1. HR Glossary
2. Performance Improvement

Performance Improvement

What is Performance Improvement?

Performance improvement is a strategy initiated to help low-performing and underperforming employees meet the organization’s standards and requirements. Based on the metrics used to measure the performance, it can be directed to an individual, a team, or the organization as a whole for better growth.

Let's take an example for better understanding:

• A tech company often finds bugs and errors from the developers' side
• The superiors arranged a meeting and discussed the possible solutions
• Management decided to set objectives and key results (OKRs) for each developer and to conduct meetings at regular intervals
• In order to improve the performance of developers, management took these steps.

Performance Improvement Plan (PIP)

To improve employee performance, employers make several efforts, and therefore they need a performance improvement plan. The process starts when employers identify gaps in the employee's performance. Employers need to take measures for improvement in performance to align them with the organization's objective.

Following are the steps of the performance improvement plan:

Communicate with employees

Firstly, employers need to discuss the inputs and outcomes with the employees and take their opinions. Through Clear communication, only the real scenarios will come across managers and help them make better decisions.

Identify the root causes

After communicating to the employees, managers can identify the causes. The actions can only be taken when the primary reason is known.

Set clear objectives and goals, and implement them

This is the most crucial step of PIP. Setting up the goals as per the causes and then implementing them as the plan is necessary.

Provide the required resources or training

As per the goals set, some need for additional training or resources may arise. Fulfilling the requirements is vital to achieving the objectives.

Take feedback and conduct performance reviews

The last step is to perform the performance evaluation. It should be conducted to know whether the actions taken impacted positively.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is performance improvement essential for the organization?

Performance improvement becomes essential for the organization because it is one of the ways to enhance and raise the performance of underperforming employees and provide performance appraisals to the deserving employees. Therefore, PIPs overall benefit the organization and increase employee efficiency. With the constant improvement in the employees' performance, the organization gets closer to achieving its ultimate goal.

How is the performance improvement plan beneficial to the employees?

The PIPs also bring several benefits to the employees; they are:

• Improve work quality
• Timely achievement of the set goals
• More exposure and experiences
• Improved team behavior
• Motivation and encouragement

How is performance improvement measured?

The ways of performance improvement evaluation and measurement can differ with the type of organization and its way of working. Organizations choose the method that suits them the most. Some common techniques are:

• 360-degree review
• Rating scales
• Self-evaluation
• Management by objective

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