How UTI AMC Is Creating Fair Performance Evaluation System?

The success of any intervention by HR needs to be perceived by an employee as transparent, fair, and reliable. A Company may develop the most precise and sophisticated appraisal system, but if the system is not recognized by the employees, its effectiveness will be limited. As such, an employee’s perception of the fairness in their Performance Appraisal with regards to mutually set and clearly defined goals, accurate assessment, genuine feedback, opportunities for personal development, impact of the assessment on rewards etc. are critical factors to determine the success of a Performance Evaluation System.

"At UTI AMC, we strongly believe that our business excellence is a direct consequence of how we nurture our talent and performance evaluation is an integral part of this process," states Indranil Choudhury , President and Head of Human Resources of UTI AMC.

1. Performance evaluation helps identify the strengths and weaknesses of an employee and in turn the organization. What are the factors that need to be taken into consideration during performance evaluation in an organisation?

We, at UTI AMC, strongly promote a culture of meritocracy which helps build a talent pool that is not only efficient but also future-ready to take more responsibility as they move up the ladder. They are the brand ambassadors, representing the Company at various levels.

Performance evaluation has been inculcated in UTI AMC for ensuring a fair and transparent assessment with different checks and balances. But even before the process begins, knowing the evaluation criteria aids in conducting the evaluation meticulously. To be precise, for evaluations to be fruitful, internal, and external factors along with efforts put in and the outcome should be considered.

The list of criteria can be different for different companies depending upon the industry, the line of work, the role of the person in reference. Some may be tangible; some may be non-tangible. But some factors that should be considered while evaluating an employee’s performance are – level of execution, quality of work, level of creativity, desire and effort to become better and grow, revenue generated, customer and peer feedback, ability to take ownership, adhering to timelines etc.

2. An effective work ecosystem is considered to be the backbone of any organization. Therefore, how beneficial is it for an organization to invest in an effective ecosystem for the growth of their employees?

Investing in development of an Employee is of utmost importance to attract and retain talent. A solid Employee development program matters when it comes to attracting Talent. For UTI, providing growth opportunities to its employees is paramount.

When one is hired and working for the Company, we do not restrict or confine the skills of the employee to one role. When a new role, even in a different vertical is open, we offer to the existing employees and then externally if need be. The premise of this thought lies in the fact that a person might be much better or may have a different aspiration than what he or she is currently doing.

This not only retains the talent but also gives the employee the leverage of pursuing his professional passion or build their cross functional expertise.

We offer continuous training and learning opportunities through curated courses, interactions, quizzes that helps carve leaders out of our own people. Development initiatives keep Employees engaged at work thereby increasing productivity. Staying in the forefront with relevant Employee Development leads to organizations being ahead of the curve in terms of business.

3. Keeping in mind that employees are always looking to better themselves and upgrade their skills; why is it imperative to offer regular feedback to keep employees on the right track for their and the companies development?

With the workplace undergoing dramatic changes, organizations are bound to reconsider the way they operate. With the increased expansion of gig economy and specially at a time when remote work is slowly becoming more and more common, organizations should find ways and means to keep their Employees engaged and motivated for a long spell.

For UTI, one of the ways to meet this challenge is to embrace providing regular and constructive feedback and make it a part of the company culture. Breakdown of the yearly evaluation into quarter and half-yearly reviews helps in providing substantial feedback throughout the fiscal and change course whenever needed and enhance efficiency. Through the years we have gauged that majority of Employees would work harder and smarter if their efforts were being recognised.

Another aspect of it is that constructive feedback improves the work life balance in one way or another as it boosts Employee Engagement, provides clear goals & milestones to achieve and build camaraderie within teams.

4. What measures has UTI AMC taken when it comes to creating a transparent working environment for their employees as transparency is a crucial factor contributing towards an employee’s efficacy and growth?

For any personal and professional relationship to thrive, it is necessary to follow Transparency, the practice of being open and honest, no matter how challenging it might be. At UTI AMC, we encourage clear communication, collaboration and understanding of other without presence of fear. It becomes easier to know your team and perform tasks efficiently. At UTI AMC, we ensure that, there is a balance between too much transparency and not enough. We also understand that Transparency is a two-way street and have taken efforts to build a more transparent workplace. We make certain that; our Employees are updated about changes / possible changes in the organization. Our Employees are given honest and constructive feedback. The Company communicates expectations at the beginning of the year and frequently during the year. This keeps all Employees aligned on the Company goals. When Employees know what to do, how to do and who to contact, they feel more confident making for better efficiency. Information about the company performance as to how we stack up as compared to our goals is also shared with our Employees. Important decisions taken by the Management are explained and Employees are encouraged to ask questions and share their feedback. This encourages teamwork and Employee

satisfaction. The culture of transparency helps our Employees to think outside the box while performing their jobs. We strongly believe that, initiating transparency leads to increased trust, dedication and a productive workforce.

5. The morale of the employees is directly related to the way they are evaluated. What is your view on fair performance evaluation and how does it impact the morale of the employees?

Companies are taking efforts to change their performance management systems viz. dispensing with the “forced curve” ranking systems and digging deeply into employee data for clues as to what would drive motivation and performance. Amid the experimentation, research suggests that there is definitely a performance management issue that is hiding – its fairness. A fair performance evaluation is considered to be effective when it transparently links Employees’ goals to business priorities with an element of flexibility, invests in coaching the managers and rewards outstanding performance with differential compensation.

Organizations expect Employees to respond quickly to changes in the volatile competitive environment, always be agile and collaborative, a desire for recognition and fairness is only natural.

Current Talent craves for regular, timely, accurate and growth-oriented feedback. They do not believe in waiting until an annual evaluation. When Employees receive regular attention, recognition and guidance, they tend to be more engaged and productive. The very reason to evaluate Employees is to motivate them, as through the exercise, the Supervisor has a chance to reinforce things an Employees does well and provide correction and planning for areas that need improvement. Appraisals help assess Employee’s performance and abilities on criteria important to the job. The general goal is to help Employees understand the current status relative to the optimum level of performance required for the job.

Motivation is internal. A Supervisor’s role is to provide stimulus that would help trigger an Employee’s internal drive. The stimulus begins with goal setting which include personal development objectives of the Employee. Specific, quantified, realistic, challenging and measurable goals work best to motivate an Employee. Specific methods of evaluation also relate to morale where you reinforce the strengths and positive attributes of the Employee. Employees feel better when they know that their efforts are getting recognized. The most challenging aspect of motivation and morale is critical communication on areas of weakness or low performance. As an effective appraiser, one needs to convey this aspect by discussing specific training and coaching needs and set a plan for helping the Employee develop in areas of weakness.

6. High-performing employees are the key to any organization’s growth. What do you think is the key to retaining high performing employees and how should an organization approach it?

A comprehensive employee retention program acts as a key differentiator in a competitive tough talent market. Organizations are ramping up efforts to retain valuable Employees in the situation of ongoing talent gap issues. Currently, there is talent shortage which is expected to grow in the coming three to five years as hiring is becoming more and more difficult.

Organizations needs to focus on retaining their Employees as they are on hiring new talent if they want to maintain the talent they need. To achieve high Employee retention rates, it is necessary to create the right culture with competitive compensation and flexible work options. Retaining top

talent requires multiple strategies to boost retention and give organization an advantage in the current talent war. Few retention strategies that UTI adapts for retaining talent are – Identifying Employees that stay the course and share your outlook, provide clear goals, on-going learning and development opportunities, competitive compensation and bright paths to advancement and implement remote working options for certain roles.

Remember, it is also very important for any organization to use available in-house data and information from market to identify who is most likely to leave, why would they jump the ship, what is market offering and take prevention steps.

At times, attrition is inevitable. In such scenarios, Organizations must be prepared to lose top talent. Succession Planning should be the key for senior level and critical roles. For other roles, organizations can look at being active in campuses, participate in forums and conferences, write publications, hold symposiums to have a strong positive presence and be visible.

7. Do you believe that an organization can change the way an employee performs through effective coaching and intrinsic rewards such as personal growth and a sense of progress on the job?

One can see a decline in the material or extrinsic rewards. Importance of psychic or intrinsic rewards is the more preferred one. Motivational dynamics have changed so as to indicate new work requirements and changed Employee expectations. Unlike extrinsic rewards, coaching and building intrinsic motivation is a line management responsibility. In order to build a culture supporting high engagement levels and intrinsic rewards, organizations should look at this as a top-down approach and focus on training and coaching as an important part of embedding intrinsic motivation and engagement into the culture. Adopting a top-down approach would help convey the same message by highlighting the intrinsic rewards that the organization will bring Employee contribution to the forefront and recognise good work of Employees.

For instance, UTI uses blended learning methods and programmes are planned in a manner that builds expertise in his/her own chosen career. There is an initiative, Quiz Up that assesses knowledge on the products related to the Company’s products, mutual fund industry and related concepts. On participation, the employees earn points which can be redeemed towards knowledge enhancement. We also have an Educational Assistance Policy that enables employees to take us higher professional studies.

8. How important is it for organizations to explore alternative, more modern approaches to performance evaluation?

From scientific management to Balanced Scorecard, performance evaluation has evolved over a period. Year 2020 has been a turning point for Performance Management. Changes due to pandemic has caused a seismic shift in the way performance is managed. The long-awaited changes that were required in performance management happened over night.

With economic reforms, new geo-political developments and stiff market competition is all together adding to the increasing talent attrition. With the issues of ageing workforce, demand for niche skills, the cost of talent is going to increase by the day. The key focus of top companies would therefore be on retaining critical talent. All these issues would prompt organisations to adopt a focus rewards philosophy that is unique and differentiated and at the same time aligned to business

and talent objectives. Given the nuances of Mutual Fund business and talent propositions, organizations will have to adopt the best HR practices to march ahead of competition.