How Istation Built a Stronger Performance Management Strategy

Implementing a fully automated process for performance reviews

In the past, Istation used a performance management software that didn’t provide the level of flexibility the team wanted to set a completely automated performance review cycle. As a result, their performance management process remained very manual and time consuming. The HR team wanted to implement an online process that would run smoothly, and turned to Primalogik for help.

“This year is going to be the first time that we’re 100% digital in the way we do our performance reviews.” said Charlene. “We’re going to have self-reviews conducted. After the self-reviews are conducted we’ll have the managers go in and do their side of the reviews, and then there’ll be a holding period where the VP of HR will go take a look to see if we can approve these reviews to go through. Once this is done, we’ll allow managers to share the reviews with employees, have a conversation with them and get online signatures.”

With this new process implemented in Primalogik, Istation is now fully equipped to conduct online performance reviews. And the timing couldn’t be better for the company, whose entire team — like many other businesses — is currently working remotely. In addition to performance reviews, Istation has also launched employee satisfaction surveys.

“There’s a bit more reliance on Primalogik now to get feedback and to get a pulse of where we are as a company culturally. It helps us gauge employee satisfaction, because we’re not there every day.” Charlene said.

Using 360° feedback to build awareness amongst leaders

When it comes to 360 degree feedback surveys, something brand new to the company, Istation decided to take a more incremental approach. “This was something brand new for us. We tried it the first time last year where we only provided feedback to managers and above.” said Charlene.

For Istation, the intent behind this upward feedback approach was to help build awareness amongst managers. “The goal behind the 360 reviews is to really help educate leaders on what they’re doing well and where there’s room for growth.” explained Charlene. “From an HR perspective, I think it’s good because there’s a bit more accountability. And the way managers approach leadership is very different than we have in the past.”

Following their first round of surveys, the company did notice important improvements from managers who had scored lower in certain categories. Seeing as there was still room for growth, these managers worked on becoming better leaders, and developing stronger communication skills — and their efforts didn’t go unnoticed. The next year, these same managers scored significantly higher in these same categories.

Realizing the many benefits of conducting 360° feedback surveys, the team at Istation decided to expand their use of these surveys in Primalogik. “This year, we’ve opened it up to team leads and above.” said Charlene, “And next year, I think we’re going to start opening it up to all the employees.”

Taking advantage of the entire Primalogik platform

Over the next year, Istation will continue to leverage Primalogik to help carry out a completely digital and successful performance management strategy. “Currently, we do yearly performance appraisals, we do the upper feedback through the 360s and then an opinion survey.” said Charlene. “I think for next year, we’ll add an informal midyear review. We’ve also been looking into instant feedback and we’re going to learn a little bit more about goals so we can implement that in next year’s performance reviews.”  

Overall, Istation feels confident that they have strengthened their performance management strategy with the help of Primalogik. The different features available in the Primalogik platform have enabled the team to efficiently trace performance, but also create a great feedback culture that has helped develop stronger leaders and nurture greater levels of trust across the organization.