Only one in five employees always understands what their employer is looking for when assessing their performance, research has found.
A survey of 1,000 UK employees by performance management and employee engagement platform Lattice suggested that employers may not be doing enough to ensure their workforce knows what is expected of them at work.
Only 21% of workers said they always know what their employer’s expectations are when it comes to evaluating their performance.
Two in five only sometimes, rarely or never know what their employer’s performance expectations are.
Less than one in four employees said they had clear performance expectations for their role, and less than one in five understood what was expected of their team or department.
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The survey, conducted by YouGov for Lattice in June, found that employees who always understood performance expectations were three-times more likely to have clear metrics for their individual role, team or department than those who sometimes or rarely understand expectations.
They were also three times more likely to have a clear career growth path and were likely to have regular conversations about their career goals and one-to-one meetings with their manager.
Employees at larger companies were less likely to have a clear grasp of their performance expectations than those at smaller organisations.
Stan Massueras, international general manager at Lattice, said that organisations should implement regular manager one-to-ones, clear career growth tracks, individual and team goals, and regular career growth conversations to ensure employees understand how they can contribute to business objectives and individual goals.
He said: “Our latest research in partnership with YouGov points to a worrying lack of clarity among employees regarding what’s expected of them. Put simply – how can we expect our employees to deliver high performance when they don’t know what is expected of them and how to measure their own success?
“Another concerning element is that employees don’t understand what their employer is looking for when assessing their suitability for promotions and pay rises – essential tools for motivating high performers and retaining top talent.
“This is an area where technology can really enable and support great HR teams to deliver effective performance management and goals programs at scale, especially in the new world of work.”
Massueras said that creating a high-performance organisation involves fostering a culture where discretionary effort is rewarded. This requires transparency around performance expectations and how they are measured.
“Put simply, that means your employees will voluntarily go above and beyond, think creatively about how to drive a great outcome and put in that extra degree of effort, because they feel motivated by meaningful work, invested in the success of the business and trust that their hard work will be recognised and rewarded,” he said.
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“While one-off bonuses or performance-based incentives can result in a transactional, short-term burst of effort, fostering a culture where discretionary effort from employees thrives, will unlock much greater returns in the long run.”
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