• Companies in the Arabian Peninsula Are Preferring Frequent Check-Ins Over Annual Reviews
  • New-Age Employers in Middle East Prefer OKRs Over Other Performance Management Approaches

UAE: One of Middle East’s most trusted HR Tech firms, PeopleStrong has launched the third edition of Performance Trends report based on detailed analysis of 150,000+ employee interactions spread across 15+ industries. According to the report, continuous performance management has evolved considerably over the last few years and is now a preferred strategy for numerous organizations across domains.

Even before the disruption of 2020, HR leaders were not satisfied with their performance management approaches in UAE. According to a Gartner report, 81% of HR leaders are changing their organization’s performance management system. Tasked with driving the CEO’s agenda for growth and agility, CHROs continue to question how their approach towards performance management should change to create more impact.

Changes often focus on addressing the most common complaints — that the process is too complex and time-consuming. But the key is to focus on objectives, not processes.

In 2023, 69% of organizations are transparently linking employee objectives with leadership priorities. This marks a 12% growth over the previous year’s numbers distributed across all sectors. 35% of companies are now preferring quarterly performance reviews compared to 22% last year with number of firms opting for annual reviews going down to 39% from 50% last year.

“Continuous performance is a response to the demands of a dynamic economic environment, which requires adaptability and agility. CHROs are helping CEOs drive growth and productivity by focusing on 3 critical aspects: Alignment, Objectivity & Collaboration. It is crucial to shift the perspective from viewing performance management as a mere system to track & record outcomes but recognizing it as a dynamic ecosystem that drives a performance-based culture." Said Vipul Mathur, Country Head - Middle East, PeopleStrong.

OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) have emerged as the dominant performance management framework across 10+ industries including Internet, Manufacturing, BFSI, IT/ITeS, and even Retail. In just one year, OKR adoption has increased by 20%.

Mathur continues and says strong performance management rests on the simple principle that what gets measured gets done. Organizations are actively transitioning from person-based structures to skill-based frameworks, placing a greater emphasis on utilizing skill frameworks to enhance capabilities. This shift has led to a significant surge in discussions surrounding skills-based talent strategies, evident through the prioritization of Individual Development Plans (IDPs), which has seen a remarkable 7% increase compared to the previous year.

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About PeopleStrong

UAE: PeopleStrong is Asia's leading talent management SaaS platform. The HR Tech company focuses on personalizing talent journeys while enhancing retention and internal mobility using contextualized recommendations driven by AI.

Their tech capabilities span across Performance Management, Succession Planning, Career & Skills, Learning, Recruitment and Onboarding. Over 500+ enterprises across Asia use PeopleStrong to empower 2 million+ employees with their out-of-the-box fully integrated platform, which operates like a complete Talent operating system (Talent OS).  

PeopleStrong is the number 1 ranking HR super app globally across Android & iOS and is rated among the Top 5 in the Asia Pacific in Gartner's Peer Insights. It has recently been voted Customers' Choice of HR Tech in the Gartner' Voice of Customer' Report for 1000+ employee enterprises for 2 consecutive years (2022 & 2023).