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7

First of all, why did the need arise for the

Performance and Career Management

System? How did the project begin?

Approximately a year ago, we conducted a

satisfaction survey with our directly and in-

directly employed personnel at our head of-

fice and all construction sites. We had a re-

sponse rate of about 90 percent, which we

have been told is unheard of in our sector.

Our personnel shared with us all their

thoughts candidly. We then evaluated the

survey results. There were some very clear

messages. Most of the things written were

very flattering in the name of the company.

One thing that came up repeatedly was, “I

am proud to be working at this company.”

But along with that there was also a criti-

cism: “The company does not measure my

performance. Even if it does, I don’t know

the criteria.” When we saw these, we real-

ized that we definitely needed a perfor-

mance assessment system. We started the

project around June last year, and presented

it to the Holding about three months ago.

We received the senior management’s ap-

proval of principle. Then we began the

launches. In other words, the system wasn’t

imposed top-down; we listened to the base,

and carried it out as a result of the demand

from the base. Our Human Resources de-

partment also made an important contribu-

tion to the implementation of the system by

providing leadership to the project.

A talk with Tekfen Construction President

Levent Kafkaslı on the new system

When and howwill it be implemented?

We will start performance measurements in

2017. Employee performance will be as-

sessed on the basis of set targets. Rewards

will come in 2018. We wanted to present the

project to the personnel before setting the

criteria to be used in measurements and as-

sessment. First, we went to Azerbaijan.

Then we held meetings at the head office in

İstanbul, Qatar and Ceyhan, explaining the

system to our personnel and the managers

of the projects. This is a turning point for

the company, so we did not include in this

system those old projects that are already

more than 50 percent completed. We limit-

ed ourselves to new projects that were less

than 50 percent completed.

We divided the performance assessment

and reward system into two. The first part

comprised the central office and fixed work-

places, and the second part was made up of

projects, because each project is unique and

different, whereas the central office is fixed.

We kept in mind both of these parts as we

worked on our launch. We will announce the

criteria for 2017 by the end of May, after all

preparations are finished. Here, the targets

of the general manager are in fact the tar-

gets of the company. Deputy general manag-

ers under him represent the departments.

Based on their targets, we determine the

targets of managers. These are further bro-

ken down and spread out towards the base.

At the projects, on the other hand, we will

use quantitative criteria rather than indi-

vidual assessment, because it is impossible

for us to measure, at least initially, the com-

petence of thousands of people involved in

any given project. That’s why we will look at

the overall project performance.

How will the performance system affect

the company and the lives of the employ-

ees?

Naturally, this productivity will increase

both the profitability of the company and

the satisfaction of the personnel. Both the

company and the personnel will win as a re-

sult. It will be a win-win situation. We will

earn to the same extent our company earns.

We as personnel will be a part of that. The

company will earn more thanks to us, and

will share that with us. That’s the short

summary of the system.

How did the personnel respond to the sys-

tem in general?

During the launches I noticed that there was

some unease among the personnel because

of the new system, but at the same time

there was a high level of expectation. That

was very pleasing. They asked very clear

questions. We had seen the same attitude

with the survey. Their messages were very

clear and direct. We put that down to the

“Tekfen difference,” which is great. There

were some constructive discussions during

the launches. We want everyone to join this

system wholeheartedly, because we will car-

ry out this project all together, so we need

the full support of our personnel. We believe

we will be very successful in this journey. Of

course, there is a long way to go. But I am

certain we will advance very rapidly thanks

to the mutual understanding and effort by

both the company and our personnel.