Performance Management Trends For 2020

As more millennials make up the bulk of the workforce in the world today, old management techniques are becoming less effective. This has resulted in a paradigm shift from certain employee characteristics that we could usually expect. For example, more millennials now quit unfulfilling jobs to start their enterprises.  

The rate at which employees also change jobs in the 21st century is quite different and more frequent than was observed in the past few decades. Since employees now long for more than just an encouraging working atmosphere to function at maximal levels, managers must also rise to the challenge of understanding these emerging patterns. When these patterns are understood, managers can then make well-informed choices about changing their management style to allow for optimum performance in the workplace.

Performance management trends for 2020

Millennials will take up more leadership positions

The need for efficiency in the workplace is quite evident as companies seek vibrant millennials to join their workforce. Millennials are already taking over the workplace, and 2020 is sure going to see the millennial workforce increase. As more millennials come into the workplace, they are bound to take up leadership roles in some organizations. For instance, the top four executives in most IT companies in America are majorly Millennials. As older generation managers retire, they are more likely to be replaced by millennials. 

Statistics from Mark Emmons & Millennial Branding show that about 27% of millennials in the U.S are top managers, 2% are top executives, and about 5% already hold senior management positions. It is expected that over the next decade, millennials will dominate leadership positions in the workplace.

Company goals will receive more attention

Every company and business has both short term and long term goals. One of the major aims of performance management is to ensure that these goals are achieved when due. To achieve any goal, everybody on the team needs to understand what the goals are and why they are essential. In 2020, we’ll see more companies making their goals simple enough for the least employee to understand. We should also see continuous emphasis from managers on how individual workers are working hard to make sure that the goals earlier set are being achieved as defined. 

The demand for task automation will surge

Just as businesses are using more machines as against more human effort, employees will follow suit by finding means to automate tasks. Over the last five years, lots of Performance Management Software backed by artificial intelligence have been developed for task automation. Companies are now employing this solution to increase workplace productivity and reduce the cost of operation. For example, a manager can be in his office delegating tasks and receiving instant updates on work progress on so many projects at the same time. 

Apart from the possible increase in the use of software, more machines that are capable of handling what has been previously regarded as absolute human tasks will emerge. Rather than waiting for these machines to gain popularity, managers should consider such technologies and prepare their staff for the use. 

Parameters for spotting special talents will improve

Performance tests are already helping to spot creative employees from others. For a company to continue to flourish, it must continue to have the best hands in key positions. For example, when an accomplished manager retires, who replaces him or her in that organization.

In 2020, we can expect to see performance management solutions that are valid enough to determine success among employees. Once this happens, loyalty and struggle for excellence will boost employee performance on a large scale.

Workplace Environment Will Improve

The idea that improving the workplace environment can affect the quality of management is still in effect in many corporations. The workspace is becoming less cluttered than it was a decade ago. It could be practically hard for managers to thoroughly understand the stress levels employees go through when they have to work through piles of documents and workload. As A.I is making smart solutions for storing, sorting, accessing, retrieving, and sharing documents easier, the need for employees to pile up their desks is reducing. Also, there is a lesser demand for space so that management procedures can be easily carried out with little or no interference. In 2020, we can expect more adoption of smart solutions to give rise to a smarter work environment.

Employee welfare will receive more attention

The internet has opened more opportunities for almost anyone to become an entrepreneur. Employees are also becoming internet marketers, bloggers, and online store managers. The fact that many people are succeeding in these endeavors is gradually making a fool of the idea that sticking to a job for long is the best path to financial freedom. Now more than ever, there is a need for managers to value their employees more. They need to do all that is required to help their employees to live a more fulfilled work life. 

Many organizations are already towing the path of improved employee welfare. Apart from giving employees access to training in personal development, companies are increasing employee development packages. Managers across many organizations are also attending seminars and taking courses on modern management techniques.

The freelancing population will increase

To find freedom from the pesky bosses, many millennials are quitting their regular jobs for freelance roles. Nowadays, many freelancing jobs pay higher than jobs that are based on salaries. The combination of a higher pay rate and the freedom to choose one’s working hours is too enticing to ignore. Many people see freelancing as a better alternative to regular jobs as freelancers can always lobby for clients. It also helps clients to monitor accurate time spent on work by the freelancer. The clients can do that with the help of an attorney time tracking app.

An annual performance review will lose popularity

Recently there has been a surge in sophisticated Performance Management software. We can now combine the use of devices and artificial intelligence to monitor, harness, and improve workplace productivity. Since most of these new Productivity tools offer continuous feedback, coaching, and solutions, they will revolutionize the human resource space. Annual performance review used to be the major determinant of HR successes. Now there is no need to wait till the end of the year to determine the efficiency of workers. Smart personnel management solutions can now monitor individual worker’s contributions in terms of efficiency and recommend a possible line of action to less productive individuals.

Big corporations worldwide are already moving in this direction. Going forward in 2020, there is a higher chance that many SMEs will join the HR revolution.

Rewards and Recognition

Positive reinforcement has always produced excellent results in management. It is quite amazing how far recognizing and praising employees for a job well done could go. Recognition of good quality work will receive more attention. Managers would find it easier to use other employees’ work to serve as a yardstick of quality work for others. This will also impress the “It can be done” philosophy in workers. Technologies such as 3-D modeling of high-quality models will enjoy more patronage than before.

Rewards will also get increased attention. However, the form in which rewards will take may be somewhat different. As society changes, so do values. To make rewards valuable to employees, managers will have to keep pace with changes in the value system.

Mental health services will experience higher integration

Just as many performance software are now being equipped with health check tools such as sleep-monitoring metrics and general fitness charts, we can expect to see the software companies partner with psychologists on a very big scale. Mental health professionals are already serving as consultants for performance management software companies. It is only a matter of time before end-users of these software products become clients to mental health practitioners. This should help decrease the mental pressures that employees face as a result of the work they do.

A massive shift to cloud-based solutions

As many corporations have started reaping the benefits of cloud-based performance management solutions, it is only a matter of time before many other businesses follow suit. With cloud-based solutions, employees can now access files and documents without moving from office to office. Also, rather than wait for others to get files to help them with specific workplace issues, employees can use cloud-based self-help facilities to solve their problems quickly. This will eventually save time that could be spent on tasks generally in the organization. Cloud-based solutions are also becoming mobile-friendly. Employees can now use their smartphones to access unlimited productivity tools.

As we go through the year 2020, the odds are high that cloud-based solutions will continue to gain popularity in the performance management industry. 

Conclusion

As we move through the year 2020, performance management will continue to take center stage of discussions and activities. New technologies in ICT and software engineering will have a greater effect on workplace productivity than has been witnessed before. Employees in big corporations that are yet to make a significant shift towards the new performance management trends should brace up for an eventful year in their workplace.