Employee probationary evaluation with WorkTime

Hiring a dream employee is not just a matter of luck. Evaluating a candidate during the probationary period is one of the ways to ensure you make the right choice. But how not to go wrong? Implementing an effective tool for evaluating employees’ KPIs will come in handy to make a confident decision.

We are WorkTime employee monitoring software, offering non-invasive monitoring for 20+ years to evaluate the potential of your employees.

Top 5 KPIs to consider during probation

1. Attendance

Attendance and punctuality metrics are important to evaluate the new employee's performance. And it’s not just about checking who is late.

Tracking attendance helps assess the worker’s ability to be responsible.

If the probationary employee is late too often, it may be a sign of his/her irresponsible approach. Poor attendance also affects the worker’s engagement and productivity in the long run.

2. Time management

The ability to manage time effectively cannot be overestimated. Why is it so important? Because it impacts not only employee productivity but also your overall team’s performance.

Even if the employee delivers high-quality work, regularly missed deadlines won’t benefit your business.

If at least one employee is constantly late with work results, other team members must wait until the task is done. Sooner or later, this vicious circle will lead to low productivity in your department.

3. Productivity

Productivity may seem obvious, but it is the most critical metric to be evaluated. Productivity involves many factors. Still, the central aim of productivity assessment is to find out whether the candidate can meet the company’s goals.

4. Focus

Maintaining focus is necessary for effective work. Engagement, productivity, and decision-making depend on the ability to concentrate on the task.

When the employee is easily distracted, it will definitely harm his/her productivity.

WorkTime can help evaluate these metrics and assess probationary employee’s focus during the workday. The software analyzes various metrics, providing insights into worker’s distraction scores. For instance, taking frequent short breaks, a high percentage of idle time, and a high unproductive time rate can indicate problems with focus.

5. Organizational skills

Good organizational skills are key to effective workload management. Of course, a lot depends on team management, but the candidate should also be skilled in organizing the workflow during the day, week, or month.

A probationary period is a perfect opportunity to assess a hire’s organizational skills and ability to respond to tricky work situations.

If the probationary employee works overtime more frequently than other employees, it can indicate that something went wrong. The worker may have problems with time management, or the root cause is related to the wrong workload management process.

Evaluate probationary employees with WorkTime

Evaluate employee punctuality

Get valuable insights on new employees' attendance. You can also set an attendance goal during the probationary period and observe the progress. Attendance monitoring is also crucial when your probationary employee is remote.

WorkTime is more than just tracking logins/logouts. Get insights on employee attendance based on comprehensive reports in numbers and statistics.

With our employee monitoring software, you can:

• analyze the onboarded worker’s attendance patterns;
• stay informed about lateness;
• get a timesheet;
• monitor overtime before/after hours, during lunch, and on weekends
• detect overtime fraud.

Track employee idle time

Active/idle time tracking helps to reveal when the computers are on but not in use. WorkTime active/idle time monitoring helps

• find out the employee's current status;
• evaluate the worker’s distraction level during the day;
• measure work activity in real-time;
• uncover hidden productivity potential;
• active time timeline and calendar reports.

Track active/idle time and get comprehensive reports to evaluate the probationary employee.

Monitor employee computer activities

Monitor computer usage to evaluate the productivity of the probationary employee. WorkTime tracks computer usage, offering numerous comprehensive reports.

WorkTime monitors computer usage, protecting the employee’s privacy.

The key advantage of this feature is that the software evaluates productivity in a non-invasive manner. WorkTime provides an alternative to invasive content recording. Our software analyzes the screen in numbers, assessing the productivity of each website, app, or doc.

Rate employee distraction level

A high distraction level is one more important factor affecting productivity. First, it shows the ability of employees to stay focused during the day. Second, a high distraction score can indicate that something interrupts the workers from performing their duties.

WorkTime findings will be useful for evaluating new hires and analyzing the workplace distraction level in your company.

WorkTime analyzes several metrics, including:

• Unproductive screen time;
• Short breaks;
• Idle time
• Too many tabs or apps on the screen;
• Apps/website usage.

Assess employee overtime

Too much overtime damages productivity and results in increased costs for the company. During the probationary period, a high overtime score can be a sign of poor time management skills. Another scenario is also possible: overtime can happen because of an unbalanced workload.

WorkTime provides an effective solution to monitor overtime and reduce costs for your business.

Use employee monitoring software for:

• Monitoring overtime;
• Computer usage before and after hours;
• Monitoring during lunchtime;
• Overtime tracking during holidays and vacations;
• Detecting overtime fraud.

What are other qualities to look for?

Culture fit

Cultural fit is a guarantee of long-term and effective cooperation.

Imagine the situation: you hired a highly-skilled employee with years of experience and great recommendations. Still, there is one nuance - this candidate does not completely match your core values. Will you terminate your cooperation? It’s just a matter of time.

Self-motivation

Probationary employees face numerous challenges. All companies are different, and the position can vary depending on the project’s specificity and other factors. Some new responsibilities can differ radically from the previous experience. That’s why being proactive does matter. This criterion is pivotal for a promising candidate.

A proactive and self-motivated candidate always searches for solutions instead of waiting for directions or simply giving up.

Collaboration skills

The employee’s collaborative skills will be extremely helpful in becoming an inevitable part of the team. Also, collaboration is necessary to adapt to a new environment quickly. Finally, it helps to face challenges effectively, increasing the team’s engagement and productivity.

A highly effective team is impossible without communication and collaboration.

Flexibility

A promising candidate is not just about good performance. Future growth depends on the readiness to adapt to a changing environment, an interest in learning new, and the ability to explore a wide range of tasks. If your probationary employee adapts to challenges, it is a good sign.

An employee’s adaptability shows his/her potential to become a great team player.

Performance review is easy with WorkTime

Conducting a written performance review is a common practice in many companies. What to include in the employee evaluation?

• A brief overview of employee performance during the probationary period;
• Employee’s strengths and areas for improvement;
• Actionable goals for further career advancement;
• Constructive feedback;
• Final rating and concluding statement.

WorkTime will provide you with valuable data to evaluate whether the candidate matches your position requirements.

Your performance review will be 100% objective with WorkTime comprehensive reports, containing valuable statistics to support your arguments.

WorkTime helps reveal a promising employee

WorkTime is a perfect choice for probationary period assessment.

1. Measure whether employees meet your attendance, productivity, and active time goals.
2. Find out whether a new hire is dedicated and interested in the position.
3. Reveal the time-wasting patterns.
4. Understand the specific working style of an employee and decide whether it corresponds to your requirements.