The halo effect in personnel policy

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In the field of human resource management, the halo phenomenon is often observed. A manifestation of this effect is the manager's belief that an employee who always arrives on time is highly effective. In turn, one who is often late is associated with careless performance of duties.

In other words, if you have a negative impression of one characteristic of a person, brand or organization, there is a chance that you will evaluate the object entirely negatively. And psychiatrist email addresses the positive trait can spread throughout the picture.

Negative consequences of the halo effect:

Employees who are the center of attention and presented only in a positive light may be perceived by others in a negative light, even if their actions are similar. This causes resentment among those who are left out of favor.

The halo effect creates inequality in decisions about employee behavior.

This phenomenon results in companies losing qualified candidates due to the preference for personality aspects over professional skills.

When a specialist is treated favorably because of one particular characteristic, such as high sales, there is a risk that the subordinate will take advantage of this position for his own benefit.

The halo effect in personnel policy

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These are just a few examples of how cognitive biases affect the workplace. The main drawback of the halo effect is that it initiates a chain of hasty conclusions:

If an employee is late once, it means that such cases will become commonplace, and his colleagues will start to follow this example, losing respect for their superiors.

If a subordinate helps others, it means that he manages to do his own work and that of his colleagues, and therefore deserves a salary increase. However, perhaps he does not fulfill his duties, and therefore is ready for requests from others.

When an employee posts stories while working, you can conclude that they spend their entire day on social media. As a result, you view their activity exclusively from a negative perspective, despite the fact that another subordinate posts memes in work chats, distracting themselves and others.

How to deprive a specialist of the halo around his head?

Step 1: Define key evaluation criteria
Five is greater than two. Even if you prefer the number 2 and consider it your favorite number, you wouldn't claim that it suddenly became greater than five. Do you agree? The same goes for business relationships: define non-negotiables.

Set KPIs, outline OKR (Objectives and Key Results) goals, or focus on the employee's key performance indicators. It is important that both you and the subordinate clearly understand the criteria by which the performance of the activity will be determined. This will allow you to move away from subjective assessments of the individual and look at the work through the prism of the established indicators.

Step 2: Separate key factors of employee performance
Taking into account the first stage and setting KPI for employees, it is time to move on to the second step - to separate the assessment of good from bad. Thus, to determine the effectiveness of the department manager, it is important to analyze the feedback of subordinates, the productivity of the team and the methods of personnel management.

If you find out that the team considers him a successful boss, do not mix this information with the department's work results; such aspects should not intersect.

It is also important to use the same metrics for comparable positions. This will make the process of comparing the work of two employees more transparent, and will also reassure productive employees that their efforts will be properly valued.