What Employee Performance Are You Measuring?

In your organization, do you have employees who are hardworking but not productive, or who are your star performers but difficult to manage? Do you struggle to encourage your employees to take initiative in their current role or go beyond their job description?

What about those who demonstrate neither expected productivity nor pleasant behavior? How do you measure the performance of employees in these different groups? To add to the challenge, how do you measure performance of employees who work remotely or in the hybrid mode post pandemic? Even more importantly, do you know what exactly you are evaluating when it comes to the time for employee performance review?

The answer is: It depends. Why? Because different organizations have different business goals and priorities. For some companies, outstanding performance means a sustainable profit margin. For others, it means more engaged or committed employees. And then there are those for whom only the stock price matters.

As a result, there are many performance measures out there across different business sectors — in fact, there are hundreds.

The good news is: When it comes to individual-level performance, there are some common areas you can measure. Here are four types of performance for your consideration: task performance, citizenship performance, adaptive performance, and counterproductive performance.

• Task performance, also known as in-role performance, are outcomes of work activities that contribute to organizational goals. This performance is delineated in the formal job description, and is expected of the employee as a member of the organization. Task performance is an essential component of individual performance and therefore is formally measured in performance evaluations by the degree to which an employee meets the quantity and quality standards for their jobs. This type of performance is strictly task-related and the metrics are usually well-defined.
• Citizenship performance, is also known as extra-role performance, organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), or contextual performance. It focuses on the outcomes of employees’ discretionary behaviors that go beyond formal job descriptions and contribute to the creation and maintenance of a healthy social and psychological work environment. Unlike task performance that is expected, citizenship performance is not concerned about task-related output; instead, it is voluntary and intrinsically motivated. Organizations may or may not measure this type of performance.
• Adaptive performance refers to understanding and adjusting to change in the workplace. Adaptive performance is manifested in different ways — handling emergencies and crisis situations, coping with stress at work, thinking outside of the box, being flexible interpersonally or culturally, being quick to learn new technology, and dealing with uncertain or unpredictable work situations. Employees with high adaptability are more valued than ever in the post-pandemic work environment.
• Counterproductive performance, more often known as counterproductive work behavior (CWB), is any intentional or unintentional adverse behavior that will inhibit an organization from achieving productivity goals. Counterproductive behavior can take many forms, for example, difficult personalities that damage teamwork, cyber loafing or substance abuse that reduces productivity, tardiness or absenteeism that lowers employee morale, workplace incivility that weakens the corporate culture, and embezzling or theft that undermines company’s financial well-being. Unless it causes serious damage to the organization, counterproductive performance may or may not be recognized or measured.

So, what can you do with this knowledge?

My recommendation is to take a holistic approach by incorporating all types of performance into your employee evaluation systems.

Begin by defining different criteria. For task performance, consider measures such as the number of tasks completed, quality of work, timeliness of delivery, and accuracy. For citizenship performance, seek employee feedback, peer evaluations, and/or supervisor observations. To measure adaptive performance, look at the employees’ problem-solving skills, creativity, learning agility, and the ability to work under pressure. For counterproductive work behaviors, look at attendance records, incident reports or peer feedback. While you can’t eliminate counterproductive work behaviors that could lead to poor task and citizenship performance, you can have policies and mechanisms in place to control or minimize them.

Adopting different metrics will allow for a more balanced and accurate view of employee performance. Diversifying performance measures also will enable your managers and supervisors to see beyond work-related behaviors, and recognize/reward positive discretionary behaviors that support the long-term health of your organization.

Performance excellence will set you apart from your competitors and reward you with sustainable growth. In today’s technology-driven workplace, simply improving task performance is no longer a competitive advantage. To rise above marketplace competition, organizations need employees who are good citizens, adaptive, and go above and beyond.

If you haven’t expanded your focus on all types of performance in your evaluation practice, it’s time to do so.

Want to learn more? Join me for a free webinar at 10 a.m. CT on June 29, 2023 with Chris Kime, founder of eHire Solutions and former vice president at TTI, Inc (a Berkshire Hathaway company). Kime will share his 30 years of experience and insights on performance evaluation. Register here.

Jia Wang is a professor in the Department of Educational Administration and Human Resource Development at Texas A&M University. Her research focuses on international and national human resource development, organization crisis management, and learning within organizations.