1st INTERVENTION : Louis Vuitton Monthly Employee Performance Evaluation
Considering the new knowledge obtained from the literature review I have therefore shifted my strategy and tried to find a way on supporting companies in their employee performance evaluation tools in order to provide them with accurate, transparent, fair, and consistent employee performance evaluations.
My strategy, therefore, has been characterized by these main points:
- Benefit from my employability status to connect with current company or sister companies on a more trusted level and propose thihs initiative.
- Explanatioin of meaningfulness of my research in the current period and society
- Summmary of benefits for the businesses who apply transparent evaluation tools
- Availability to support and maintain confidentiality with internal results, policies and practicies if required.
In order to explain these points better, I have thought that by being employed by the largest Luxury Fashion Brands in the World, Louis Vuitton, and the largest Luxury Fashion Group, LVMH I could use my relationships and almost 5 years of work history as a good starting point for the development of my project.
By working as a Client Coordinator at Louis Vuitton Store in Selfridges, London for almost 5 years, I am very knowledgeable of my company’s Identity, Culture, Mission, and Vision, and therefore I believe that by proposing to elaborate team and individual performance evaluation respecting the principles of Fairness and Transparency, it would definitely help the company in creating a more inclusive workplace environment, and ultimately, evaluate if this proposition could potentially lead to a successful answer of my initial question: “How can organizations increase fair performance assessment and create a more inclusive workplace environment?”
MY TEAM AND EMPLOYEE EVALUATION – 8 TEAM MEMBERS
I have therefore put in practice my first intervention in Louis Vuitton – Menswear Department and Selfridges in London ( starting from April 2021 ) consisting of a detailed monthly performance of a group of 8 team members with the main purpose of evaluating transparently and fairly each employee and allowing them to be able to review at any time their progress and achievements, their areas of development and action plans for the following months. In this regard, I have emphasized the two main benefits for the employees; Transparency and Fairness in the evaluation process and adequate recognition to those with merit and constructive feedback for those not meeting the required criteria.
This performance evaluation was needed in my organization for the following main reasons:
- Missing of an evaluation tool reagrding CRM activities and Client Development.
- Missing of a tool that could historycally show employee engagement and achievements of company’s KPI’s.
- Missing of a tool that could celebrate successes and support team members in their development openly, fairly and transparently without the risk of unconscious bias.
- Employees can be more aware of their hystorical performance evaluation and evaluate their achievements in a more clearer and transparent way.
In the picture below, it is possible to see the whole 8 team members that I have been reviewing and providing feedback regarding their performance. As it is possible to see, I have been providing in-detail and tailored feedback to each team member and this has been considered extremely positive for the team members’ understanding of the Company’s requirements which have constantly been updated and their progression.
Moreover, from the picture below, it is possible to see a clear and transparent evaluation of the team performance based on Full-Time team members and Part-Time team members, in order to investigate any possible relationship of the terms of employment with the results obtained. In this regard, it has been considered that if the time spent in the workplace has any implication on the employee’s knowledge about procedures and how to achieve their KPIs. As it is possible to see on the right side of the picture surprisingly, Part-Time team members have achieved a higher percentage of their monthly targets resulting in 113% for Client’s Outreaches and 116% average wardrobes. Differently, Full-Time team members, have achieved 63% of Client’s Outreaches and 55% average wardrobing. The average between the two groups then falls into 75% average client’s Outreaches and 70% average wardrobing as an overall Team Result.
REFLECTION:
TRANSPARENT EVALUATION MAKES THE DIFFERENCE
The implementation of this tool for Louis Vuitton has certainly started with lots of enthusiasm and motivation to make something positive for my colleagues and Louis Vuitton itself. The fact that I have been in the company for a long time has certainly helped me to present my idea to Senior Management and obtain a successful response on an initial trial and on an eventual development of the project to a larger scale of team members including different Departments and with the aim to be developed and implemented in other Louis Vuitton stores in London.
I have found myself being very analytical and concise while evaluating my colleagues’ performances and also caring for their development and the right recognition for their efforts. Moreover, I have discovered that although I never had the opportunity before in my career to manage a team, I have been a great and supportive acting manager and received many great feedback from my colleagues for the way I was able to manage this project and the relationship with them.
The relationship with my colleagues has been the most rewarding outcome from this intervention as my communication skills have been challenged and developed in order to deal with different situations, some where I need to acknowledge and celebrate individual successes, some where further training was needed to develop their performances and some where I must have also shown leadership in my area in order to gain my team’s respect.
This project has been developed to currently 46 Team members and because of the large amount of information and work, I have been assisted by another team member which I have explained and trained the reason for this project and the way to proceed even without me in charge.
During this intervention, I have felt sometimes very stressed and out of my comfort zone but viewing the benefits that it was bringing to the business and my colleagues has motivated me to continue and develop it further to different departments and ask for support and delegating work to another member. Also, the fact that a worldwide recognized brand such as Louis Vuitton has implemented my idea and valued my intervention has also made me feel much more fulfilled and proud of myself.