Women, Performance Management, and COVID-19 with Stacia Garr
b'Stacia Garr is the co-founder and Principal Analyst of RedThread Research and a guest lecturer at the Haas School of Business of the University of California. She joins Mike Wood to discuss RedThread\\u2019s timely research into women\\u2019s performance management during the current pandemic.\\n\\nThe Report\\nThe initial report was done before the COVID-19 outbreak was declared a pandemic, and there were doubts about whether the time was appropriate to publish it, Stacia shares. However, they decided to collect additional data with regards to the influence of the pandemic on performance and reframed the report.\\xa0\\n\\nThe Research\\nSeveral findings were discovered while investigating the differences in performance management between men and women. One such finding is that managers were much less effective at having difficult conversations with women, and the frequency of those conversations were low. Additionally, studies have shown that due to COVID-19, women are more likely to be removed from the workforce, and more likely to be juggling the equivalent of a part-time job with additional household responsibilities than men. If we are expected to perform at the same level we did before the pandemic, we will burn out, Mike says.\\n\\nA Systems Issue\\nResearch reveals that the issue lies within the systems, according to Stacia. Performance management is a key component in compensation, so it contributes to the gender pay gap. One systemic change that should be made in order for men and women to have equal footing is the quality and frequency of feedback that women are getting. Stacia shares a study about rating scales and how their structure impacted the feedback women received.\\xa0\\n\\nPerformance assessments should be an ongoing conversation instead of something that\\u2019s done once or twice a year, Stacia says. According to research, it removes stress from the employees, which can impact their performance, and less bias will influence feedback if these conversations are happening continuously throughout the year.\\n\\nResources\\nStacia Garr on LinkedIn | Twitter\\nWomen, Performance Management and COVID-19 Report | Infographic'