Sharing Performance Data
SteveRecently on software company 37signals Signals vs. Noise blog, the team at 37signals shared an image a recent data set of customer support ratings, or evaluations of their customer's satisfaction with the support experience they had received. A copy of the chart is below, apologies for the low resolution, the original image is also located here.
What is interesting to me about the chart is not so much that 37signals had received over 90% positive responses from their customers, but rather that the company shared specific satisfaction scores attributable to individual employees in the organization.
Of course any organization that achieves (or at least wants to portray) superior customer satisfaction and service marks is more that happy to share that information with the market, with prospects, the press, and the public; but it is unusual if not unprecedented to share these kinds of results with the kind of specific attribution that we see in the above chart, i.e. 'Ann received a 96/100 positive ratings'.
Sure, individual ratings for customer support, call center, inside sales, and other types of organizational functions are often shared internally, to be used to spur competition, to provide some motivation to raise the bar of company performance, or even as a basis for a bonus or other prize. But public, especially on popular blogs, displays of internal, personal performance related data are rare indeed.
The closest comparison I can think of comes from the local supermarket, where I often see individual 'Items scanned per minute' charts posted on the front wall of the store, usually in between the Redbox and the Coinstar machines.
If you were recruiting for customer service reps for a competing software company, or for cashiers for a new retail establishment, I imagine having access to this kind of raw, verified, and informative data might be quite valuable. Why would you need to vet a customer service reps references, when you could just access their real performance data on the corporate website?
It could be that I am making too much out of this little chart the 37signals shared, and I know no one except the grocery store staff cares about the 'items per minute' charts, but I do wonder if these kinds of public displays of performance will one day become more common.
We have LinkedIn recommendations, BranchOut endorsements, and even old-school style reference calls; but all of these have at least some amount of gray area, partial truth, and elements of uncertainty about them.
But raw 'Items per minute' and customer service evaluations, well, those are as real as it gets. If I were a star customer service rep or cashier (sadly I am neither), I would want my proof of high performance plastered on the real or virtual wall for all to see. Those scores might land me my next gig, or help me get better terms on my current deal.
What do you think? Do you anticipate these kinds of raw, normally internal employee performance metrics to get more public airing in the future?
Care to share the results of your last performance review with the world?
Reader Comments (7)
I think "Those scores might land me my next gig, or help me get better terms on my current deal."
Very interesting post Steve. I love the notion of putting your results out there, particularly in a healthcare setting. Sharing your patient satisfaction data with your patients is a great way to take credit for a job well done; or, to motivate the team to improve. I do not expect a flood of organizations to move in this direction though. I'm guessing they'll feel a bit too threatened by the move toward transparency.
37 Signals are great. Their book, ReWork, is, though deliberately controversial, as entertaining as it is illuminating. The idea of systematically publishing human capital data, warts and all, happens to be a passion of mine. In the UK, we had a move by the Gov back in 2005 called Accounting for People which made the case - both for the benefit of the business (to investors, shareholders) to externally present info about their best assets, as well as to attract and retain talent. It was pulled, controversially, when big business realised that as a law it would reveal just how little they did for their people. Same time, investors, who are the ones who tell CEO's and CFO's - not HR, who don't have a say in company reporting - what to report. The irony here - sickening but true - was that investors don't want to know the real long term future looking people potential of a business - that would make the share prices too stable, and hit their business which is all about designed volatility. So investors don't ask, and business is scared to say anyway. Which brings me to my point - at last! - I think HR should bypass company reports and make as much of this data available as possible. Blog it, publish it, join with others to share reporting best practice and build and define standards. Some - very few - investors are turning against short termism and looking for this stuff to help offer a true value of a company - some companies are also refusing to join stock exchanges because they are geared up to misjudge them rather than take a real people centred view. If you want more info, we resurrected Accounting for People 2.0 here http://www.accountingforpeople.org/ and are putting together the business case for investors, HR and business leaders to open up and reap the rewards for a new way of valuing business.
@Kevin - Thanks my friend.
@Jay - Thanks , that is a great example of a useful application of this kind of performance transparency
@Stuart - Thanks for sharing that information and for the link to the Accounting for People site. Very interesting project.
It's akin to going to one Cubs game a year and thinking you has seen enough to evaluate Tyler Colvin. If he goes 2-4, you will think he is a star. No need to see his season long batting average, homeruns, etc. Making a call after watching it once just likes a teacher eval.
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Nice information. What is interesting to me about the chart is not so much that 37signals had received over 90% positive responses from their customers, but rather that the company shared specific satisfaction scores attributable to individual employees in the organization. I am making too much out of this little chart the 37signals shared, and I know no one except the grocery store staff cares about the 'items per minute' charts, but I do wonder if these kinds of public displays of performance will one day become more common. I appreciate your constructive reminders to us all to be polite and comment. I have truly enjoyed your thoughtful approach to each topic. individual ratings for customer support, call center, inside sales, and other types of organizational functions are often shared internally, to be used to spur competition, to provide some motivation to raise the bar of company performance, or even as a basis for a bonus or other prize. But public, especially on popular blogs, displays of internal, personal performance related data are rare indeed.
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