Employee Performance Metrics: 10 Important Metrics To Track In 2024

Employee performance is a very tricky concept to measure. That is why establishing clear and strong employee performance metrics is incredibly important.

And remember, we are saying this as a performance management blog! These metrics help evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of employees and provide valuable insight into areas for improvement.

In today’s fast-paced and constantly evolving business world, it’s important to stay ahead of the game and measure performance in a meaningful way.

One thing we have to keep in mind and that we here at the Teamflect blog love pointing out constantly is that employee performance is a marathon and not a sprint. In fact, it is a never-ending marathon where a new sprint is added after each one is finished.

Performance is a process. And a complicated one at that. That is why it should be analyzed as an ongoing process that demands continuous feedback. Measuring such a complicated process requires a soft hand and intricate planning.

One thing to do as a part of that planning is to establish some employee performance metrics to measure performance by. What are good performance metrics? We identified 10 of the most important employee performance metrics in this neat little list for you! Enjoy!

10 Key Employee Performance Metrics

As said above, employee performance is a marathon so you should continuously use these essential metrics to measure employee performance.

Metric 1: Productivity

Productivity, productivity, productivity. It’s the term of the century, and for good reason – a productive employee is a valuable employee. But what exactly is productivity and how do you measure it?

Productivity is a measure of the efficiency and effectiveness of an employee’s work. It can be measured in a variety of ways, including the number of tasks completed and the amount of time spent on each task.

To accurately measure productivity, it’s important to establish clear and achievable goals and objectives, and track progress toward those goals.

Productivity is one of the simplest employee performance metrics to measure and integrate into performance reviews. One of the easiest ways to track employee productivity is to have powerful task software, to keep track of and manage all the tasks.

One thing to keep in mind is that the task software of your choice should be completely in the flow of work and fully integrated into the rest of your tools. For those using Microsoft Teams, the best solution is Teamflect.

Teamflect is a fully integrated, all-in-one performance management solution that lets users keep not only set and keep track of everyone’s tasks, goals, and OKRs, but also feeds that information directly into performance reviews and intelligent Power BI reports so you never miss any key piece of data.

Metric 2: Quality of Work

The quality of work is one of the essential employee efficiency metrics. When discussing employee performance metrics, especially productivity it is really important not to run into the Stephen King problem.

When you are as prolific as Mr. King, not everything you pump out can be a Shawshank or Misery. The same goes for your employees.

If your team is focused on quantity over quality, more often than not, you will end up with a lot of “Under The Dome”s on your hands.

That is why the quality of work is one of the most important employee performance metrics you can measure. Once again, setting the right goals and tracking the right end results is the answer to measuring the quality of work as one of the key employee performance metrics.

When counting the employee performance measurement metrics, the quality of work can be evaluated in a variety of ways, including thoroughness, accuracy, and attention to detail.

To accurately measure the quality of work, consider implementing a systematic evaluation process and provide clear guidelines and standards.

Metric 3: Attendance and Punctuality

Ah, attendance and punctuality. It’s the unsung hero of performance metrics – it may seem simple, but it can have a big impact on the overall success of a company. When employees are consistently late or absent, it can disrupt workflow, lower morale, and decrease productivity.

Keeping track of attendance and punctuality as one of the employee performance metrics lets leaders gain insights into more than just who turned up late or who handed in a task later than they were supposed to.

With quiet quitting being among the top buzzwords and HR trends in the past year, attendance and punctuality function as your gateway into measuring employee engagement.

Measuring attendance and punctuality is straightforward – keep track of the number of days absent and the number of times an employee is late.

To ensure accuracy, consider implementing a time-tracking system or having a designated person responsible for tracking attendance. That being said, employee monitoring is a slippery slope.

Everybody asks the question: Can my employer spy on me via Microsoft Teams?

Just remember that the follow-up question to that is: “Should my employer spy on me via Microsoft Teams?!

The trust between an employee and an employer is very hard to build and easy to destroy. As you are trying to measure employee performance metrics such as attendance and punctuality, make sure you don’t do anything to break that trust or micromanage your team to the point of employee burnout.

Metric 4: Employee Growth

Employee growth is a hot topic, and for good reason – a growing employee is a happy employee. No, not like Frank The Plant from HBO’s Harley Quinn but we admit an office full of Franks would be a fun place to work in.

We’re talking about professional growth, development, and learning opportunities. That being said, it is a fact that training an employee, helping them grow, and promoting them, later on, is far more profitable than filling a position higher up with an external new hire.

Simply put, a developing employee is a valuable employee. As employees gain new skills and experiences, they bring a fresh perspective and innovative ideas to the workplace.

This helps to foster a positive work environment and can drive innovation within the company. That is why employee growth is one of the most important employee performance metrics your organization can measure.

Employee growth as an employee performance metric doesn’t just display the employee’s performance. It also speaks volumes to how significant and effective the training and development opportunities provided by the organization were.

Metric 5: Employee Engagement

Employee engagement is one of the crucial employee metrics to track when evaluating performance. It measures the level of commitment and involvement an employee has toward their work and the company.

Just like employee growth, this metric measures more than the employee’s performance. It also speaks to the effectiveness of the strategies your organization has implemented, regarding employee engagement. Just how engaging and simply fun is your workplace atmosphere?

A disengaged employee can negatively impact productivity, morale, and the overall company culture. On the other hand, engaged employees are more likely to be productive, motivated, and committed to their work.

So, how do you measure employee engagement? There are several methods, but the most common is through employee engagement surveys. These surveys typically ask questions related to job satisfaction, sense of purpose, and overall level of commitment to the company.

It’s important to make sure these surveys are anonymous to encourage open and honest feedback. Additionally, consider conducting focus groups or one-on-one interviews to get a more in-depth understanding of employee engagement levels.

Why is employee engagement important? It’s a key indicator of employee satisfaction and job satisfaction. A happy employee is more likely to be productive and committed to their work.

They are also less likely to leave the company, reducing turnover rates and the cost of hiring and training new employees. It goes without saying that high engagement levels lead to a positive work culture, which can have a ripple effect on other areas of the company.

Metric 6: Quantity of Work

To meet your organization’s objectives, productivity is essential because it increases morale while also boosting the number of output your employees produce. Quantity of work is linked with sales performance and the increase in profits as well.

If the quantity of work is more than satisfactory, organizations can provide employees with monetary rewards such as bonuses, salary raises, and benefits. These rewards will act as incentives to motivate employees to be more productive. You can find the metrics that are associated with the quantity of work below.

Number of Sales

With this straightforward metric, you are measuring the sum of products sold by a salesperson.  This metric is often used in retail and e-commerce. For instance, a fashion store might measure this metric with the total number of clothing items sold within a day. 

Number of leads 

For B2B SaaS businesses, the number of leads is a core employee performance KPI. The number of sales might not always be a good performance indicator for sales employees who sell B2B services or products and this is related to the lower frequency of selling.

To measure a B2B salesperson’s productivity, you can look at metrics such as the number of phone calls and sales presentations.

The number of outputs

The ideal number of outputs might change depending on the field of your organization. For example, the ideal number of outputs for manufacturing can be the outputs produced every hour.

Metric 7: Employee happiness

Employee happiness is associated with a wide array of benefits not only for the employee but also for the organization. Its benefits for organizations include an increase in productivity, customer satisfaction, sales, and a decrease in the turnover rate.

Metric 8: Goal Achievement

You should measure goal achievement for these reasons:

• To make it easier to achieve your organizational goals.
• To accurately provide compensation for individuals/teams.
• To give feedback about areas that need improvement.

When you effectively measure this metric you will have a structured approach that incorporates the involvement of managers and employees while ensuring clear communication and detailed documentation.

Metric 9: 360-degree Feedback

If you want to gain a holistic understanding of employee performance, you should incorporate 360-degree feedback into your workflow. You can gain this holistic perspective by asking for feedback from peers, colleagues, direct reports, and managers.

Your performance will be rated according to how you perform across a variety of areas, including collaboration, quality, and quantity of work. 

Metric 10: Overtime

This metric measures the number of hours an employee worked overtime in a given period. Overtime can have an impact on an employee’s mental health since it can lead to burnout and it can also negatively affect engagement, performance and result in high turnover rates.

You can calculate overtime with the formula given below:

Average overtime hours = Total overtime hours / Number of employees

Closing Words

Employee performance metrics help you evaluate and enhance workforce efficiency. Among employee performance metrics, productivity stands as a cornerstone and represents the efficiency and effectiveness of an employee’s work.

Establishing clear guidelines and implementing systematic evaluation processes ensures an accurate assessment of the essential employee efficiency metrics.

Employee growth, one of the most crucial employee metrics, highlights the significance of professional development and learning opportunities.

Employee engagement is among the most vital performance metrics and it measures the commitment and involvement of employees.

By using these performance metrics for employees in conjunction with Teamflect, you can transform your performance management and build the ideal workplace that every employee aspires to work for!