“While we’d had a performance review process in place at Fusion5 for ten years, it was admittedly very much an exercise in box-ticking,” says Pine. “As a people-centric organisation we were always looking for ways to improve the employee experience, but we were limited by the old systems we used.
Out with old processes
“So, despite our best intentions, some of our people only caught up with their managers once or twice a year, and others, not even that often. Review notes were captured using Word or OneNote documents and saved into our payroll system. The meetings were very much orientated around the old ‘does not meet, meets, and exceeds’ KPI approach. And as our employees had limited visibility of their own KPI performance prior to their meeting, this understandably created anxiety for many.
A new way of looking at people
Fusion5 implemented its EDP in 2019 – with options. “Recognising that we had people in the business who were nearing the end of their career and the stress the old performance review process caused, we introduced two EDP options,” says Pine. “The first was a full, high-touch career development programme for newer employees, and the other, a manager-approved, low-touch express option for those happy with the status quo.”
Before adopting Jemini, Fusion5 struggled to understand the makeup of its workforce. Jemini has changed all that, though, says Pine.
“We needed to find a way to create, store, update and share career plans appropriately. We also needed to make sure that a great review conversation between an employee and manager resulted in agreed actions and goals, and that there was accountability afterwards – on both sides. Also, the makeup of our workforce had changed with an influx of a new generation of employees who had different expectations to those of our ‘low touch’ baby boomers. Staff feedback changed from ‘we’re ok’ to ‘we need more contact with our manager, and we want constructive feedback.’ So, we knew we had to adapt.
“We saw that we had lots of opportunities to improve things, which was exciting. We decided to design and introduce our Employee Development Programme (EDP) and adopt Jemini to enable and manage it.”
A transparent, accountable, and actionable future
“Jemini has added transparency to our career development process, so everyone can see what’s expected, and the business can make sure we provide opportunities and support our people's needs,” says Pine. “It’s increasingly difficult to find and bring on board the right people, so it’s critical to maximise the present and future value of existing employees and retain them by putting their career objectives first.”
For Fusion5 employees, the days of missed or infrequent review meetings are over. Jemini schedules performance review meetings based on the express or standard option. “Our employee-manager catch-ups are now far more frequent, and they’re not about projects, but people. They’re about personal and career development, challenges and opportunities within the business, and happiness and success. Jemini allows us to capture and manage our people information and make sure we act on it.”
Jemini’s embedded Power BI Analytics allow both Fusion5 managers and employees to track EDP progress from start to finish. And the business can easily identify those who have not been onboarded onto EDP, so no one is ever left behind.
Pine says that employees and managers can now view one another’s meeting notes, adding transparency and accountability. And for her, a real game-changer with Jemini is having the ability to record development discussions and plans directly into Jemini, with no Word or OneNote needed. By seeing their own goals and progress in Jemini, employees stay motivated to tick off each career step and continually move forward.
Upcoming Jemini functionality will include sending out email notifications to prompt action when scheduled goal dates are looming and using AI (artificial intelligence) to ensure that the follow-up steps in EDP aren’t missed or pushed back to accommodate a manager’s busy schedule.
“A tangible outcome of implementing our EDP and using Jemini,” says Pine, “is a downward trend in attrition rates since 2019.
“Before Jemini, we had no accountability, no visibility, and no information.”
Why Jemini?
Pine says that while they did look at alternative solutions, Jemini was a natural choice, given that Fusion5’s HCM (Human Capital Management) team developed the solution.
“After years of working with customers who needed a fresh approach to HR, Jemini was designed from the ground up to help them revolutionise their ability to engage and manage their people. It was clear to us – although we are admittedly a little biased – that Jemini has an amazing future. Its potential to transform HR and the employee engagement journey for our customers and us is limitless.”
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