Your raise is now based on next year's performance

Latimes

Your raise is now based on next year's performance"


Play all audios:

Loading...

Maybe past performance isn’t the best predictor of future success. At IBM, when performance review time rolls around, employees get judged not only on their past accomplishments and failures


but also on how they might perform in the future. How can IBM predict the future? In a word: Watson. Using artificial intelligence, Watson Analytics looks at an employee’s experiences and


projects to infer the potential skills and qualities each person might have to serve IBM in the future. Watson also scours IBM’s internal training system to see if an employee has gained new


skills. Managers then take Watson’s assessment rating into account as they make bonus, pay and promotion decisions. “Traditional models said if you were a strong performer in your current


job, that was the singular way that you got a promotion,” said Nickle LaMoreaux, vice president for compensation and benefits at IBM. “Well, we certainly still care about performance,” she


said. But that now includes hypothetical future performance, too. IBM claims Watson has a 96% accuracy rate, as compared with IBM’s internal analysis with HR experts. The company spot-checks


employee performance against its predictions. Historically, employers used past accomplishments as the sole metric for compensation decisions, premised on the idea that the past is


prologue. The method worked when job tasks stayed relatively static over time, but “the half-life of skills is getting shorter and shorter,” LaMoreaux said. What employees could do yesterday


matters less than what they can potentially do tomorrow. To motivate employees to learn new skills, more employers are starting to focus on the future during evaluations. A survey of more


than 2,000 organizations by the consulting firm Willis Towers Watson found that more than 40% of respondents are planning on or considering changing the focus of performance management to


include future potential and possession of skills. The shift to skills-based performance management is motivated, in part, by employers that say they’re struggling with a skills gap. A


National Federation of Independent Business survey from June found that more than one-third of small businesses have open positions. The existence of a worker shortage is debatable.


Employers claim they can’t find the right people, but they also haven’t raised wages much, indicating they’re not trying very hard. IBM, for one, says it can’t find enough candidates with


the right skills to fill its jobs, especially for its technology roles. The company shows its current employees what positions it needs filled and what skills are needed to do those jobs, so


they know what type of training to undertake to get high performance ratings. IBM claims employees take an average of almost 60 hours of education each year. Not all companies use analytics


to predict their employees’ futures. The Intern Group, an internship matching organization with 80 employees, ranks its workers on what it believes are the 15 skills — such as flexibility


and communication — needed to succeed in the next 100 years. The company has used the rating system to identify what Chief Executive David Lloyd calls its top 10% future talent, a group of


people the company will do “whatever it takes” to keep, Lloyd said. These theoretical future high performers benefit from internal mentorship, job rotation opportunities and compensation


rewards, which suggests the rankings are a self-fulfilling prophecy. Still, Lloyd argues that focusing on these skills will serve all employees. “We are preparing our employees for the


skills that are necessary in the future,” Lloyd said. “That’s going to be relevant whether your future lies in our company or not.” GREENFIELD WRITES FOR BLOOMBERG. MORE TO READ


Trending News

CHRISTOPHER STEVENS reviews last night's TV: You know you're posh when your pet mongoose nabs HM's choccies

Advertisement Starbucks' makes shock U-turn after years of job cuts and plunging sales Revealed: Air India pilot's despe...

PM Narendra Modi plans to reach out to 22 cr beneficiaries via app

LATESTWEBSTORYTRENDINGKarisma Kapoor’s ex-husband Sunjay Kapur dies of heart attack at 53DNA TV Show: Why is take off th...

Doctor Convicted of Fatal Overprescribing

A former Air Force doctor was convicted in Pensacola of causing the deaths of five patients by overprescribing highly po...

Crunch won't end without reform - Los Angeles Times

L.A. Times Archives Nov. 16, 2008 12 AM PT Share via Close extra sharing options Email Facebook X LinkedIn Threads Reddi...

SARS meaning: What does SARS mean in Nigeria? Why are they protesting? | World | News | Express.co.uk

SARS meaning: What does SARS mean in Nigeria? Why are they protesting?SARS protests have erupted in Nigeria this month, ...

Latests News

Your raise is now based on next year's performance

Maybe past performance isn’t the best predictor of future success. At IBM, when performance review time rolls around, em...

Edinburgh festival podcast: a-team – the musical and justin moorhouse

Don't you just love it when a plan comes together? Today's podcast is positively dynamite thanks to the stars ...

Janhvi kapoor stuns in all-black casual look, rumoured boyfriend shikhar pahariya reacts

Janhvi Kapoor dropped stunning photos from 'golden hour' and it attracted her rumoured boyfriend Shikhar Pahar...

404 Page not found – Firstpost

HomeVideo ShowsVantageFirstpost AmericaFirstpost AfricaFirst SportsWorldExplainersNewsIndiaOpinionCricketTechEntertainme...

Tyson fury net worth: how much will fury earn from wwe crown jewel?

Tyson Fury makes his wrestling bow against Braun Strowman at WWE Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia. The boxing star was in the...

Top