Employee performance shows how well employees are doing their jobs and contributing to company goals. It refers to the results people deliver, like quality of work, meeting deadlines, customer satisfaction, and others.
Regular employee performance assessments help companies spot gaps to prevent risks from escalating and offer development opportunities. But to accurately assess employee performance and take further steps, data-backed metrics are essential.
The importance of measuring employee performance
Employee performance data gives a solid reference for objective feedback and not only. It can be the basis for engagement and productivity improvements. Employee performance data also helps define:
- Individual expectations and their fit with the company’s objectives
- Growth needs and support required
- High performers to reward their efforts
- Grounds for promotions and pay increases
Data-driven analytics, or data over opinions
A data-driven approach to employee performance measurement opens the door to:
- Clear, objective rating criteria
- Open, honest conversations with actionable feedback for professional development or better engagement
- Patterns that help predict potential resignations based on engagement trends
- Understanding which learning and training programs are successful
Data-driven performance measurement gives tangible benefits. You tackle bias and combine quantitative data with qualitative manager insights. You match metrics with business goals by linking individual and team performance to organizational objectives. Finally, you promote transparency through visible analytics.
Still, while data is extremely valuable, it cannot be the sole lens through which performance is viewed. Human relationships and personal contexts matter. A dip in performance may stem from personal challenges rather than a lack of ability or engagement. HR professionals and team leads must develop the ability to balance data-informed decisions with empathy and intuition—recognizing when to trust the numbers, and when to dig deeper.
Employee performance metrics examples
Effective performance measurement requires relevant metrics, clear KPIs, and the right tools to track progress, highlight development areas, and make data-driven decisions. Among the useful metrics for evaluating employee performance are:
- Productivity: project completion rates vs. deadlines
- Quality of work: error rates and revision frequency
- Goal achievement: OKRs and individual vs. team goal completion
- Employee engagement and satisfaction: eNPS, survey-based engagement scores, absenteeism, and turnover rates
- Skills development and learning: training completion rates and post-training performance improvement
- Work behaviors: collaboration effectiveness, like team feedback scores or peer reviews, and responsiveness to feedback, like implementation rate of feedback or performance improvements
KPIs to measure employee performance
While metrics are general measurements of performance that track activities but don’t always indicate success, KPIs are specific, strategic employee performance indicators that measure progress toward a business goal.
KPIs must be focused, actionable, and tailored to employees’ roles and the company structure. The best ones are:
- Aligned with business goals
- SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound)
- Balanced, combining numerical performance with qualitative assessments
- Flexible—regularly reviewed and adjusted to remain relevant.
For example, your employee could aim to reduce the error rate to under 10% within the next 3 months by focusing on attention to detail, or increase the number of tasks completed per week from 10 to 12 within the next quarter.
Tools for measuring and tracking KPIs
Once metrics are set and turned into KPIs, here come often relied-upon tools to track and measure these values:
- 360-degree feedback
- Engagement surveys
- Performance management software
- Data analytics platforms
Best practices for measuring employee performance
- Set clear goals and relevant KPIs. Ensure KPIs align with both employee expectations and business strategy.
- Follow balanced metrics. Combine quantitative metrics, like project completion, and qualitative metrics, like self-assessments, to get a complete view of performance.
- Use performance and development management tools and integrate them into your existing systems. With analytics software, tracking becomes seamless. For example, you can add the Amy human potential platform as an employee development tool to your HR toolset, as it smoothly integrates with systems without disrupting workflows.
- Give real-time feedback. Annual reviews become outdated compared to a proactive feedback culture. Continuous feedback stimulates ongoing improvement. For this reason, provide your employees with regular check-ins and performance discussions. McKinsey’s survey shows that 20% of people with no development conversations felt motivated by performance management, while 77% of people receiving ongoing feedback did. In addition, feedback-oriented leaders improve team performance by 27%. Constructive feedback helps teams grow and align with goals.
Try Amy data-driven analytics to boost employee performance
To calculate and track employee performance metrics, performance management software with data analytics can assist. Still, KPIs for employee performance are closely tied to employee engagement, productivity, and career growth.
While performance management software tracks the results people deliver, employee development software focuses on the reasons and the process behind them. This type of tool addresses career challenges and growth and stands as a helpful addition to analyzing employee behavior and related metrics. It answers the questions “why” and “how.”
Amy human potential platform uses academic and scientific approaches for impactful employee development based on data and proven methodologies. The platform’s core is your people’s career development and well-being. They can overcome obstacles like low productivity or unlock their potential. As an HR specialist or manager, you track their progress in microlearning and development, measure results, and show ROI with data-driven tools.
Amy human potential platform delivers:
- Company, team, and individual goals setting and progress tracking
- Personalized development aligned with your organization’s needs in the form of self-assessments, follow-up resources, and coaching sessions to ensure ongoing employee growth
- Real-time insights on employee development areas
With dashboards, data analysis, and ongoing feedback, you assess and impact employee development and, in turn, employee performance.
Measure and improve employee performance right
Performance measurement should bring clarity, not complexity. With the right KPIs, tools, and reviews, HR professionals can optimize workforce performance. Setting clear expectations, using balanced, data-backed metrics, providing continuous feedback, and leveraging technology all contribute to individual and organizational success. To take these efforts further and enhance performance outcomes while prioritizing employee growth and well-being, integrate Amy into your existing systems. Then, be sure progress is tracked with purpose.