Best practices in measuring the productivity of PM and rewarding system for PM

J. Absolon, ASAP-translation.com, Slovakia

Why this topic?

1. Theory 2. Comparison of general models 3. Case study from a small TSP

Stereoscopic view

Pay for Performance

Common Goal

How can graphite and diamond be so different if they are both composed of

pure carbon

Diamonds were nothing more than carbon, but diamonds are made

under pressure.

Who is PM? Model of typical PM

Sex: female

Age: 26 - 35

Previous job: translator

Education: Translation

Company size: 10+

CAT Proficiency: SDL advanced

5 projects per day

Created by M. Reynaud, photos by M. Jang,

source dailymail.co.uk.

The most important responsibilities:

• Communication with customers

• Communication with translators

• Selection of suitable translator, reviser, reviewer, proof-reader

• Project administration

• Delivering the final translation to a customer

The same staff work differently in different environments

Ideal environment

• motivating for employees to work hard (Motivation)

• fair and reflect their actual performance in the company (Fairness)

• transparent and clear to understand (Transparency)

• cover all important parts of PMs duties (Comprehensiveness)

• in compliance with the company budget (Budget)

• connected to the company results, fostering team spirit (Loyalty)

Job analysis

• duties,

• responsibilities,

• necessary skills,

• outcomes, and

• work environment of a particular job

• activity,

• frequency,

• volume,

• impact,

Collection of the information

• reviewing the job responsibilities of current employees,

• Internet research and viewing a sample job description,

• sharing with other companies that have similar jobs

Techniques

• Questionnaire

• Interview

• Final approval

Job description

Job Title

Job Function

Qualifications Required

Experience, Skills, Knowledge

Training

Anticipated Results

"If one does not know to which

port one is sailing, no wind is favorable."

Lucius Annaeus Seneca

„If you can’t measure it, you can neither manage it nor improve it.“

Quantity

Quality

Profitability

Complaints

Compliance with deadlines

No of projects

Volume (words, hours,...)

Gross profit margin

Salary components

Gross profit margins (%)

Company profit share

Basic salary

Translations (revisions)

Other (success

fee)

Bonus on number of

projects

Fixed + occassional

bonus

Fixed + projects profit

share

Fixed + No. of

projects

Fixed + No. +

P. Margin

Fixed + occassional bonus

Motivation: ☻

Fairness:☻

Transparency: ☻☻

Comprehensiveness:☻

Budget:☻☻☻☻☻

Loyalty: ☻☻☻

Fixed + projects profit share

Motivation: ☻☻

Fairness:☻☻☻

Transparency: ☻☻☻

Comprehensiveness:☻☻

Budget:☻☻

Loyalty: ☻☻

Fixed + No. of projects

Motivation: ☻☻☻

Fairness:☻☻

Transparency: ☻☻☻☻

Comprehensiveness:☻☻

Budget:☻☻

Loyalty: ☻☻

Fixed + Profit margin + No. projects

Loyalty: ☻☻☻☻☻

Motivation: ☻☻☻☻☻

Fairness:☻☻☻☻

Transparency: ☻☻☻☻☻

Comprehens.:☻☻☻☻☻

Budget:☻☻☻☻☻

Straight scheme vs. fixed bonus scheme

Gross Profit Margin sample

Example of fixed bonus scheme: If our goal is to approximate 45% for project profitability • Maximum profit bonus is

set to EUR 450, • Minimum acceptable

profit, 25%,

25% = €50 30% = €100 35% = €200 40% = €350 45% and more = €450

As soon as a predefined level of performance is

achieved, the employee is paid a lump-sum bonus.

Company’s main characteristics • 10 years of operation

• 352 clients in 2012

• 5,339 projects in 2012

• From 21 languages to 21 languages

• 87 language pairs

• 4 PMs 5 in-house translators, 461 translators in 2012 (about 50 per month)

• 10 CAT tools

PM work load

Max. 150 projects per month

111 is an average = 5.5 projects per day

More than 1,000 received emails per month

500 – 1,500 files per months

1 entry in TMS has got 28 items

More than 1,000 sent emails per month

Evolution of pay structures

Fixed + Occassional

bonus

Fixed + Proj. profit share

Fixed + No. of projects

Fixed + No. projects + Profit share

?

source: www.smithsonianmag.com

work load independence

lacked fairness transparency

Variation of structure and nature

PM activities Basic QA (consistency, gaps, tags)

Linguistic review

Revision

Keeping the deadline

TM management

Calculation of job

Calculation of project

Project analysis

Communicating queries

Writing email

Entering the project into TMS

Sending the translation to a client

Text editing

Writing email

Assessment of test translation

Making a quote

Sending a quote by email

Solving billing discrepancies with translators

Downloading files

Dealing with complaints

Evaluation of CV

Marking name and telephone number of a client

Handover of the documents

Giving pricelist

Uploading files

Giving quote to client

Backtranslation

Transcription

Transcreation

Scanning the document

Translator SAE assessment

Backuping the project

Writing Skype message

Proofreading (before publishing)

Formatting of layout

CAT support

Calling by phone

Splitting big project

Exchanging TM

OCR

TB management

Giving feedback to a translator

Calling by phone

Linguistic consultancy to clients

Giving a test translation

Giving penalty to translator

SW installation

TM postproduction (winalign)

Writing Skype message

Calling by phone

Sending SMS message

Sharing screen

Writing Skype message

Searching internet DTBs

Prioritising, filtering

Job description

Salary components Gross Profit margins (%) Bonus on the volume of projects Bonus on number of projects Translations (revisions) Salary components

Gross Profit margins (%) Bonus on the volume of projects Translations (revisions)

Developing of evaluation system

Simulation-based optimization (based on records from previous years)

7 steps to tailored model

1. Job analysis

2. Salary benchmark

3. Salary range setup

4. Alignment with the company’s strategy

5. Determination of measurable criteria

6. Simulation based on old data

7. Implementation – measurement – adjustment

What we have achieved

• Job description

• Recruitment

• Goals awareness

• Motivation

• Employee retention

• Profit

• Company success

Source: http://www.hrajhry.sk

Thank you! absolon@asap-translation.com

www.asap-translation.com