ForViva scraps ‘costly’ annual appraisals for real-time Check-Ins

The North West-based organisation, which was established in 2015 bringing together City West Housing Trust, Villages Housing Association, ForLiving and property services company Liberty, decided to remove employee annual appraisals and interim reviews as they were proving costly both in terms of time and resource while areas for improvement were based on past performance rather than forward-looking conversations.

Check-Ins, available as part of MHR’s industry-leading software iTrent, provides a real-time platform for individuals and their managers at ForViva to choose the frequency and format of conversations about performance, job satisfaction and personal wellbeing, enabling issues to be identified and addressed early with feedback continually tied to corporate and individual goals.

More regular conversations will help managers drive employee engagement and motivation, and eliminate ‘flight risk’ by identifying demotivated people at the earliest opportunity.

Debbie Attwood, group director of people at ForViva said: “We’re excited about the implementation of Check-Ins, and the savings and efficiencies it will generate. Our old PDR process created a mountain of paperwork, ate up valuable time, and was more of a box-ticking exercise rather than a meaningful conversation with employees about their performance and nurturing their development which is essential for our long-term future.

“Switching to Check-Ins will save hundreds of hours in administration time while supporting our forward-focused outlook by allowing more regular dialogue between individuals and managers so we are always working towards delivering outcomes and addressing performance in real-time rather than retrospectively. Employees will now have a minimum of six check-ins per year, meaning they are always working towards clearly defined goals.”

Anton Roe, Chief Executive Officer at MHR comments:  “We are delighted to support a forward thinking organisation in ForViva that places its people at the heart of its strategy and is looking to adopt the latest technologies to gain a strategic advantage.

“Making the transition from annual appraisals to continuous Check-Ins will deliver significant cost savings, deliver consistency to a critical business process and empower managers to continually hold meaningful and quality conversations with their people, which in turn will improve retention and overall performance.”

Last year, research by YouGov commissioned by MHR into the perception of annual appraisals by employees, found that 54% of people who have had an appraisal at their current job described them as “pointless” or “time-consuming”.

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