Strategic objectives and staff
The operational performance of an educational organisation is strongly influenced by policies and decisions concerning staff. It is important to ensure alignment between the organisation’s human resources strategy and its strategic objectives through monitoring and assessing people results as well. The rapid change rate and the unpredictability of the operating environment result in an increasing number of challenges to human resources management in organisations, over time in particular.
In the EFQM model, people are perceived both as a resource and as a result of operations, because changes in human resources influence an organisation’s ability to reform and adapt to new situations. An excellent educational organisation strives to improve its performance by involving and developing its staff. People’s job satisfaction, good competence and working capacity and investment in staff development are reflected in the organisation as efficient and effective processes and improved performance. It is also common that these effects will have a major impact on operations in the years to come.
People perceptions and internal performance
Perception results (7a)
Measures relating to people perceptions (7a) describe staff perceptions of their organisation, working conditions and content of work. The aim is to chart factors influencing people’s job satisfaction and work motivation. Examples of comprehensive measures include work climate assessments, staff job satisfaction surveys and the Investors in People criteria.
People perceptions
Performance indicators (7b)
Indicators describing internal performance (7b) can be used by an organisation in order to monitor, analyse, interpret, forecast and improve its internal performance, develop its processes and anticipate staff perceptions. Performance can be measured through factors such as achievement of educational and development objectives, staff involvement, staff turnover and services provided for staff. People results may describe aspects such as demographic factors (age, gender), staff education and competence (level of education, work experience, skills, level of pay), staff turnover, use of working hours (overtime, shift work), type of employment (permanent, temporary, part-time), health (sick leaves, accidents, working capacity, disability pensions) and sense of community (job satisfaction, teamwork).
People performance indicators
Monitoring people results
People results provide information about factors such as the number and quality of staff, the state of the working community and the effectiveness and success of human resource processes (evaluation areas 3a to 3e of the EFQM Excellence Model). The results of the evaluation area are related to aspects such as planning and development of human resources, identification, development and maintenance of staff competence, staff involvement, organisational communication, attendance to people’s well-being at work, rewards and commitment.
Monitoring the state and development of staff calls for an extensive and diverse scorecard. The connections between an organisation’s operations and its staff-related operating methods and their results are evaluated by charting people’s perceptions and by collecting information about the state of staff. Appropriate measures include those describing an individual area or phenomenon or more extensive overall measures, such as the proportion of staff training costs within HR expenditure or a job satisfaction survey. Information should be collected systematically by means such as surveys, interviews, evaluations, skills analyses and development discussions. Information may also be collected using financial information systems (incl. payroll management and accounting).
Analysing and presenting people results
People results should cover all staff groups. It is important to monitor people results separately for teachers and the educational institution’s other staff, for example. In addition to staff groups, results can be analysed using factors such as gender, age or duration of employment as background variables. An education provider usually uses the same indicators and the people results presented by educational institutions do not differ significantly from those of other organisations. A Human Resources Accounts document contains key people results.
See some good practices for presenting people results