On HR solutions we have previously reported that the majority of respondents in a survey did not feel that they got anything out of the annual performance review. One of the reasons for this is that many managers forget to follow up on the things that were agreed at the meeting.

It's usually not out of reluctance that managers forget to follow up on the agreements. Rather, it's often because the manager can't keep track of all the SDD conversations as they just end up in a pile of paperwork. That's why we have developed HRM-Nordic MUS, som er et effektivt redskab til at styre alle former for MUS samtaler.

Stay on top of things with an online performance appraisal system

With an online SDD system, you can be sure that you always have your data at your fingertips. HRM-Nordic SDD is also designed to help you keep track of deadlines - and you'll be reminded of your deadlines on a regular basis.

Some of the benefits of using an online performance appraisal system are:

• You can build your own performance review templates
• You can set deadlines - and you'll receive reminders so you never miss a deadline
• You can follow the process of how far your employees are in completing the preparation form
• You can set reminders for your appointments so that the employee also feels that the performance review is being followed up on
• The data is associated with the employee card in employee database

Remember to follow up on performance reviews

For your performance reviews to be a success, it's important that you follow up on the agreements made. If you don't, your employees will quickly get the feeling that the conversation was a waste of time because he/she doesn't attend the agreed courses, but instead just carries on with the same old routine.

The performance review is there for the employee to develop, and employee development can be crucial to whether your employees stay with you. Remember that the performance review is not only about professional development, but also about personal development. And not least about the employee's well-being in the workplace.

The difficult conversation: The employee performance review (MAS)

There can be a number of different reasons why one or more employees in the workplace need to be made redundant. For you as a manager, it's never an easy conversation to have, but it's a necessity that should be handled professionally.

If the layoffs come as a result of downsizing, it will be your responsibility as a manager to make the decision on which employees to lay off.

Just as with an SDD interview, you as a manager should prepare for a MAS interview. As a manager, you will be in control of the conversation, and with preparation, you are ready to handle the situation if there is silence or the employee reacts to their resignation.

In the same way that you can use a HR system to create templates for performance reviews, you can also use your HR system to manage employee performance management.

When an employee is informed of their resignation, there is a wide range of reactions. Some may need a little time to think about it, while others react more aggressively. In some cases, it can be beneficial to set up a meeting at a later date where the employee can ask questions or where you can discuss the practicalities.

Here you will again benefit from your HR system, where you can enter your appointments into the system and both of you will receive a reminder of your appointments ahead of a possible upcoming meeting.

HR system: An important asset in your business

An HR system can be an important asset to your business. An HR system can facilitate a number of administrative processes in your company. Especially when it comes to performance appraisal interviews, it can be an advantage as you can automate the processes of convening, preparing and following up.

HRM-Nordic er et modulopbygget HR system, hvilket betyder, at du kun betaler for de funktioner, som du har behov for. Vil du høre mere om HRM-Nordic, så er du velkommen ikke med at contact us.

An effective HR system makes it possible to keep track of your employees. This also applies to smaller companies.

Many may think that HR belongs in large companies with thousands of employees to keep track of, but that's far from the case. Employee management happens in every company that employs people, so keeping track is just as important in small businesses as it is in large ones.

Ideal for handling performance reviews

Employee performance reviews, often abbreviated to SDD, have gained popularity in many companies. Here, it is obvious to lean on an HR system to make the appraisal as effective as possible. After all, it's all about employee development, and in order to see development, there must be some points of reference.

How you want to structure your performance review meetings is of course up to you, but with a good HR system, you can look at previous performance review schedules, agreements and results. The employee will also be able to access previous performance reviews, so you can support the direction that the employee and manager have agreed upon.

All the relevant information about each employee can be gathered, and this overview is invaluable when it comes to ensuring the development of your employees.

Build-it-yourself system

With our HRM-Nordic platform, users can tailor the system to suit their own needs. No two companies are the same, so no two HR systems are the same, and with our modular solution, you can get exactly the features you need.

An example would be our Pre- and Onboarding module. Some companies have a procedure that all new employees have to go through to start their new job, or maybe there are some trainee positions in the company that have a special learning path.

Here, onboarding is often based on a template, and with a good HR system, it's easy to keep an overview. Managers can keep track of progress, and the employee can see how far along they are in the process.

There are thousands of processes in every company, and HR-related processes can be made easier and more efficient with the right system. Our goal is to make HR easier and more efficient to ensure effective and, most importantly, happy employees who are happy in their jobs.

Remember, you can get a free trial of HRM-Nordic so you can test the features of our HR system and see if it's right for you and your business. Read more about HRM-Nordic here or call us to learn more at 70 26 32 25.

Hvad står en MUS samtale for?

Often a performance review is an annual conversation between the employee and management that aims to create a dialog between employee and manager to discuss the current work situation and development opportunities for the employee.

However, many people - both managers and employees - dread the annual performance review, and studies also show that performance reviews don't motivate employees or make them work better or more.

This may be because the performance review has become more of a routine conversation to get through rather than one that focuses on employee satisfaction and development.

The difficult performance review conversation

Both managers and employees find performance reviews difficult. It can often feel uncomfortable or unmanageable. This can often be because the performance review isn't constructive and doesn't work as intended.

The employee may even feel that the conversation is limiting or a form of surveillance, where the employee is being held accountable for the year's performance.

However, that's not the point of the performance review - quite the opposite. It's an important conversation that should create value for the employee and the manager and insight into the employee's work situation in order to create improvements and development.

Why the performance review doesn't work

The reason why appraisals don't work as intended is usually because the conversation has become too routine.

• Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
• How do you rate the internal collaboration
• How do you rate the collaboration with your manager?
• Do you have any future career aspirations?

These are questions that can be asked during the annual performance review. However, the questions are too general and routine, and are often asked out of habit rather than to gain insight into the employee's well-being and opportunities for future development. This can make the conversation feel like a waste of time.

Other reasons why appraisals don't go as planned can be:

• Lack of understanding of the interview process
• Poor communication between manager and employee
• Change of manager
• Lack of insight into employee development from the manager
• Lack of trust between manager and employee

These are just a few of the reasons that can influence why appraisals don't work as intended.

If the manager has recently been replaced, if there is a lack of trust or if there is no constructive two-way communication between manager and employee, this can have a big impact on the outcome of the conversation.

At the same time, it is also of great importance for the outcome of a performance review that both manager and employee understand the purpose of the interview and that both parties enter into a dialog with each other in order to discuss the individual employee's well-being, work situation and development opportunities that will result in concrete goals and initiatives.

Finally, it's crucial for a good performance review that the manager aims for the employee's well-being and development rather than checking the review off the list. Here, managers also need to understand what drives employee development and how to best promote employee motivation and performance.

Tips for a good performance review conversation

For the appraisal interview to work as intended, it's important that it doesn't become a chit-chat or a routine conversation with standard questions to tick off the list.

A good performance review requires a lot from you as a manager. Below is a short to-do list to help you create the best starting point for a good performance review.

To-do list - 5 tips for a good employee interview

• Prepare yourself and your employee

Before the interview, make sure you prepare for the interview with each of your employees. Make sure to schedule the appraisal interview well in advance and ask the employee to prepare for the meeting. You may want to send some talking points for the employee to use as a starting point. Also, make sure there is plenty of time for the interview so you don't have to rush through the conversation.

• Listen and ask questions

During a performance review, it's important that you as a manager don't take the floor from the employee. You are in control of the conversation, but the employee should do most of the talking. You should therefore be the listener in the conversation and ask good questions that uncover areas of the employee's well-being, motivation and development. Ask open questions for the employee to answer, which can form the basis for new initiatives and goals.

• Give praise and positive affirmation

The performance review is a great opportunity to praise an employee for their performance. However, that doesn't mean you shouldn't praise your employees on a daily basis, or that you should wait to praise until the performance review. But in a hectic workday, praise and positive affirmation can sometimes be forgotten. That's why the performance review is a great opportunity to praise your employees' performance. Give specific feedback on what you think the employee has done well.

• Give constructive feedback

Just as you should give praise and affirmation, you should also give feedback to the employee on areas for improvement. Tell them where you think there could be room for improvement and how you can work together to make those improvements. It's important to be constructive and specific about your expectations of the employee to avoid misunderstandings or bad vibes.

• Build a trusting relationship with the employee

A trusting relationship is something that is built over time, and a high level of trust between employee and manager is a good starting point for a good performance review. If you haven't yet built a solid trusting relationship, the performance review can also be a great opportunity to strengthen the trust between manager and employee. As a manager, you can help give the employee a good experience of the appraisal by giving praise and positive affirmation, providing constructive feedback, listening and generally appearing interested, sincere and showing goodwill towards the employee.

Prepare the appraisal interview with HRM-Nordic MUS

The five tips above can help create a great performance review conversation that leads to happy employees and better results. While the annual performance review is a great opportunity to have a dialog with your employees about development opportunities, it is recommended to have ongoing conversations with your employees to ensure continuous development and well-being.

Whether your company has annual performance reviews or ongoing employee, team or departmental appraisals, it's a good idea to prepare with an appraisal template.

HRM-Nordic MUS is a tool where you can build your own interview templates for each employee, team or department. In the tool, you can send the agenda and get the employee's consent prior to the performance review so you're both well-prepared for the review.

The appraisal template is a great tool for handling and managing the appraisal interview and for preparation, so you have the best starting point for a good performance review with your employees.

Would you like to learn more about HRM-Nordic Development or any of our other solutions for your HR department? Contact us today at 70 26 32 25 or contact us here.

People are everything to your business, no matter what it does. HR systems can help make things easier for the HR department.

Therefore, as an owner and manager, you should also invest in making sure that your people are as comfortable as possible and are put in a position where they can be most effective. We are complex creatures, and no two of us are the same - yet there are ways to organize your HR efforts that can make working with your employees much easier.

The key word is overview. With the right overview, you as a manager or owner can take action where it makes sense because you can see where it's needed. You can keep track of your team and the results that are being produced, and you can set the framework for your employees that gives them the best opportunities to perform.

HR is both pre- and post-employment

It may not come as a surprise to many, but it's important to look at employees and their potential within the existing group of employees even before they've joined the team. Recruiting the right people is one of the most important things a manager can dedicate their time to.

If you have the right team that complements each other, you can get the most out of each individual's potential. This makes for happy and productive employees, which not only gives the company the most bang for its buck, but also makes for a more pleasant workplace.

It's nice for everyone to come to work knowing that your colleagues are ready to help, that they're doing their best and that they want the same things as you do.

Conversely, the wrong mix of employees can create a work environment that is far from conducive to productivity and job satisfaction. It doesn't deliver results for company productivity, it doesn't do anything good for employees and, ultimately, it can have an impact on the way the business is run.

Structure your HR efforts with the right HR systems

The aforementioned overview is one of the things we focus on the most in our HR system, HRM-Nordic. The difference between us and other HR systems is that our system is modular, so it can be adapted to your wishes and needs. That way, you get help with the HR tasks you need.

One of our most important tasks, no matter which part of the HR tasks you want help with, is the overview, and by focusing on the modules, you get exactly the overview you need.

The system is intuitively structured and the user interface is easy to navigate, so you don't get lost in dead ends of functions you wouldn't use anyway. And if you want to use several of our modules, they work seamlessly together to maintain an overview - for example, when moving a candidate from applicant to hired employee.

One very practical thing that structure helps with is time. By having the right structure around your HR work, you can save a lot of time on otherwise time-consuming HR tasks. Most managers know how time-consuming recruitment can be, for example, or the development of the employees that make up the company.

HRM-Nordic is involved from recruitment to performance reviews - and that's an advantage

Having a unified system to manage your HR tasks has a clear advantage in that you don't have to switch systems to, for example, recruit and another to help develop employees - for example, through performance appraisals.

By having it all together, you don't have to worry about transferring data to be read by different systems, you have the same way to navigate no matter what you need.

The ability to keep candidates in the system during the recruitment phase and compare them with the existing team of employees is a huge advantage going forward. The overview means a lot, and if you can start comparing different candidates with the current ones, it's easier to put together the right group.

An online HR system makes your work flexible

The advantage of a system like HRM-Nordic is not only the overview, user-friendliness and integration with other systems, it is also an advantage that it is a online HR system. Having your HR efforts online ensures that your information is always accessible.

This ensures flexible HR work, especially if your company has multiple offices or you need to conduct job interviews outside of your comfort zone.

When the system is online, it's easier to access, and of course, HRM-Nordic complies with all the rules set out by the GDPR in May 2018. Therefore, you don't have to worry about security and privacy when using an online HR system like HRM-Nordic, we've taken care of data management.