How to Develop and Retain Top Talent with Data-Based Employee Feedback

Every wise business leader knows that happy and satisfied employees are the key to a successful, profitable business. And if you want to keep your employees engaged and productive, you need to abandon traditional performance evaluation practices in favor of data-driven feedback.

This said most companies stick to traditional annual employee performance appraisals that don’t paint a true picture of employee productivity and outcomes in the fast-paced work environments in the post-Covid era.

Employees don’t want to wait a year to hear what they’re doing right or wrong. Therefore, the demand for more frequent detailed and objective feedback is on the rise. This seems to be among the top three requests employees have when searching for a perfect workplace. Another practice employees focus on when deciding whether to stay in a company or walk out the door is the onboarding process quality.

So what can you do to meet these needs of your employees, making sure that they will stay with your company for years to come. The answer is simple, you should implement a data-driven approach to onboarding and performance management processes relying on the help of advanced tools.

The Tools You Can Use to Create Data-Driven Performance Management Process

Digital tools play an important role in delivering actionable, informative, and unbiased employee reviews. This said with the help of an employee tracker that offers in-depth insight into employee daily performance in real-time, you can meet your employees’ need for frequent, actionable feedback.

You can use employee monitoring reports to track employees' progress on specific tasks, identify potential productivity roadblocks, and work on immediate solutions with your employees. Also, by allowing your employees access to their track records, they’ll be able to back up their pay rise or promotion inquiries with accurate performance data.

There are also customer relationships management platforms that can help you see how productive your employees are by showing you their sales figures and giving you regularly their performance against set targets. You can also implement effective practices to make peer evaluations easier or assess skill levels.

Set Measurable Goals Using OKRs

According to Deloitte (News - Alert) Global Human Capital Trends Report, business leaders are aware of the importance of shifting to a data-driven approach to employee evaluation. But for many, it seems easier said than done. While 70% of business leaders surveyed think that employee analytics plays a significant role in performance management, only 8% of businesses admit that they’re using this data effectively.

At the same time, companies that rely on data analytics in various HR practices stand out among competitors when it comes to hiring, retention rates, and strong leadership.

If you want to join this club, try to involve workforce analytics in your employee evaluation process. Besides using employee tracker information to help you better understand your employees' performance, you can also measure it by setting clear and quantifiable Objectives and Key Results (OKRs).

After you define measurable and quantifiable OKRs for each quartal, rate your employees' performance using a 5-point scale from “needs improvement” to “superb.”

By doing this you’ll offer transparent performance evaluations, avoid vagueness and bias, giving clear arguments as to why specific employees deserve to be promoted.

Foster Data-Based Promotion Policy

Employee performance data can paint a clear picture of who of your employees deserves a promotion. You can create well-informed, detailed performance evaluations and reward top performers much easier than before.

Furthermore, companies nowadays can easily identify factors that determine employee success. They can apply this knowledge to identify top talent and provide them the opportunity to develop and advance in their career.

You can for example use employees’ background and performance information to predict their career paths in your company and see what position would be a perfect fit for them.

Then you can make a comparative analysis of this data with the data of employees having similar backgrounds or performance history to better predict their career trajectory.

Final Words

The way of giving feedback has changed significantly due to vocal employees’ demands. And this is good news. With the help of an advanced tool like an employee tracker, you will be able to offer detailed, real-time, objective feedback and meet your employees' need for recognition or additional support and guidance.

More importantly by setting clear, achievable goals like OKRs, your employees will know exactly how well they perform, and won’t be nervous about the entire performance evaluation process.

This clarity and transparency will boost open communication and create an atmosphere of trust between you and your teams, crucial for overall business success and growth.

About the Author

Dijana Milunovic is a Content Writer at Insightful. She enjoys writing about employee productivity and engagement, company culture, and leadership.