Self-management is the future – UK Top Employers Institute

Over 90% of UK top employers enable employees to manage, measure and evaluate their own performance processes, according to data from the UK Top Employers Institute, the ‘certifying body for workplace excellence’. Employees are now in the driving seat of performance management and are starting to own their own development by, for example, providing input for individual annual goals and performance evaluation. This UK data is supported by the picture globally as researched by the Institute, which identified “focus and collaborative evaluation” as one of four key trends across 102 countries.

James Gooding, UK country manager for the Institute, said:

‘The findings are fascinating; traditional performance management processes – where staff are rated in relation to colleagues – are on their way out. These processes have led to an unhealthy competitive culture, and ultimately increased employee disengagement.’

He continued:

‘Today’s top employers want employees to own their goals and performance, ensuring transparent, engaging and agile goal-setting. Having mutual accountability for results in place, as opposed to top-down goal cascading, supports this, while continuous dialogue, coaching and feedback creates a real-time focus on development, rather than annual or half-yearly performance review.’
UK data comes from research into 71 companies certified as Top Employers UK for 2016, and 72 companies certified as Top Employers UK in 2015. The insights are supported by the findings of the worldwide 'Top Employers HR Best Practices Survey'.