Microsoft removes ratings and encourages collaboration

In 2013, Microsoft took a big step. It removed its previous system of performance management – which used a process known as 'stack ranking' to divide employees into five performance categories along a targeted distribution of ratings – and replaced it with a new approach to performance and development that emphasises collaboration, feedback and rewards for impact. According to Lisa Dodge, Director – Global Performance Programmes, the change – now covering its 112,00-strong workforce worldwide – has brought positive results, with over two-thirds of employees and managers expressing satisfaction with the company’s new approach in staff surveys.

CONTENTS OF THIS SEVEN-PAGE CASE STUDY

Research and written by E-reward.co.uk

• Organisation profile
• Who E-reward interviewed
• A new company culture
• The old approach to performance management . . .
• . . . and the new approach to performance and development
• The three priorities
• Deliver results differently through teamwork
• Feedback that helps you learn, grow and deliver results
• Reward contributions to business impact
• Connects
• Framing the Connect conversation
• Structuring the Connect process
• Monitoring Connects
• Providing support for managers
• Leveraging and contributing
• Reward decisions
• Managers feel in control
• Talent management
• A positive response

This is the second 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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