Employee Performance in Business- The Key to Recovery

The desire of every business is to have a dedicated and a self-driven team in the organization that fulfils their job duties and completes their set objectives and tasks on time. This translates to the effectiveness, quality and efficiency of their output. Today’s business leaders are increasingly positioning staff ahead of customers in the happiness and motivational stakes, and for good reason. Highly motivated staff have been proven to have a profound impact on business success and the bottom line.

Employee performance, especially when well managed is critical to the overall success of the business and will result in tangible benefits including:

• Achievement of Organization’s goals and objectives– Qualified, well- trained, dedicated and self-driven employees tend to achieve their set objectives on time and generate viable business ideas for the growth of their departments and the entire business. When employees fail to execute their duties well, the impact will be felt by both the internal and external customers, which can negatively affect the business reputation.
• Creates a Performing Organization Culture– Employee behavior is defined by the culture of the business. When new employees find people who believe in and do things in a certain way, they tend to adapt to that style and behavior. This also applies to businesses that perform well and generate high profits. Every employee that joins will adapt to the trend and work hard to maintain the culture.
• Creates a Positive Work environment– When effective performance evaluation and monitoring is conducted, strengths and weaknesses of each staff are identified. Feedback and motivation boost employee morale and especially when weaknesses are positively dealt with through coaching, mentoring and training. When the environment in a business is conducive enough it catalyzes the performance of employees. A reward and recognition system to reward top-performing employees and encourage them to do much better needs to be put in place. Employees find it important to be recognized by the business for a job well done.
• Talent growth and development– When employee performance is evaluated consistently, areas of growth are identified and talents can be nurtured. Employees then feel motivated to put in the effort, exceed the requirements of their duties and grow into leadership positions over time. As employees grow, the business grows as well.

How can businesses measure employee performance and how can they ensure that employees remain motivated to perform even better?

Measuring performance will differ across roles and departments, but can generally be measured by:

• The speed and efficiency of employees in completing tasks or projects assigned
• The quality of the work done against the original expectations
• The value of the employee’s role and its execution to the business
• The employee’s consistency in making good decisions and yielding sustainable results
• The ability to ensure that duties are executed on time and correctly so.

Employee performance management is a good business strategy that has a high return on investment. Case in point at Springboard Capital Ltd, there has been growth in employee competence that has seen team members rise to leadership positions, through ensuring individual empowerment, continuous feedback, encouraging teamwork, rewarding and recognizing of efforts.

Managing employees is a high effort high reward strategy and it is encouraged that for business recovery post Covid-19, businesses should turn their focus to their people and the business results will be achieved. There can be no business without the staff that work there, whom the business needs to recognize as their greatest asset.

At Springboard Capital, we care about our customers thus we offer financial advice to business owners in order for them to make informed decisions, when applying for a business loan. Visit any of our branches for financial guidance.

Article written by Julie Karanja (HR Manager)- Springboard Capital Ltd.