How to raise the bar on employee performance

Employees are the greatest asset to your business. Your success is contingent on hiring the best people and ensuring they’re constantly developing and improving.

You can inspire all employees to realise their potential by creating an environment where their skills and efforts are appreciated and innovation is rewarded. When employees feel acknowledged for the value they bring, their performance soars.

Employee performance directly affects customer satisfaction, company reputation, and profitability. It’s about cultivating an environment where employees feel happy and satisfied, which creates a positive culture and improves retention rates.

High employee performance generally correlates with work environments built on shared trust, collaboration, innovation, clearly defined expectations, and growth opportunities.

Conversely, work environments where employees don't feel valued or empowered to share ideas create distrust and disinterest, leading to poor customer experiences, missed deadlines, decreased productivity, low morale, employee turnover, and loss of revenue.

Quantitative methods to measure employee performance include:

• Key performance indicators, such as sales figures, revenue per employee, and the ratio of total cost of the workforce to total operating costs
• Attendance and punctuality records
• How often tasks and projects are completed within deadlines
• Number of errors in work

Qualitative measurements generally rely on employee performance reviews. Performance reviews might include:

• Employee self-evaluations
• Manager evaluations and feedback
• Peer evaluations and feedback

These evaluations should offer observations of the employee’s behaviour, attitude, and work ethic.

There are various ways to raise the bar and boost employee performance. Here are five to get you started:

Create a supportive work environment that allows employees to be themselves. An authentically inclusive workplace culture that recognises each employee’s unique strengths and perspectives empowers everyone to express their ideas, questions, concerns, and even mistakes. It can build confidence and a sense of ownership and pride in their work.

A strengths-based organisational culture takes advantage of people’s unique differences to boost productivity. In such a workplace, employees understand their strengths and are given opportunities to do what they do best every day. Managers use these insights to set meaningful goals for everyone, boosting employee engagement and performance.

Even the best employees can lose motivation without the space to grow and thrive.

Tap into enthusiasm by encouraging employees to think outside the box and share their ideas. Asking for well-considered, innovative thinking helps create a workplace culture that values experimentation and rewards risk-taking.

For employees yearning for greater autonomy, don’t be afraid to demand higher intellectual engagement. Up the performance ante by asking them to develop and present ideas. If employees want to contribute but are unsure where to begin, consider the following framework:

1. State the idea in about 50 words – the elevator pitch.
2. Describe how the idea solves a problem or capitalises on an opportunity.
3. Explain how the idea aligns with the business’s strategic direction and what makes it stand out from other solutions.
4. Share expected results, along with costs for implementation and ongoing maintenance.

Establishing a formal research and presentation process gives employees guidelines to elevate their thinking and boost their performance.

Establish individual goals for each employee that sync with the company’s strategic plan and annual objectives. Differentiate goals from day-to-day tasks, which should be specified in employees’ job descriptions.

For example, a sales rep’s job duties may require them to make and document five sales calls per day, but their goal may be to generate $1 million in sales this year or increase year-over-year sales volume by 15%.

Track results. If employees are doing the work but not hitting goals, don’t let them flounder. Regularly review performance data to identify areas for improvement and use that data to guide them to success. And don’t forget to celebrate successes – a little recognition has a big impact on morale.

Set aside funds in your annual budget and time in each employee’s schedule to participate in training and skill-building sessions. Offer staffing coverage so time away won’t translate into missed deadlines, below-standard service levels, or excessive overtime.

Identify appropriate training programs by creating a professional development plan for each employee. Hold one-on-one sessions to discuss career development, professional interests, and potential skill gaps or areas of improvement. Consider a full scope of opportunities that may include free webinars sponsored by vendors, low-cost community college courses, or premium-priced industry certifications.

Training that equips employees with the skills and knowledge to complete certain tasks ensures they perform at baseline levels. Advanced training often raises intellectual capacity and confidence in tackling complex problems, causing performance to skyrocket.

Be clear about workplace standards before addressing non-compliance. Establish attendance policies, timelines for responding to customer requests, and standards of personal conduct. Communicate rules via employee manuals, orientation sessions, and company meetings. If standards aren’t set, it’s unfair to expect employees to fully comply.

Once expectations are clear, regularly monitor employee performance to address areas of concern and take appropriate corrective action. If certain staff members persistently eschew standards, bring it to their attention before disciplining them. Emphasise that success depends on the entire team’s adherence to certain protocols.

Fixing these types of problems can collectively raise the performance of all employees. Fellow employees may notice improvements, realise that standards have been raised, and step up their efforts to differentiate themselves.

To help your employees be outstanding, managers need to set clear expectations, encourage feedback, provide resources, recognise success, and lead by example. Here’s how:

• Set and communicate clear expectations: employees must understand what’s expected of them and how their work contributes to the organisation’s overall goals and success.
• Encourage open communication: open and honest feedback from employees helps leaders identify areas that need improvement and growth opportunities.
• Provide employees with the resources they need to succeed: employees need training, technology, tools, equipment, and guidance from leaders to reach their full potential.
• Recognise and reward success: public or private recognition, financial incentives, and opportunities for advancement all go a long way toward boosting employee morale.
• Lead by example: leaders should also be continuously looking for ways to improve themselves, their performance, and their organisation. Seek feedback, stay up to date with industry trends, and be open to innovation. Employees will notice that you walk the walk.

High employee performance is defined by the quality of work, productivity, and consistency of each worker. Measuring these aspects allows you to understand how to help employees operate optimally.

By developing workforce standards, fostering a positive work environment, encouraging innovation, setting and tracking goals with data, and providing development opportunities, you’ll create an environment where employees excel, customer satisfaction increases, and your business flourishes.

This article contains general information and is not intended to provide information that is specific to American Express, or its products and services. Similar products and services offered by different companies will have different features and you should always read about product details before acquiring any financial product.

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