Every week, NETSHARE hosts Ask the Coach, a phone-in coaching session with leading career management experts. Here is an excerpt from a recent session with career coach Don Orlando.
This week’s Ask the Coach call covered numerous topics, including a discussion on salaries and how to set compensation. Not surprisingly, companies are increasingly weighting salary to performance, and implementing performance metrics to gauge performance. After the call, Don shared some interesting insights from a report highlighted on the blog Compensation Force. You might consider addressing some of these performance metrics as part of your personal brand.
According to the Hewitt Associates report, “The Current State of Performance Management and Career Development 2010,” when organizations assess the two performance components, what gets done and how you get it done, they tend to tip the scale toward results, not process, particularly for executive staff. According to the report:
- 62% of respondents indicate that executives are either measured solely on results (30%) or more on results than competencies/behaviors (32%).
- Only 4% of respondents indicated that executives are measured either solely on competencies/behaviors (1%) or more on competencies/behaviors (3%).
- At the individual contributor level only 10% of companies measure only or mostly competencies/behaviors.
- Also at this level, the most popular approach is 50/50, with 48% indicating they use this relative weighting.
Overall, the ratingless performance system has not caught on. Overall, 93% of responding employers indicated that employees do receive an overall rating grade, either a number, letter, or label, to measure performance. The five-point rating scale seems to be most popular, and is gaining in popularity. According to the report:
- 63% of respondents report using a five point scale (compared to 45% in the 2005 study).
- 19% report using the four point scales.
The report also shows that calibration meetings are becoming increasingly more common as a means to ensure consistency in ratings – 61% of responding employers conduct some form of calibration meeting top provide guidance to managers, compare results, and reach a consensus on performance ratings.
These performance rankings also are having more impact on raises. According to the research:
- 63% of participating companies indicate that the performance rating drives merit increases.
- 45% say it drives variable (incentive) pay.
- 28% report that it drives prospects for advancement.
- 20% indicate that it drives an employee's access to new experiences and challenges.
What this survey highlights is that it’s more important than ever to make sure your personal branding documents – your resume, executive bio, etc. – reflect your performance. Cataloguing your achievements with measurable, concrete results is the best way to get the attention of a prospective employer.
