Salz Review - Wall Street Journal

Salz Review
An Independent Review of Barclays’ Business Practices
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Recommendation 17: Employee engagement
Barclays should maintain a clear policy statement as to how it fulfils its purpose
with respect to its employees. This should include the emphasis it places on
training and personal development, promoting an environment of continuous
learning, and non-financial forms of recognition for performance.
Performance Development
10.9 Performance development is Barclays’ formal process of reviewing employees’
performance and providing guidance for their professional development. The annual
performance review is the cornerstone of the performance development process.
Individuals are assessed by their manager according to a set of pre-agreed objectives
within a framework provided by business unit HR. Objectives may be both
quantitative (e.g., sales performance) and qualitative (e.g., teamwork). Employees also
write a self-assessment. The performance development system over the period
covered by this Review was taken seriously but did not achieve the objective of
supporting the development of appropriate business practices.
10.10 Although we would expect some variation in the approach to performance
development across different business units, we found there was a lack of a common
Group-wide framework until 2012. Each business unit’s use of a different set of
performance criteria resulted in an inconsistent emphasis on the importance of
demonstrating the correct behaviours. The investment bank used a number of
different performance development approaches; the common feature seems to have
been a heavy focus on financial measures with limited behavioural assessment.
10.11 In many cases managers were required to define for themselves the specific
performance indicators against which to judge employees, including behavioural
factors, and then to determine what constituted above or below average behaviour.
In our review of a small sample of completed performance development forms,
we found a heavy emphasis on financial or sales-oriented performance objectives.
Customer service and teamwork were mentioned infrequently.
10.12 Both of these issues are due to be addressed on a Group-wide basis through the
Transform Programme. We understand that a new performance management system
will be implemented. It will combine a balanced scorecard of performance objectives
(the ‘what’) with a compulsory assessment of behaviours (the ‘how’) and a more
detailed definition of how to determine overall performance development ratings
based on the two. We believe these changes should greatly strengthen performance
management and drive a broader understanding among employees of what strong
performance entails – so long as the weightings are appropriate and the noncommercial
factors are appropriately evaluated.
10.13 We recognise that the effectiveness of the performance development process will
depend on the diligence, discretion, competence and judgment of the manager
responsible, and on all staff believing in its importance. During the course of the