Reviewsnap Introducing a New, Innovative Benefits-Based Performance Management™ Approach to Performance Appraisals

Reviewsnap™ announced today that it will roll out its benefits-based performance management enhancement in the fourth quarter of 2011. Benefits-Based Performance Management™ (BBPM™) is an innovative approach to conducting performance reviews and ongoing feedback in a way that clearly conveys to the employee the benefits that accrue to them when they embrace workplace behavioral changes.

Reviewsnap has developed this enhancement to the performance review process because it has found employees often do not understand completely why they should take seriously some of the ratings, comments and suggestions offered as part of their performance review. They may hear what they believe is a concern about their performance, but often fail to make the connection between how taking those concerns seriously and then making a conscious and focused effort on changing work-related behavior will benefit them in any material manner.

This approach does not have to represent a major departure from standard performance review processes. But it does provide the reviewer with additional tools to add verbiage to the reviews and to their discussions with employees that is intended to deliver more impact for employees as to why they should make important changes in their work approach.

According to Dave Arringdale, Reviewsnap President, “Employees sometimes walk away from a coaching or review session wondering how they will truly benefit if they make behavioral changes to improve their performance in a particular area. Benefits-Based Performance Management™ helps embed into the entire feedback process a sense of partnering between the manager and employee and provides a clearer target for the employee to shoot for to help them become more successful. It’s really about what’s in it for me?”

This concept has been under development for some time. Reviewsnap, in conjunction with its parent company, Applied Training Systems, Inc., has been conducting research for some time on the various ways performance reviews affect employee behavior and performance. That research uncovered a significant finding in that using a benefits-based approach seemed to outperform a more standard approach to conducting reviews and giving ongoing feedback.
“Whether we want to believe it or not, people are selfish by nature,” said Arringdale. “While they generally want the employer to believe they are eager to do a great job, they are not always that eager to modify their work behavior enough unless they feel there is a real payoff of some sort for them.”

Reviewsnap has developed a comprehensive library of benefits statements that can be integrated into the actual performance review if desired. This library will soon be integrated within its Web-based performance management system. The addition of the library and the benefits section of the review templates are expected to take place by mid-forth quarter of this year. The use of this feature will be optional within the system.