VCC Celebrates Performance Through Automation

Meet Candice

Candice Offonry is the Talent Acquisition Specialist at VCC. She has been part of their four-person HR team for nearly three years. Candice is heavily involved with the performance management process and sets up all of their performance review cycles internally. 

About VCC

VCC is a full-service commercial general contractor, headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas. The company focuses on commercial construction projects and prides itself on delivering excellence in construction and exceeding their client’s needs. The organization has around 300 employees and it’s been in business since the late 1980s. 

The Challenge

Prior to using PerformYard, VCC did not have a formal system in place for performance management. They were running a single annual review which consisted of a conversation between employees and their managers. During the meeting, managers would complete a paper form with ratings for competencies and technical skills. They would choose between exceeds expectations, meets expectations, or needs improvement. 

“There wasn’t a culture of feedback or recognition,” said Candice, “the form was more of a check sheet through which employees would be ranked according to their technical skills and the quality of their work.” She described the previous approach as “not a true process”, and the leadership at VCC wanted to create something more robust.

Why PerformYard

The executive leadership team was impressed by the possibilities of working with Performyard. “We didn't realize the full potential we could have with performance management software before we saw PerformYard,” Candice said.

VCC was looking for a platform that was user-friendly with a great interface and the ability to capture 360 reviews, recognition, succession planning, and reporting. “Across the board, everyone really liked the interface,” Candice said. “We were able to customize the system to our specific needs.” Cost-effectiveness also played a role in the final decision. “In addition to meeting all of our needs, PerformYard was also at a great price point for our company.”

The Process

Today VCC’s performance management process centers on an annual review and a mid-year check-in. The annual-review is the more intensive process with a 360 review, manager review and a self-review. The mid-year check-in is similar but without the 360 review.

The raters in the 360 reviews are selected by the managers. Their feedback form asks for straightforward and honest opinions on their interactions with the subject. “If they worked on a project together, the rater shares where that employee excels, areas for improvement and any open-ended feedback,” said Candice.

The annual review forms are based on the paper-based form they once had. All of the forms look at technical skills, work quality, communication skills, interpersonal skills, approach to work, strengths, and areas for improvement. People working in the field may have questions about safety, quality, and scheduling. “Now, all of our forms are tailored to a specific job function,” explained Candice.

VCC employees also have the opportunity to set goals at any point in their review cycle. These are updated in PerformYard through the review form and discussed in the reviews. Employees work with their managers to create a mix of individual and departmental goals. Some can be quarterly, some can be long-term, and some can be project-specific for employees in the field.

For the past six months, VCC has also been using PerformYard’s integration with Slack, through which they created a kudos channel for ongoing spontaneous feedback. “Turning that company-wide recognition feature on and letting us share all the great things people are doing definitely increases morale within the company,” Candice said.

Candice shared her appreciation for being kept informed about new features that add value to their performance management process.

“PerformYard always keeps me informed about new features and shares knowledge on how we, HR professionals, can improve our processes”

Results

VCC uses the data in PerformYard to look at high potential employees and track their progress and growth. “It's a great way to really recognize and watch who could be potential leaders in the company in the future,” Candice said. “One of the great things at VCC is that, whenever possible, we promote from within.”

VCC also uses PerformYard to see how the company is progressing towards their goals and how those align to the overall mission and values. “Being able to track these goals makes it more real,” Candice said. “It helps us make sure that we're always looking at how we can improve, we can now better measure our successes.”

Candice is happy with where VCC has arrived with their performance management process now that they’ve been through a few review cycles with PerformYard. “We now have a way to look at performance across the company year over year. We’re also at a point where we can keep making every review cycle better and better as we move along.”