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CATEGORY COLUMNISTS

How to use key performance indicators for employees

By Pam McKean, Director, AB Dental & Medical Employment Agency

Pam McKean

K ey Performance Indicators, or ‘KPIs’, are a common tool used to manage employees, but unfortunately, they often get a bad rap from both managers and workers for being onerous, inappropriate and time-consuming to enforce and assess. So why do businesses still use them? Many employers use KPIs to compare employee impact to pro t margins. Yet, things aren’t that simple. e numbers and the bottom line are important. Yet, the quality of an employee’s work doesn’t have to a ect them. We wholeheartedly recommend using di erent key performance indicators for employees to measure the quality of their work, rather than only quantity. is may mean you’ll have to experiment with task delegation and employee motivation. ese activities take some creativity and a bit more time. Yet, they are more useful in the long run. is is true since they’ll allow you to improve the way your employees see both the practice and you as a manager. Here are some of the bene ts of implementing well-de ned KPIs: Clear goals and achievements equals immeasurable value Both the employee, you or your manager, and the business as a whole, have an understanding of what the role is supposed

to achieve. e employee knows what to spend their hours doing, the manager is aware of whether the employee is on the right track, and the employer can assess the employee’s contribution to the business. It may sound obvious but consider the reverse: an employee who isn’t sure what job they’re supposed to perform so they only do the tasks they enjoy or have traditionally undertaken, a manager who isn’t comfortable directing the employee to performdi erent tasks or disciplining them for poor performance, and an employer who never points out an employee’s performance because there’s nothing to assess them against. is happens more often than you think, especially in support roles where duties like assisting the dentist, seem obvious and you the manager think ‘how could they not knowwhat their job is?’ A well-thought-out KPI structure can add immeasurable value to the business in terms of con dence, productivity, and e ciency. Smoother performance management With KPIs to compare against, an employee can be performance managed quicker and with less risk to the business. It is important to have a clear set of expectations that can be easily identi ed if an employee meets those criteria. Without KPIs, an employer will nd it di cult to take performance management action against an employee: these employers will need to implement an additional time-consuming step of outlining their expectations of the employee and their role before further action can be taken such as a performance improvement plan. It can also lead to complications if there is a dismissal. Additionally, clearly communicated KPIs help performance discussions to be undertaken more e ciently, reducing allegations of individual managers acting unfairly or capriciously, or concerns that the business has “moved the goalposts” in respect of the expectations. A sense of purpose Particularly when combined with a job description, KPIs can give employees a sense of purpose, an understanding of where they t into the structure of the

practice, and the importance of their contributions. KPIs help the employees to aim for goals, to push themselves and their teams, to reach and exceed expectations, and understand where their performance is lacking so it can be improved upon. KPIs are especially important in the current environment with some employees working from home, to o er a strong sense of purpose and structure. KPIs should be drafted as obtainable, appropriate, and realistic goals that re ect the employee’s experience and seniority, the purposes of the business, and the nature of the industry. KPIs can be exible, expressed as ranges or with stretch goals, and if identi ed to be unrealistic, should be amended to better suit the employee and employer. How you de ne KPIs will heavily depend on the role. Roles with sales components may be measured by the number of patient conversions or sales they make, while support roles may be assessed on accuracy, missed appointments, patient satisfaction results or the number of overdue accounts you have. As such, KPIs must be carefully considered, clearly de ned, and continuously monitored. It’s a mutually bene cial arrangement: KPIs which are well-considered and consistently relied upon can provide substantial bene ts to both the employee and the business in terms of productivity, e ciency and transparency. u PamMcKean is the Director of AB Dental & Medical Employment Agency. The company has been in operation for over 22 years. In that time, AB Dental & Medical has grown into the country’s leading recruitment agency for the dental industry, servicing all sectors from government, corporate and private practice. Currently, services including supply of temporary, contract and permanent employees. As professional recruiters, AB Dental & Medical can manage as much as ližle of the recruitment process as required, even if only providing advice. AB Dental & Medical services over 3,000 businesses with recruiting

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