Thank you for your recognition that Employee performance management is an important tool successfully used by best in class companies.
As you state, and I agree, many best in class companies also use objective measures of employee performance as well, including mystery shopping programs. I also agree that when used correctly and positively, this type of program can objectively measure employee performance on an ongoing basis, allowing managers to provide feedback and additional training where needed as issues arise versus waiting for a performance review.
While mystery shopping will measure employee performance in an objective manner, it cannot tell the company WHY the employee is not doing the job properly. Was it a training issue? Is it a management issue? Unless job fit is determined, all we can see is the fact, yes, through mystery shopping, that the performance is lagging when compared to company standards and objectives. However, the real information needed is WHY the performance may not be known at this time.
What you will see in our next post is the relationship between Job fit (a.k.a job match), productivity and turnover. Once a standard of success for a particular position is established, it becomes much easier to define the ‘WHY’ component of success in any position in any company.
Thanks again for your comment!
Sincerely,
Dave McCaffrey
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Biography of Dave McCaffrey:
Before becoming a strategic partner of Profiles International™, Dave McCaffrey built a thirty year career in the fast food, convenience store, vending, and Office Coffee Service segments, ultimately holding senior segment management positions at Oscar Mayer, Kraft Foods, and Starbucks Coffee Company.
Over his career, he developed successful relationships with corporate clients such as ARAMARK, Compass Group, Circle K, 7-Eleven and Standard Coffee Service Company, as well as many regional and local independent businesses in the foodservice industry. Dave also grew and enjoyed productive relationships with brokerage and distributive components, as well as segment specific media and national associations of each unique foodservice segment.
Dave feels his greatest professional (and personal) accomplishment of his successful corporate career was the fact that many of the people that he managed were able to move up to their own managerial responsibility. His own management experience gave him the understanding of the benefit of accurate personnel assessments as quality tools for developing key employee engagement and effectiveness.
Having received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Wisconsin, he also earned an Associate Degree in Marketing from the Madison Area Community College.
Actively involved in many volunteer capacities, Dave is a member of several commissions at Immaculate Conception Parish (Elmhurst, IL) In addition, Dave and his wife Rita actively mentor engaged couples participating in the Joliet (IL) Diocese pre-marriage program.
Dave and his wife Rita (Flad), both from Madison WI, have been married for forty+ years (’67), and have lived in Elmhurst, Illinois, for over ten years. They have two daughters, both of whom live and work in the Chicago area.
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September 20th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
Totally agree that mysteryshoppers are there only to provide objective overview of performance.
There is however, some degree of possibility of finding out “why” if the parameters of the mysteryshop are wide enough.
Mysteryshoppers report what the company ask for.
If the company does not ask for the “why” it will not be noted by the mysteryshopper.
Paid To Shop http://paidtoshop.zoxic.com
September 22nd, 2008 at 2:40 pm
Dear PaidToShop: I think what I am suggesting is the employer of those employees noted for performance issues by a shopper only know the issue happened, not WHY the employee did not perform as hoped for (or trained) by the company.
Same might be said of your shoppers? Some do very well, and some not so well. More than likely you know which group is which, but do you know WHY they were not equal to the task? They all went through the same hiring/enrollment process, right?
How come “some do….but others (larger %?) don’t”.
It may have to do with job fit, which is a combination of learning skill, behavioral traits, and interest levels of the individual, and how they match those successful in the job.