MetroPCS: Implementing a Goal-Aligned Employee Appraisal Program
Summary
MetroPCS Communications, Inc., a provider of wireless communications services, selected a web-based employee appraisal system to help the company more strategically manage its goal-based employee appraisal process. Halogen eAppraisal™ enables MetroPCS to:
- Align employee goals with overall organizational objectives;
- Monitor the appraisal program and provide regular updates to employees; and
- Increase on-time completion within a shorter annual cycle.
Company Profile
Dallas-based MetroPCS Communications, Inc. is a provider of wireless communications services. With more than three million subscribers, MetroPCS offers customers flat rate plans with unlimited anytime local and domestic long distance minutes with no signed contract. MetroPCS is among the first wireless operators to deploy an all-digital network based on third generation infrastructure and handsets.
Challenge
With a distributed, decentralized workforce, MetroPCS’s HR team needed to find a way to more strategically manage its goal-based employee appraisal process. Until now, the company relied on a paper-based system that measured staff against personal annual goals. These goals were tied to compensation, and were intended to be SMART.
However, many goals were not aligned with overall organizational objectives, and they were not strategically planned in advance of each year. "We had the best of intentions and the determination to be world class; frankly we were less than that," said Paul McMeen, director of HR Systems for MetroPCS. "Employee goals were not always in line with our organizational objectives, and there was little pre-planning. We needed the ability to monitor the process at any time -- to look ahead and see that goals were appropriate and set on time."
It was also important to the executive team that the appraisal process be fully documented, and progress updates be available to employees. "We felt it was very important to provide every employee with concrete feedback especially at mid-year, so that employees knew where they stood in terms of performance against their goals."
Solution
MetroPCS selected web-hosted Halogen eAppraisal after carefully evaluating several employee performance and talent management vendors. Team members’ past experiences with Halogen solutions, along with Halogen’s flexible design, were key factors in the selection.
After a six-week implementation program eAppraisal was rolled out to approximately 1,000 MetroPCS employees. Halogen worked closely with MetroPCS to ensure that the user interface was comfortable for the company’s employees, and that the on-line employee evaluation forms matched the type of information they needed to gather.
"We had been implementing a number of electronic systems, so we were aware that here was a risk of an overload on employees. Because of this, we were very careful to manage the change using communication and training," said McMeen. "The biggest help to us was that Halogen was so flexible and user-friendly that we were able to make changes on the fly ourselves if issues did bubble up. Just being able to change the look and feel for our employees’ needs was helpful."
Results
MetroPCS completed an employee satisfaction survey after its first mid-year review. This survey yielded very positive results. "There was very little resistance from either managers or employees to the new system," said McMeen.
The company evaluated appraisal completion times and the percentage of appraisals completed and found a near 100 percent on-time completion rate. "Before eAppraisal our review cycle took approximately 90 days but now it’s way down," said McMeen. "However, our biggest benefit was the quality of the appraisals and the content within them and our ability to track goals. We can now ensure that strategically-aligned goals are set at the beginning of the year and that employees can track their progress against those goals at mid-year."
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