#4 Performance reviews

Related to last week's topic of employee training are employee performance reviews. Telephone recording is not the solution most managers think of when they are thinking about performance reviews, however it is a solution that every manager should now consider and I'll explain why:

If you manage staff that do a large portion of their work on the phone then telephone recording represents the most cost-effective, fair, and consistent way to improve your performance review process. Here's how telephone recording does this:

1. All calls made by your staff are recorded.
2. You set what parameters need to be met to achieve high performance.
3. You create a QC test in the telephone recording software that measures those parameters
   
4. A supervisor listens to a random sample of recorded calls for each employee
5. The supervisor grades each call in a few clicks based upon your QC test
6. The telephone recording software averages the grades for the period of time you set
7. You pull a report showing the employee's progress for that time period
8. The report lets you know how that employee compared to their past results and the department
9. You increase motivation by rewarding top performers and improvement
10. You increase performance by setting precise and measurable goals with each employee based upon exactly the parameters they need to improve.

A Versadial telephone recording system typically costs a few thousand dollars for an entire branch or department and will function with similar maintenance costs and needs as a Windows based PC. Training costs are negligible because you can have your entire staff trained to use the software in a half hour. For these reasons alone a telephone recorder merits serious consideration if you are interested in improving the motivation and performance of your staff.