ICount and Its Benefits

iCount appraisal system and its benefits

The iCount is the new performance appraisal system that focuses on the contribution of the individual employees and continuous feedback. Infosys has scraped off the bell curve based CRR  rati rating ng syst system em to brin bring g the the new new syst system em in place place.. Cons Consid ider erin ing g the the empl employ oyee ee size size of the the organization it was considered to be a revolutionary change under the leadership of Vishal Sikka C!" of the company. The idea was to retain the high performance culture with more focus on the more collaborative and developmental goal for the company as well as for the individual emplo employe yees es.. #oing #oing forw forwar ard d Info Infosy syss woul would d disp dispro ropo port rtio iona nate tely ly rewa reward rd its its top top perfo perform rmin ing g employees out its employee strength which is $ust shy of % lakh. The salient features of the new appraisal system are as following& • • • • •

Setting the goals and the targets with the manager on mutual agreement Targets Targets are based on given task 'eedback and rating of each task is provided soon after every task is completed 'inal rating given annually based on the overall task performance throughout the year  This final rating is further reviewed by the higher management

Infosys has inbuilt iCount application to run and monitor the new the appraisal system. The  process of the appraisal a ppraisal system starts when an employee is assigned a task. The manager and the employee together comes up with the e(pected result out of each task on the basis of mutual agreement. The task and earlier set goals could be revisited by the employee or the manager if  there are any une(pected changes in the pro$ect. )t the end of each task the manager would  provide feedback to the employee on his performance on the task. The rating for each of the task  would also be given during the feedback session. "n completion of one task another task is set in the iCount application and this process feedback and rating is continued till the end of one year. *uring the annual appraisal the employee is given the final rating on the basis b asis of his performance throughout the year. The ratings provided to the employee are in the form of +"utstanding, +commendable, and +met e(pectation e(pectation , +below +below e(pectation, e(pectation, instead instead of a number assigned assigned to them in case of CRR rating system. This would reduce the negative emotional aspect of an employee associated to a number  though out his tenure in Infosys. This rating would be used for the allocation of bonuses variable  pay and promotion of the employee. In the iCount appraisal system the employee would be rated based only on his-her individual  performance and manager do not have force fit any particular percentage of employees into any  particular ratings. This would motivate the employee to focus more on the parameters set during the initiation of task in iCount. In ideal case in the new system every employee can score an outstanding rating if he-she e(cels in the task assigned to them. The iCount appraisal system also brings transparency in the whole process. The employee can always track where he is positioned. )ll the feedback and the rating of the individual tasks could always always be seen in the iCount application application so there is always always an opportunity opportunity for the employee to evaluate himself and predict what could be his potential rating. 'rom another view point this would reduce the favoritism by the mangers if any in the system. anagers could not favor an employee if his rating are bad over a high performing employee since continuous feedbacks of  all the employees could be obtained from the iCount application. The iCount system also takes

care of the situations like the transfer of the employee. Since there are records of the previous tasks undertaken the new manager can always refer to the iCount application and give rating to the employee in the annual appraisal meeting.  "ne of the main advantage of the new system is its focus on continuous feedback. Thus the employees will be informed of their weakness and strengths and the areas to improve upon on a continuous basis. This will provide the employees ample time to make up for the past failures in the ne(t tasks and improve their rating hence improving the productivity of the company. The new system would be able reduce the grievances related to the appraisal bonus and  promotion. This is assumed so because of the increased transparency feedback participatory model of goal setting and provision for the employee to improve upon his rating. !ven though the iCount system boasts lots of advantages and improvements but only time will tell the real benefits and shortcomings of the system.