Solving Employee Performance Problems: How to Spot Problems Early, Take Appropriate Action, and Bring Out the Best in Everyone

Chapter 9Measuring Performance to Spot Problems Early

Now that we know better, we must do better.

—Dr. Maya Angelou

In past years, most supervisors used one way to measure their employees’ performance on the job. They did this by measuring how busy everyone stayed and the hours they put in on the job. Did people clock in and clock out on time; how much time did they stay after official work hours? Were people serious about their work and not having any fun? When employees had fun on the job, bosses thought that this suggested a lack of performance and productivity. It was once believed that no one could have fun at work and still be productive. Fun was just a sign of workers goofing off. Of course, those were the days when managers had an assembly-line ...