The annual review process presents a set of universal challenges that are not unique to our age, and are rooted in core principals of human nature, the influence of authority on productivity, and the rules that govern business growth. There are a few eternal review-related paradoxes we’re all familiar with in the world of HR: How can we praise employees while still driving them to grow and change? How can we scold employees without demotivating and disengaging them? How can we make sure that poorer employees are rewarded for strong year-to-year improvement, and that more productive employees aren’t punished for their lack of relative growth?

Each of these questions can be addressed by a well-developed, carefully-examined review process that matches the culture, pace, and goals of a specific industry. But there are some inherent obstacles that are specifically addressed by software platforms. The software you choose to support your company’s review strategy should help you overcome common problems like these:

1. Growth Tracking

Managers and employees should be encouraged to maintain close relationships and open communication. But no manager on earth has the memory and cross-referencing capacity needed to track the growth of multiple employees across multiple metrics from year to year to year. Your software should help you immediately identify the difference between a high score and a growing score across wide range of data points. Rely on the click of a mouse, not a manager’s brain power.

2. Objective Comparison

What defines a productive employee in your industry? If you can’t answer immediately, your software should be able to answer for you. Performance criteria should be measurable, consistent, easily referenced, and applied to all relevant employees in a meaningful way. Humans are fallible when it comes to objectivity. But software programs like emPerform are not. Yearly goal ratings, development milestones, performance feedback and comments, 360 review results – numbers don’t lie, and appropriate software modules tell it like it is.

3. Record Transfer

Managers change and HR professionals come and go. But records and metrics don’t have to change with them. Clear job descriptions and past performance reviews should be controlled, archived, and easily accessible to managers and HR by flexible software platforms, not people. To keep a management hand-off simple and error free, employee documentation should be understandable, easily accessible, and rapidly transferable to the new manager or new system.

To learn more about CRG emPerform‘s powerful performance management software, visit www.employee-performance.com and request a free trial.