To measure the productivity of project managers is vital for language service providers of all sizes. Nobody will oppose the importance of measuring of project managers in terms of the revenues of the projects that they have managed in the given timeframe. Question is what to measure, how to measure and how this should be reflected into their rewards to motivate them. A simple performance rating formula can significantly improve your company's performance and also helps you to control staffing. From the PMs perspective the motivating bonus system will bring employee satisfaction together with sustainable productivity in the long term period. You will be shown our performance management process which we hope creates a work environment helping company to succeed in competitive environment.

1. Best practices in measuring the
productivity of PM and rewarding
system for PM
J. Absolon, ASAP-translation.com, Slovakia

2. Why this topic?
1. Theory
2. Comparison of general models
3. Case study from a small TSP

3. Stereoscopic view
Common Goal
Pay for Performance

5. 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.

6. Who is PM? Model of typical PM
Sex: female
Age: 26 - 35
Previous job: translator
Education: Translation
Company size: 10+
Created by M. Reynaud,
photos by M. Jang,
source dailymail.co.uk.
CAT Proficiency: SDL advanced
5 projects per day

7. 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

8. The same staff work differently in
different environments

9. 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)

10. Job analysis
•
•
•
•
•
duties,
responsibilities,
necessary skills,
outcomes, and
work environment of a particular job
•
•
•
•
activity,
frequency,
volume,
impact,

11. 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

12. Techniques
• Questionnaire
• Interview
• Final approval

13. Job description
Job Title
Job Function
Qualifications Required
Experience, Skills, Knowledge
Training
Anticipated Results

14. "If one does not know to which
port one is sailing, no wind is
favorable."
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

15. „If you can’t measure it, you can
neither manage it nor improve it.“
Quantity


No of projects
Volume (words, hours,...)
Quality


Complaints
Compliance with deadlines
Profitability

Gross profit margin

16. Salary components
Company
profit
share
Gross profit
margins (%)
Bonus on
number of
projects
Translations
(revisions)
Other
(success
fee)
Basic
salary

18. Fixed +
occassional
bonus
Fixed +
projects profit
share
Fixed +
No. of
projects
Fixed +
No. +
P. Margin

20. Fixed + occassional bonus
Motivation: ☻
Fairness:☻
Transparency: ☻☻
Comprehensiveness:☻
Budget:☻☻☻☻☻
Loyalty: ☻☻☻

21. Fixed + projects profit share
Motivation: ☻☻
Fairness:☻☻☻
Transparency: ☻☻☻
Comprehensiveness:☻☻
Budget:☻☻
Loyalty: ☻☻

22. Fixed + No. of projects
Motivation: ☻☻☻
Fairness:☻☻
Transparency: ☻☻☻☻
Comprehensiveness:☻☻
Budget:☻☻
Loyalty: ☻☻

23. Fixed + Profit margin + No. projects
Motivation: ☻☻☻☻☻
Fairness:☻☻☻☻
Transparency: ☻☻☻☻☻
Comprehens.:☻☻☻☻☻
Budget:☻☻☻☻☻
Loyalty: ☻☻☻☻☻

24. Straight scheme vs.
fixed bonus scheme
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%,
As soon as a predefined
level of performance is
achieved, the employee is
paid a lump-sum bonus.
25% = €50
30% = €100
35% = €200
40% = €350
45% and more = €450
Gross Profit Margin sample

25. 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

26. 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
More than 1,000 sent emails per month
500 – 1,500 files per months
1 entry in TMS has got 28 items

27. Evolution of pay structures
Fixed + No. of
projects
Fixed +
Occassional
bonus
work load
independence
Variation of
structure and
nature
lacked fairness
transparency
source: www.smithsonianmag.com
Fixed + Proj.
profit share
Fixed + No. projects +
Profit share
?

28. 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

29. Prioritising, filtering

30. Job description

31. Developing of evaluation system
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)

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

33. 7 steps to tailored model
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Job analysis
Salary benchmark
Salary range setup
Alignment with the company’s strategy
Determination of measurable criteria
Simulation based on old data
Implementation – measurement –
adjustment

34. 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