Gap Inc. encourages employees to Grow, Perform and Succeed – without ratings
In 2014, global fashion business Gap Inc. launched a new performance management process – Grow. Perform. Succeed. (GPS) – for its headquarters' employees worldwide. It’s now in the process of developing a slightly modified version for its retail store and distribution centre staff. Gone are the formal reviews and performance ratings of the past – instead, managers and employees are encouraged to have 12 informal, undocumented conversations about performance over the course of the year.
Gap Inc. believes that GPS has 'repurposed thousands of working hours and millions of dollars from tasks that did not drive performance to discussions that do'. What’s more, staff surveys suggest employees feel that the new process is providing them with better feedback, offering more opportunities to learn and driving them to higher levels of performance.
CONTENTS OF THIS NINE-PAGE CASE STUDY
Researched and written by E-reward.co.uk
- Organisation profile
- Who E-reward interviewed
- The previous process
- Five objectives for the new scheme
- Setting objectives for the new process
- A year-long journey
- Branding the new scheme
- The new GPS scheme
- A new performance standard
- A more personal goal-setting process
- Monthly “touch base” meetings
- Changes to reward
- No more ratings
- A pre-calibration discussion
- Launching the new process
- Providing training and support
- A positive response from HR . . .
- . . . and from employees
- An opportunity for HR
- Lessons learnt
- Possible future tweaks
This is the first part of a major E-reward project on 'new' approaches to performance management. It comprises a batch of in-depth case studies designed to highlight how a wide range of disparate organisations are rethinking their approach to performance management.
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