In these times of needing to do more with less, and operate more efficiently, do you need to make a business case for streamlined Performance Appraisal and Development Review processes, making best use of technology? We think that the case is a strong one, as we outline in 7 key points in this issue of Thinking….HR.
Point 1 – Performance Appraisal and Development Review (PADR) is primarily there to enable a ‘Competent and Capable Workforce’; e-PADR will empower this!
A key benefit in the case for this is to provide staff and manager level access to Performance Appraisal and learning via online technology, in order to capture and evidence in real time, a competent and capable workforce. Our friends at the NHSL Litigation Authority (NHSLA), the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and Skills for Health would probably agree.
e-PADR will empower and further enable this where staff on AfC employment contracts, with their appraisers, use online tools for interactive Performance Appraisal, KSF Development Review, personal development planning to show where they are trained, competent and capable, and access the integrated diagnostic control system available to identify when to freeze pay where staff are identified as ‘not yet’ competent or capable of doing their jobs.
Point 2 – You can deliver and evidence a competent and capable workforce for effective patient care through the use of electronic PADR.
Highlighting the need to do Performance Appraisal is referred to in the new KSF guidance document and this is linked to the strong research evidence by Borrill and West at Aston University where appraisal, training and team working, came out as the TOP THREE HR interventions to improve mortality and patient care. Therefore, in system terms, if you have systematic (electronic) Performance Appraisal linked to (electronic) learning (training) through your Learning Management System (LMS), and via an electronic Personal Development Review and Plan (PDP), patient mortality and your general risk profile will improve!
Point 3 – If you can’t evidence competence and capability, you’re at risk and so are your patients.
In order to do this across the organisation there is a requirement to have this structured and integrated so that you get effective learning needs analysis, and that organisational compliance requirements can be demonstrated, individual requirements addressed, and ultimately any risks minimised.
In reference to the HR interventions that improve patient mortality and patient care, there is a parallel between the way that staff are structured, particularly in TEAMS in the electronic environment, how they are then APPRAISED and the outcomes electronically recorded (risks identified), how they are TRAINED (risks minimised), and tracked through the electronic PDP and LMS.
Point 4 – An electronic approach will let you manage your performance and learning management processes more efficiently and accurately.
As an example, the diagram below shows how using an online tool can be used to assign a competency profile that they are reviewed against, along with Performance Appraisal Objectives and a Personal Development Plan (PDP) that integrates to an online LMS. Through the online approach training, work-based learning and e-learning can be recorded and reported.
Along with the NHSLA, the NHS Staff Survey also asks how effective Performance Appraisal and Development Review is within your organisation through the questions that inform key findings 13, 14 and 15. I.e. Have you had an appraisal? Was it any good? (NB My question asking “Why should your staff engage in Performance Appraisal?“) Also, did you have a PDP?
An electronic PADR process delivers the answers to those NHS Staff Survey questions, and the PDP is not only a personal development planning tool but also an organisational training/learning requirements tool, in the form of the organisational TNA, that informs what training needs to be done (e.g. induction, fire safety, medical device training, risk management training etc).
When using integrated electronic systems, competence and capability can then be evaluated at a number of levels: Did they attend the training or access the e-learning? Did they understand it? Are they now competent and do they have the skills required of them? Finally, what is the impact on the team, department or organisation as a whole, including ROI and value-add?
The previous diagram summarises an electronic approach with the PDP integrated to the Learning Management System, the learning history can be seen by the appraiser and the organisation, showing what has been completed and when it is due again in the future.
- It’s only through an electronic PDP that you have any chance of capturing and analysing learning data for risk management.
- It’s only in an electronic PDP that the organisational training needs from the TNA, can be ‘pushed’ to the PDP by the LMS for action by the appraisee and managed for compliance by the appraiser.
Point 5 – What are you measuring when training or e-learning is delivered? Do you bother measuring at all?
Is it who attended or completed? Is it whether they understood what was delivered? Is it whether the knowledge and skills are being applied in the workplace? Is it whether it has improved organisational performance? Or is it whether you are getting any financial return from it?
Remember, it’s not just about training; there are a range of learning interventions to develop staff such as classroom-based learning, e-learning, work-based learning, coaching, and various competency-based development approaches etc. All of these can be tracked through an electronic PADR, a PDP and evaluated at the appropriate level within the LMS.
Point 6 – If your appraisal and learning systems a) don’t integrate to deliver learning/training needs analysis to a PDP and evaluation, and b) don’t show where staff are compliant, and are not compliant, are you not a high risk organisation?
If I take it from a personal perspective using the NHS as a service; what if one of your staff accidently kills one of my relatives in hospital, when after an investigation and root cause analysis, the learning record of that staff member shows that they were trained but not assessed in terms of understanding on how to apply a particular medical device or procedure? Even worse, what if they were appraised and there was no reference to the training need or training in the PDP??
There are no excuses as the NHS now have centralised staff records and payroll using ESR in England and Wales, and SWISS in Scotland, there is the e-KSF tool for use in organisational Performance Appraisal and Development Review (PADR), and Learning Management Systems such as the OLM and AT-Learning.
Point 7 – Finally, there are some real cash-releasing benefits through the use of an integrated electronic Performance Appraisal and Development Review (e-PADR), including:
- Reduced insurance premiums (through risk pooling in the NHS).
- Reduced cost of training and e-learning.
- Reduced centralised administration costs through employee self-service functionality.
Let’s work together to further build the NHS business case for e-PADR – what are your ideas?
Shaun Wilde
Director of Workforce Services