Trakstar: GREAT Track Record for Customer Service!

Our company was in need of a performance evaluation software that would be available online and easy enough for our professional but extremely busy (sometimes overwhelmed) staff to learn and use. We used to use the Excel sheets and we needed something that everyone could quickly "pick up" and implement. Fastrak was the most advantageous in meeting our company's needs due to the ease of adding goals, editing the staff list (in times of growth, promotions, turnover, etc.), adding measurements to assist in showing efforts and when goals (or portions of them) were met/completed, and provided reminders to those who neglected deadlines. The last item was essential to those who work in Human Resources and did not want to "badger" nor take responsibility of repeatedly reminding the busy and often traveling supervisors and employees who found it difficult to make time for this important effort.

Pros

I've had top-notch help from your reps who have answered my calls and answered my questions. Your company is also proactive in sharing information via frequent webinars. Matt Weissenborn was very helpful, articulate and professional in his presentation.
I enjoy using the Measurement tools in the online software.

Cons

I wish there was a Guide for Administrators -- just as there is one called "Employee Guide" for users. It would take significantly less time to refer to one than to call or try to figure out something myself (trial/error). I would like a means to SEE the individual's goals without having to download to export.

Great performance appraisal program

We are a small non-profit association with about 85 active employees. We use TrakStar for our annual performance appraisal program . Our program is designed to have every employee receive a review at the same time each year, rather than each year on their annual anniversary. We also have a 90-day initial review, and a 6-month informal review.

Pros

This software is relatively uncomplicated for the regular employee, especially since they have redesigned the appearance. Training on the system does not take long and there are several helpful videos to provide assistance to staff and administrators. I find it to be pretty intuitive. In most cases there are some options for customizing your performance appraisal and the cycle.
They also have several opportunities for training of administrators through webinars (live and pre-recorded) and these are really useful.

Cons

I do wish there were more flexibility in customization and that it was easier to reach some of the relevant customer service videos; however, the customer service team (if you can reach them by phone) is very responsive and helpful.

THRILLED ABOUT TRAKSTAR!

Our rep just provided us the second part of our training via webinar; we asked for "Goals & Notes" to be given last June and finally the "Scoring" given today as we wrap up the performance period. I am VERY pleased with our rep's professionalism, and knowledge about the Trakstar program. The way he guided us through the webinar was wonderful. Many employees and managers have expressed trepidation about the upcoming sequence of events, but our rep broke it down very easily and methodically. Our rep has a very good quality about his delivery of information, his voice, and ease of going through the screens as he proceeds, making the learner feel more confident. I already received the videos he created -- within minutes after completion of the training -- so I'm able to share with the employees and managers who could not attend today's webinar. Thank you! I wish Trakstar would create a "Quick Start Guide for Administrators" as they have for both managers and employees, and then load it on the Support Articles page, but for the meantime I am very pleased to have access to the Support pages, tutorials, videos, etc. and can email Support whenever I have need. I'm grateful about that, too. If you allow me one more "wish list" item would be the ability to change an employee's job title easily throughout the year -- as long as it does not represent a promotion that would affect change of goals, etc. When we've had a change of management, the new manager will come in and request change of titles (not duties, etc.) of his/her direct reports. This need is likely common among certain industries and such a change would be a huge improvement. Thank you for asking for our feedback. Thank you to our rep, for making Trakstar look easy to use to our employees!

Cons

There ought to be a Quick Guide for Administrators; too often I've searched the support pages and did not find precisely what I've wanted, so had to email and did not have direct phone access because we don't pay for that added service. We're three hours apart from each other so there've been a few times that I was not able to get answers as immediately as I would have liked (in an ideal world). LOL.

An Excellent Idea with some rough edges

Trakstar is an excellent idea. It allows employees and managers equal time in the appraisal process, which has been lacking in employee appraisal since the beginning of time. As a manager it is quite helpful for an employee to weigh in on their performance. Too often we have no idea how the employee sees their performance until we are having 'the talk'. Trakstar could be a little more user friendly, it is not always intuitive in the way it works and can be cumbersome for the administrator when trying to fix mistakes that managers make. It would be an excellent addition if the manager were not allowed to Archive for agencies that still rely on paper for the employees personnel files. we use the 'archive' button to indicate that the signed appraisal has been received in HR to signal that the process is complete. It would also be helpful if we could set up an agency wide appraisal two level system where the employee first gets a 6 month New Employee appraisal, and when archived Trakstar would auto generate the next appraisal in the Annual mode, instead of the 'new employee' mode again. The last thing I can think of now, is the period of time our annual appraisals encompass. Right now the auto generated Annual appraisals have a date parameter based on the employees date of hire, and that is good for some. However, we use a fixed date system based on our fiscal year, and each time a new appraisal is generated i have to go into Trakstar and 'fix' the dates to our parameters. Thanks for this excellent product; with just a couple of tweaks, it could be FANTASTIC! (for us)

Increased efficiency - definite ROI

Have had a wonderful experience with Trakstar; it gives the employees the access they need through out the year to work towards their goals and development. Managers are able to work more efficiently and put accountability in the hands of the employee.

Pros

The efficiency of the workflow and the way we can customize it to our needs.

Cons

I would like to see a better org chart!

A bare-bones performance mgmt tool for organizations ready to upgrade but can't afford the big guns.

See my review - it focused on competencies, so as an organization looking to be more progressive, we were ready to use it.

Pros

Focus on competencies - which many other cheap - to - affordable products don't offer.

Cons

You can't customize the appraisal process. It's either the formal appraisal (with ratings) or a 'goal setting' function. So, it won't work for orgs like mine who tend to do a mid-year 'check-in' as opposed to the full appraisal process. Customer service is slow, email only really, and not always helpful in giving you a complete solution. They also do not do 360s which is something we've begun to do at my org. Also, if you are not focusing on competencies, as an org--which I'm certain MANY are not, I'm not at all sure how you would use this tool.

Bad - Horrible UI/UX that you will pay for over and over again

Lot of issues here that I want to point out with this software: 1) This software does not do corrective actions or Performance Improvement Plans, they try to tell you that it does in the sales presentations, but this software does not do it. They will tell you about a work around, but it is so complex and contrived that your managers will never use it, I promise. 2) We were trying to get the software to allow us to do a 6 month check-in, so essentially our managers would be able to meet with our employees halfway to their annual review and check in to see how they were coming along, not to be rated, but just a checkup to see how things were going. Sounds easy, right? Well, you'd be wrong on that too, and so was I. They launched into a super complex work around, which again was way more complex than any of my managers would ever need or be able to use. 3) Whenever I first looked at signing up to use this software, I liked the seemingly easy and simple to use interface that I had seen on demos and on videos on youtube. I thought, well, it's just about loading in positions and job data, then I should be off and running with this system. Well, their estimate for getting setup is typically at least 3 months, that should tell you something. I thought that they would just be doing a lot of hand holding, turns out that what they were really doing is making up for a poor UI and UX in their system. It is next to impossible to anticipate where to go, what to click, etc. They try to make up for it with their training, but it just seemed to frustrate me more that they wouldn't fix the clear weaknesses and complexness of their interface to suit the customer. They would rather spend an hour training you on how to do something super complex, and oh, by the way, if you mention to them that something is complex, unnecessary, or just plain not intuitive, instead of take the feedback, they actually get defensive and back up their reasoning for doing whatever they are doing in a totally illogical and contrived way. They need to take a page from Google and Apple and go back to the drawing board with their system and design something from the ground up that is EASY TO USE. 4) Scoring for employees is extremely complex and contrived, just ask them to show it to you in the sales process, you will see I could write more, but I ran out of room, check out JuvodHR if you are looking for a better solution, that's where I went.

Pros

Not really much to like, to be quite honest

Cons

5) There is this wonderful background jobs pop-up that pops up every time that you do ANYTHING in the application, I'm serious. You have to dismiss it manually every time, it is ridiculous, unnecessary, and very annoying.
6) There is no simple way to have them tie any type of notes or issues with an employee back to a part of their job description that it is supposed to match. Which, is really the basis of why you are keeping records for corrective actions, notices, etc, to protect yourself from an employee if you have to terminate for performance based reasons/issues.
7) If you have employees who don't sit at a desk or have their own computer, this system is not for you. It does not offer you a way to accommodate those employees. Again, they will talk about a solution or work around, but again, don't be fooled, they have no solution here either.

Trakstar Review

I've really enjoyed having Trakstar as our performance review tool. With each UI update it gets better and better. It's not overly complicated so my employees aren't confused by how to go in take notes, track goals, and score reviews. All I have to do is remind them about due dates and they're on their way!

Pros

Just the right amount of features so employees aren't overwhelmed
Email notifications/reminders
Ability to set different goals per employee with different weightings
Reports

Cons

I wish the admin portal was more user friendly. You have to figure out work arounds for certain things that can become time consuming. I also wish (for admins) you didn't have to "log in as user" every time you want to look at the progress of employee reviews. You should be able to just click an employees name and their current review with notes/comments/scores updated should appear.