May 29, 2019 Erin Lettau

Retaining Top Talent: The Importance of Feedback

As a merit-based organization, we take great pride in hiring, training and retaining top talent. To ensure that our workforce is performing at its best and meeting expectations, Excellerate leaders are encouraged to provide continuous and timely feedback to our employees. To augment this feedback, we hold a bi-annual formal performance evaluation cycle: mid-year and year-end.

By working through the evaluation cycle twice a year, we are able to tie feedback to formalized performance criteria and document where an individual’s performance falls on a spectrum. The six performance criteria are:

• Safety: Is the employee working with a positive, safety-conscious focus? Does he/she evaluate each task for safety hazards? Are safety procedures and practices followed consistently, including donning appropriate PPE at all times?
• Technical Knowledge: Is the employee applying appropriate concepts and training to his/her assigned tasks? Does he/she seek out additional training and/or cross-training opportunities.
• Productivity: Is the employee producing at or above the expected rate of work? Does his/her personal performance have a positive impact on the production output of others on the team?
• Initiative and Behavior: Does the employee take ownership of their work?  Does he/she promote a positive work environment, including encouraging teamwork and problem-solving? Does he/she understand and adhere to company policies and help to educate others on them?
• Quality: Does the employee have sound workmanship with little to no rework? Does he/she keep quality in mind while working within the production expectations?
• Overall Performance: Is the employee reliable, dependable and willing to learn new tasks? When a new project is announced, is he/she the one you want on the team?

To enable consistent and constructive employee feedback, we start by conducting effective evaluation training classes for all Excellerate employees who complete performance evaluations.

By documenting performance and providing feedback to our employees, we are able to reward those who consistently perform at a high level. As a merit-based organization, we owe it to our workforce to provide performance expectations, feedback and coaching, and the impact of doing so, to the employee, the team, and the organization, should not be underestimated. How do you provide talent feedback?