & Associates. All rights reserved. WhatWorks®
and related names such as Rapid e-Learning: WhatWorks® and The High Impact Learning Organization® are registered trademarks of Bersin & Associates. No materials from this study can be duplicated, copied, republished, or re-used without written permission from Bersin &
Associates. The information and forecasts contained in this report reflect the research and studied opinions of Bersin & Associates analysts.
