Performance reviews went from 100% paper to digital with self assessment
Gave a manager with 40 employees nearly 30 hours for coaching and strategic priorities
Unified mobile time tracking experience across Apple and Android devices
Added reliable Sage 100 Contractor integration, saving 3-4 hours each week
Annual performance reviews tell managers who’s excelling, who needs more training, who is on the verge of leaving, and who could be your next leader. Writing reviews by hand is fine if every manager has two to three employees. But when the number of reviews reach double digits, doing these evaluations manually is more than a nuisance, it can completely consume your week.
That was the case for Barlovento LLC, an Alabama-based, full-service design-build and utilities service company with 63 employees. The company was using a manual, paper-based performance process that had remained unchanged for years. When one of its managers had 40 annual reviews to do, a change was necessary.
Arcoro was presented to Barlovento by a shared partner, Alliance Solutions Group, as having the right solution to solve its performance management issue. During the demo process, Barlovento also found Arcoro could solve other issues, like replacing its current time tracking vendor that couldn’t deliver a working Android app or a promised seamless integration with Sage 100.
“One module led to another led to another, and I was just like, ‘This seems like a whole package,’” says Lisa Owens, Barlovento’s HR/Payroll Administrator.
Prior to Arcoro, Barlovento managers were working with an antiquated annual performance review process. They had to handwrite everything, including filling out a multi-page evaluation for each employee.
“The performance appraisal process was a paper process, and it was quite cumbersome... it was 100 percent paper,” Lisa explains.
It wasn’t a large burden for managers with two to five direct reports, but the operations manager had more than 40 employees to evaluate. There wasn’t enough time in the day, or week, to complete this by hand, especially when the company wanted managers to spend time on:
Employee development
Project execution
Government compliance activities
Customer relationships
Operational leadership
Barlovento was shown Arcoro Grow, which includes a performance management tool that can:
Digitize employee reviews
Standardize evaluations
Simplify manager workflows
Enable employee self-assessments
The option to have employees self assess themselves was a game changer, and something that was previously missing from their former process. For the first time, employees could evaluate their own strengths, weaknesses, and development opportunities before meeting with managers.
“It allowed employees to really reflect on themselves before the manager had a chance to reflect on them as an employee,” adds Lisa.
The self-assessment gave managers valuable insight before starting their own part of the review and employees were happy to self-evaluate. It was just one benefit gained from revamping the process.
“We’ve never had the self-performance piece before, and I got a lot of really good feedback on it.”
Time saved for the operations manager, who oversees more than 40 employees, was a huge benefit. Lisa estimates the operations manager has saved 30-45 minutes per review with Arcoro Grow. That adds up to saving anywhere from 20-30 hours.
“It gives him more time to focus on the people and the sites instead of all the paperwork,” adds Lisa.
Other managers appreciated the time savings as well. Since handwriting was no longer required, annual reviews could be completed in a fraction of the time. Allowing all managers to focus on the company’s more strategic goals, like coaching employees, compliance, and project execution.
Arcoro Grow helped Barlovento’s review process become smarter. Now, review scheduling can be refined based on project locations. That means reviews could be focused on teams who had extra time on their hands, or between projects.
It also let managers organize performance review activities by jobsite, so they could visit teams all at once and complete reviews more efficiently.
The result is:
Better manager productivity
More meaningful employee interactions
Improved field engagement
“All of the managers were very quick to pick it up,” says Lisa. “Nobody seemed to have any issues completing the task once it was assigned.”
Once performance reviews were tackled, the company wanted to continue to upgrade its workforce management with a better time tracking solution.
Barlovento was struggling with its former digital time tracking app. According to Dan Messenger, who handles Barlovento’s IT, the app never worked on Android and a support ticket to solve the issue sat for an entire year.
“We needed an app for the guys in the field to use on either platform,” he says.
During the demo, they looked at Arcoro Time (formerly ExakTime). They liked how Arcoro Time delivers a consistent Apple/Android experience, that includes the same features no matter on what device the app used.
“The apps on both devices look almost identical,” says Dan.
As a bonus, Arcoro’s native Sage 100 Contractor integration was reliable, with minimal issues. It delivered a dependable workflow for time capture and payroll processing.
This reliability has reduced administrative complexity, saving three to four hours due to Arcoro Time’s ability to sync directly to Sage 100 Contractor, while supporting accurate workforce management.
Barlovento now has transformed two important business processes with Arcoro Grow and Arcoro Time.
Performance reviews are now a collaborative development process rather than a paperwork exercise.
Field employees have access to a more reliable mobile experience, while management benefits from consistent data and streamlined administration.
The result is a more scalable workforce management strategy that supports both employee growth and operational efficiency.
“Arcoro really helped us move from a completely paper-based process to something that is much more manageable.”
Eliminated paper-based performance reviews with a self-service digital workflow
Freed up 20-30 hours previously lost to 40+ handwritten evaluations
Delivered a consistent mobile experience across Apple and Android
Replaced a broken vendor relationship with a reliable Sage 100 Contractor integration, saving 3-4 hours a week
Improved review scheduling by organizing evaluations around jobsite visits
Curious how Arcoro Performance Management and Arcoro Time could work for your company? Explore the platform or connect with our team.