At the beginning of the financial year, the organization wants to align individual and team goals with broader business objectives, such as increasing market share and improving customer satisfaction.
Employees across departments need to set SMART goals that contribute to these objectives. This ensures their efforts are measurable, achievable, and aligned with the company’s strategic direction.
Ensure that employees can easily create SMART goals using greytHR PMS.
Provide a structured process that aligns goals with the organization’s performance management strategy.
Improve the tracking and measurement of goals to facilitate better performance evaluations.
Employee (User): Adds SMART goals to their goal plan and sends it for approval.
Manager (User): Assigns SMART goals to his/her team members.
Manager (Reviewer):
Approves goal plan.
Reviews and provides feedback on employee goals.
Administrator (HR Admin): Configures the goal-setting environment and monitors progress. Monitors the overall goal achievement process for performance evaluations.
The employee/manager must have access to the Goal Plan feature in the greytHR PMS.
A performance period must be active, and goal-setting must be enabled for employees/managers.
Employees must be trained or familiarized with the concept of SMART goals.
Log in to the greytHR Admin portal and go to Performance Management > Goal Plans.
Create a New Goal Plan
Click Create Plan and select the appropriate Goal Plan Type:
Performance Goal Plan (specific targets)
Developmental Goal Plan (skill development)
Organizational Goal Plan (company-wide objectives)
Other (special projects or unique tasks)
Set Goal Plan Details:
Enter the name, description, and timeline for the plan.
Upload a policy document (optional) for employee reference.
Select Employees: Add employees to the goal plan by clicking + Add Employees.
Define Timelines and Controls
Set deadlines for employees to modify or update their goals.
Configure check-in reminders (weekly or monthly).
Configure Goal Categories and Weightage
Choose from categories like Customer, Finance, Learning, or Business Process.
Enable weightage to assign priority to specific goals.
Assign Role-Based Controls: Define what actions employees, managers, and higher managers can perform (Example: View, Create, Edit, or Delete goals).
Review and Save the Goal Plan
Review the plan details in the Summary section.
Click Save to save it as a draft.
Activate the Goal Plan: Navigate to the Draft tab and click Activate.
Notify Employees and Managers: Use the Notify button to send reminders to employees and managers to assign and start working on goals.
The employee logs into the greytHR ESS portal > Performance Management > Goal Plans.
Click Create Goal and is prompted to fill in the goal details based on SMART criteria:
Specific: Define the goal clearly.
Measurable: Specify how success will be tracked.
Achievable: Ensure the goal is realistic.
Relevant: Align with department or company objectives.
Time-bound: Set a deadline for completion.
The employee submits the goal for manager's review.
The manager reviews the goal, provides feedback (if needed), and either approves or requests changes.
Once approved, the goal becomes part of the employee's Goal Plan for the performance period.
The employee tracks progress throughout the period, updating milestones as required.
The SMART goal is added to the employee’s Goal Plan and is ready for tracking throughout the goal duration.
The employee receives periodic reminders and can update progress as they work toward achieving the goal.
Managers and HR can view the goal progress and provide real-time feedback.
Spending too much time creating new goal plans from scratch.
Solution: Clone existing goal plans to reuse configurations and save time.
Employees need flexibility to adjust their goals after the cycle starts.
Solution: Define a window of time during which employees can modify their goals to accommodate necessary changes.
Finding it difficult to track goal progress regularly.
Solution: Automate weekly or monthly check-in reminders to keep employees and managers on top of their progress.
Some tasks or goals need higher priority over others.
Solution: Assign weightage to goals to ensure key tasks are prioritized.
Need a quick way to monitor employee’s goal progress.
Solution: Use the Not Started, In Progress, and Completed columns to track goal statuses at a glance.
Difficulty in organizing and analyzing goal data.
Solution: Use pivot mode, grouping options, and filters to view and organize data from different perspectives and gain better insights.
Three roles are involved in the SMART goal-setting process:
Employees – Create SMART goals and submit them for approval.
Managers – Assign goals to team members, review submitted goals, provide feedback, and approve or request changes.
Administrator (HR Admin) – Configure the goal-setting environment and monitor overall goal achievement for performance evaluations.
Before setting SMART goals, ensure the following:
The employee or manager has access to the Goal Plan feature in greytHR PMS.
A performance period is active and goal-setting is enabled.
Employees are familiar with the concept of SMART goals.
When creating a goal plan, you can choose from four types:
Performance Goal Plan – for specific, measurable targets
Developmental Goal Plan – for skill-building and growth
Organizational Goal Plan – for company-wide objectives
Other – for special projects or unique tasks
SMART is a framework for writing well-structured, actionable goals:
Specific – Clearly define what needs to be accomplished.
Measurable – Specify how success or progress will be tracked.
Achievable – Ensure the goal is realistic given available resources and time.
Relevant – Align the goal with department or company objectives.
Time-bound – Set a clear deadline for completion.
When creating a goal in greytHR ESS, you are prompted to fill in each of these criteria.
Managers can assign goals directly to their team members through the Performance Management > Goal Plans section. After creating or selecting a goal, the manager can link it to specific employees within their team.
Once submitted, the manager receives a notification to review the goal. The manager can either:
Approve the goal, after which it becomes part of the employee's Goal Plan for the performance period, or
Request changes, prompting the employee to revise and resubmit.
No. Once a goal plan is activated, it cannot be edited. Review all plan details carefully in the Summary section before clicking Activate. Plans saved as drafts can still be modified before activation.
Yes, within a defined timeframe. Admins can configure a modification window that allows employees to adjust their goals after the cycle starts. Once this window closes, goals are locked.
Common goal categories include:
Customer – goals focused on customer satisfaction or retention
Finance – revenue, cost, or profitability targets
Learning – skill development and training objectives
Business Process – efficiency or operational improvement goals
Categories can be customized to match the organization's strategic focus.
Weightage assigns a priority level to each goal or category. Goals with higher weightage are considered more critical to performance evaluation. Enabling weightage ensures that employees and managers focus their efforts on the most impactful objectives.
Progress can be tracked via the Not Started, In Progress, and Completed status columns in the Goal Plans section. Employees update their progress throughout the performance period, and managers and admins can view real-time updates and provide feedback at any time.
During goal plan setup, admins can configure automated check-in reminders on a weekly or monthly basis. These reminders are sent to both employees and managers to prompt regular progress updates and keep goals on track.
Yes. Use the Clone option to duplicate an existing goal plan. This carries over the configuration categories, weightages, timelines, and role-based controls making it easy to replicate successful plans for new performance cycles or teams.
Admins can use the built-in pivot mode, grouping options, and filters in the Goal Plans section to organize goal data by employee, department, status, or category enabling more informed performance evaluations and strategic decisions.
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