Performance Management in the Gig Economy

Performance management is the process or system by which an organization measures and improves performance within its workforce. an organization may measure its performance at a different level at the organization level, at the departmental level, at the team level or at an individual level. most used elements of performance management are performance reviews, manager one-on-one, feedback, goal setting and tracking, reward and recognition and many more. Over time how leaders and organizations view performance management has been drastically changed. The video below summarizes it all (Marr, 2006). 

Source: CIPD

Businesses really need to get grips with the changing nature of work and employment. Twenty years ago the move to deploy independent workers was largely a cost play. Now it is talent play (Mizrahi, 2018). Contractors or the gig economy workers performance must not be reviewed purely on monetary forms such as costs and quality but also on soft factors like cultural fits. According to Deloitte contract workers may occupy 90% or more of an organization's true workforce.  Freelancers Union reports that as much as 40% of the US Workforce views themselves as freelancers. According to the Harvard Business Review over 50% of leaders fully expect agile talents to increase compared to the percentage of employees. Reasons for rising of the gig economy are speed, flexibility and innovation. However, most companies are yet to adapt to the changing work environment. Research by PMI shows that alignment issues, a key to the success of project deliverables. And the alignment gap is huge at performance management. So, the big challenge for HR executives and leaders is to how to tackle performance management in an environment where temporary and permenant workers are engaged in performing.

To start with encourage agile talents to communicate concerns before problems escalate. misunderstandings and poor communication may demoralise and affect performance. Making the gig workers feel they are welcomed and the service they render valued might lift their spirit and open door for more projects together. employing the same highly skilled workers for temporary jobs may ease the process of onboarding. Involving them in the decision-making process and assigning the right manager to supervise contract workers is critical in achieving higher performance from agile talent. Managers who are performance oriented might be a problem. there must be a focus on performance as well as development.

References:

Beashel, A. (2019). How to convince a potential client to sign off on your proposal. [online] Freelancers Union Blog. Available at: https://blog.freelancersunion.org/ [Accessed 30 Apr. 2019].

Disselkamp, L., Parent, D. and Nieuwoudt, W. (2019). Workforce on demand. [online] Deloitte Insights. Available at: https://www2.deloitte.com/insights/us/en/focus/human-capital-trends/2015/on-demand-workforce-human-capital-trends-2015.html [Accessed 30 Apr. 2019].

Marr, B. (2006). Strategic performance management. Amsterdam: Elsevier.

Mizrahi, O. (2018). The gig is up. Greenleaf Book Group Press.

Project Management Institute. (2014). The High Cost of Low Performance. [online] Available at: https://www.pmi.org/-/media/pmi/documents/public/pdf/learning/thought-leadership/pulse/pulse-of-the-profession-2014.pdf [Accessed 29 Apr. 2019].

Younger, J., Smallwood, N. and Goldsmith, M. (2016). Agile Talent: How to Source and Manage Outside Experts. Harvard Business Review Press.