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Customer Case Studies —Market Sector: Technology
Fast Growing Tech Company Finds Highest Value and Greatest Benefits with Performance Pro
Improved communication and collaborative culture key benefits
Things happen fast in the technology industry. Just ask Director of Human Resources Karina Miller. In 2001 she joined Impinj, a new semiconductor company headquartered in Seattle, WA. Venture capital funding and demand for Impinj’s patented technology resulted in a growth environment that required technology professionals with highly specialized skill sets.
Ms. Miller recalls, “When I started Impinj had been operational for about five months and had 18 employees. Today Impinj has over 145 employees working in several locations—and we’re still growing at a pace of about 30% per year. It is exciting being part of a company that is growing and having a significant impact.”
As the company grew, the transition from startup to an established company with documented policies and HR programs took place. One of the first areas that HR focused on was employee performance management.
Ms. Miller added, “We were using online Word forms to do performance reviews, but there really wasn’t any structure or formal process since we were still so new and small. The issue we had with the forms was the perception of fairness and consistency. We knew we needed a more focused process solution. This was reinforced in an annual employee survey.”
The HR team formed a small committee and embarked upon a search for a better employee performance management solution.
It was 2003 and as Ms. Miller discovered, there were not many automated performance management solutions available that were developed, and more importantly priced, for small businesses. She states, “It was frustrating. We evaluated many products, but at the end of the day they were simply way out of our price range, and we couldn’t afford any of them. So we kept looking.”
It was during the secondary search that Ms. Miller came across a product called Performance Pro. “We saw a demo and could see right away that the solution was everything we needed. The price quote raised our eyebrows further because it was actually within our budget. So we dug deeper and realized that Performance Pro was the real thing. What also sold us was that HRN was run by HR people, and they had so many other companies already using Performance Pro who just loved it.
Why Performance Pro?
Impinj identified the following requirements in their new performance management program:
Ease of use—user friendly
Value and cost
Quick to implement and easy to administer
Scalable—relevant in five years
Committed to continuous improvement
Successful Implementation
Impinj realized that simply having a new tool would not be enough to ensure success. HR scheduled a series of overview and ‘lunch and learn’ training sessions with the staff to present the new direction and emphasis on collaborative employee performance management. At that time, Impinj also began quarterly goal setting and informal review meetings between each employee and their manager. Using Performance Pro ‘Train the Trainer’ documentation and her own hands-on experience, Ms. Miller was able to train all of the Impinj staff.
Overall the implementation proceeded quickly and smoothly. Ms. Miller stated, “It went great! We worked with HRN to get our data imported and positions properly configured. We had only 20 positions and were able to use a lot of the built-in [Performance Pro] positions and competency content so things moved right along. It took only a week to get things set up the way we wanted and then we were ready to go.”
Impinj has completed three annual review cycles using Performance Pro and is about to begin their fourth.
Having up to three years of documented and centralized employee performance history available has become a notable benefit—especially when an employee is assigned to a new manager. The new manager can quickly review past performance and become familiar with employee history, strengths, and development areas.
Appraisers also commented that they liked being able to compare scores amongst all their reports to make sure rating levels were equitable across their department.
Communication Key to Success
Ms. Miller explains that the most significant benefit overall has been the enhancement of the collaborative culture of the company. “Overall communication has been enhanced across the company. Because managers meet regularly with their staff to discuss performance, employees feel acknowledgement that what they are doing is important and in line with the needs of the company. It feels less like formal performance management and more like strategic planning and execution. As a result the success of the company is a source of pride shared across all teams.”
Another benefit has been that the process and evaluation methodology are accepted as fair and equitable. Employees know all along how their performance is being measured and for what they are accountable. Performance Pro makes it easy to go online and check on a goal or to keep personal performance notes that document events, correspondence, or circumstances. Evaluations are routed up one management level for review before final approval so no one person has complete autonomy in the evaluation of an employee.
For administrators, being able to simply go online to run reports that provide any number of status updates is a big benefit. As a result, Impinj has attained 100% on-time completion of performance evaluations for the past three years.
Exceptional Customer Support
Further bolstering the overall Performance Pro value proposition is expert customer support at no additional cost. Ms. Miller concludes, “We’ve never had an access or downtime problem. HRN’s support team is exceptional and enjoyable to work with. Each year they help us pre-populate and cascade company goals and also customize the form with questions specific to our company and employees. Plus they listen to us when we have comments or suggestions for improvement. With each update Performance Pro continues improving and providing even more features and value.”
Performance Pro Customer Benefit Summary
| Customer Requirement | Performance Pro Capability | Result | Customer Benefit |
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