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.