Galderma Laboratories Clears Up Employees Appraisals by Moving to Web-Based System
Summary
Galderma Laboratories is a multi-national pharmaceutical company that offers a range of dermatological products. The HR team at the U.S. corporate office had developed a comprehensive paper-based performance appraisal system for employees. However, as the number of employees doubled, the HR team became increasingly focused on administration. Galderma U.S. implemented a web-based appraisal system from Halogen Software, enabling the company to:
- Transform the appraisal process into a strategic HR function by turning data into actionable intelligence;
- Save thousands of pieces of paper each year by moving all processes online; and
- Create time savings for all involved, with an estimated annual savings of $10,000.
Customer Profile
Founded in 1981, Galderma Laboratories is a multi-national company with a worldwide presence in the dermatology industry that meets the needs of healthcare professionals and their patients in over 70 countries. A fully integrated specialty pharmaceutical company, they manufacture over 25 million units per year. Galderma’s U.S. corporate offices and distribution center are headquartered in Fort Worth, TX.
Challenge
Galderma had developed a comprehensive paper-based appraisal system for its employees, which included competencies that all employees were graded on. The end result was an eight-page document that was completed for each employee twice a year. As the company’s U.S. operations doubled in size, the HR team was finding it increasingly difficult to manage the burden of excessive paper and avoid unnecessary administrative tasks. “There were a lot of great things about the appraisal process we developed, but as we grew, it was becoming increasingly time consuming,” explained Robin Clayton, Director of HR, Galderma Laboratories. “We found that while we had a lot of data, we didn’t have any way to realistically aggregate it. The process was bogging us down.”
The Galderma team includes a large number of sales staff who are dispersed across the United States. With the paper-based process, appraisal documents were emailed from place to place and Clayton had to manually track the status of each document. “Things were not being completed on time and we were chasing stuff down all the time. The last process we did with the old system really highlighted how unworkable the process had become. We had reviews that were more than three months late,” said Clayton.
Clayton recognized the appraisal process had to be transformed in a number of ways, with a focus on automating the system, getting more out of appraisal information and changing the “more is better” thinking that resulted in completed reviews resembling small novels. “We had eight-page monster documents that we had to store, and if someone wanted something, we had to locate and copy these documents. Trees were dying all over America,” said Clayton.
Solution
The Galderma HR team quickly identified a web-based employee performance and talent management system as the best solution to replace their existing process. Over the course of a couple of months, Clayton put together a list of criteria and began reviewing available solutions.
“Probably the most important things for us in any solution were flexibility and simplicity,” explained Clayton. “We’re not all technical people, so we needed something that anyone could easily learn to use, that made the process easier. We’d already defined our own competencies as part of the appraisal process, so we needed to be able to use our own language and wording. Off the shelf competencies weren’t going to work for us.”
After assessing a number of solutions, Clayton selected Halogen eAppraisal™, a hosted web-based solution from Halogen Software. “What really struck me about the Halogen solution was how easy it is to use and configure for your organization’s specific needs. I knew we’d be able to get everyone on-board, empower our team and really get a lot more out of the overall process,” said Clayton.
The Galderma team did a small pilot with the HR team and then prepared to roll-out the solution. Since implementing the solution, things have run smoothly with only minor issues such as employees forgetting passwords. The new solution has driven the complexity out of the process with individuals having fewer steps to complete compared with the old system.
Results
The new web-based employee performance management system has been well-received by the Galderma U.S. team, with a number of major improvements over the previous process. Information gathered during the review process at Galderma is now turned into valuable information that can be used by the HR team, managers and executives.
“We have a whole new level of information, which enables everyone to do their job better and focus on what really matters,” said Clayton. “What would have taken days of data entry and analysis is now available with a few clicks. This information enables us to develop people, ensure consistency across groups and improve the overall quality of appraisal content.”
Managers using the system are able to quickly access information from past reviews online, and the paper-burden on HR has been significantly eased. “There’s no more digging for reviews and spending our time photocopying information for managers. Overall, we have saved a lot of paper by eliminating nearly 6000 pages each year that was emailed around and physically stored,” stated Clayton.
Additionally, the HR team has created major time savings by automating the appraisal process from start to finish. Now, Clayton and her team can automatically track the status of all reviews and they are not spending time manually tracking each review through the process.
“With a dispersed team working in 38 different states, we had a lot of legwork to do for each review to ensure it was completed, physically signed and then mailed back to us,” said Clayton. “We’ve been able to get everyone up and running on the system, which has dramatically improved things for all of us. With 440 employees having two reviews a year, plus off-cycle reviews, we save about 20 percent of administration time, which adds up to about $10,000 annually. More importantly, it enables our organization time to focus on the purpose of appraisals, not just the process.”
With the move to the web-based Halogen eAppraisal system, Galderma has not only improved their performance appraisal process itself, but has taken it to a whole new level. “Automating the process wasn’t just about fixing the process for me,” explained Clayton. “It was really about elevating the role of talent management in the organization and enabling us to get to the next level. The system turned an administrative process into a strategic HR function by unlocking the power of our information.”
