Are KPAs Still Relevant?

Frustrated by the box-ticking exercise of completing KPAs? Then it’s time to relook your company’s use of this tool.

- Amanda Visser

imagine a golf course with no holes in it, and players aimlessly hitting the ball anywhere and everywhere. That is what a business without key performance areas (KPAs) or key performance indicators (KPIs) would be like.

KPIs are performance metrics to ascertain how effectively the firm is performing.

KPAs indicate the main responsibility areas of an employee. It guides them to do what is expected of them in return for earning a salary, or to be in line for bonuses or shares.

The ‘holes’ on the golf course are important as you “have to aim for them, and you have to hit it after three or four putts”, says Mark Bussin, chair of 21st Century, a specialist reward consultancy, on the need for KPAs. “The feedback is hearing the ball drop.”

The purpose

The traditional thinking was that the human resource (HR) department had to drive the performance management process. But the modern trend is that the CEO has to drive it as part of their business strategy. HR teams are merely the advisers and the custodians of the process.