I was interested in your report on under-performing staff, particularly the fact that 96% of organisations report issues with poor performance.
Our own research confirms many of the findings. Companies are spending millions on trying to transform the performance and direction of their businesses, often to find that much of the investment has been wasted when managers and employees cling stubbornly to familiar strategies and working practices. However, we’ve also found that HR teams waste time and money focusing on the performance of all staff in the business all of the time.
Research indicates that to be successful in a given sector, organisations do not need to out-perform their competitors at everything they do. They should strive to identify and excel at the business-critical practices that will provide sustainable differentiation in the marketplace.
While there are many examples of organisations that do this, very few do it systematically. Yet doing so would enable the organisation to focus in on events where employee performance is of significance, as opposed to just being something that is nice to have.
Ashley Unwin,
Partner in consulting,
Deloitte
