Contractors, housebuilders, property companies and facilities firms manage two workforces at once: site teams who move from project to project, and office staff in commercial, design and support roles. The appraisal usually lives on paper or in a spreadsheet, and half of it never comes back from site. This page explains how the sector runs performance management, with examples you can adapt.
A site manager, a quantity surveyor and a marketing executive in the same company have very different working days. Many firms respond with two appraisal processes, or with one that quietly only reaches the office. The better pattern is one cycle with forms and competencies that differ by role. Everyone has an appraisal, the same reminders and the same completion tracking, but a site engineer’s form asks about temporary works and a bid manager’s asks about tenders.
Construction already records competence: CSCS cards, trade qualifications, SMSTS and SSSTS for supervisors, plant tickets and first-aid certificates. Those live in a training matrix or the HR system. A performance conversation should not duplicate them. It should refer to them: which ticket is due, which qualification opens the next role, who is ready to run their own site. The competency framework by trade gives the review something concrete to discuss.
Someone may work under three project managers in a year and be appraised by a fourth, the regional or operations manager. The project manager who saw the work daily is the person with the evidence. Firms that manage this well collect a short project-end note from each project manager, so the annual appraisal is built from the year rather than from the last few weeks.
Site teams do not sit at a desk, may not have a company laptop and often have no company email address. A paper appraisal sent to site returns late or not at all. When an appraisal runs in a system, the questions are practical: can a site manager complete it on a phone, and can site staff be given access from the company directory without a ticket to IT for each person. Those two answers decide the completion rate.
A typical pattern. Your own calendar, agreements and policies come first.
Site roles agree safety, quality and programme objectives. Office roles agree commercial, design or support objectives. All use the same cycle.
A few lines on the person’s contribution from the project manager who saw the work, recorded before the team disperses.
Review objectives, tickets and qualifications due, and readiness for the next role.
Held on site or by video for site staff, in the office for office staff. Project notes and competence records are already to hand.
HR reports completion by region and division, and the business sees who is ready to run the next site.
Three illustrative scenarios showing a goal, the evidence that informs it and the conversation that follows. Adapt them to your own roles.
Illustrative voices. New Dynamics wrote these composite perspectives to reflect themes that are common in the sector. They are not customer testimonials, and the names do not refer to real people.
Our appraisal was a paper form posted to site. Some came back in a van three months later, most did not come back at all. The office finished its appraisals every year, and the sites were the business.
Every appraisal question I get from a site manager is about access. Can I do it on my phone, and can my team get logins without me raising a ticket. Answer those and the rest follows.
New Dynamics connects goals, feedback, recognition and reviews in one place. Bring a real process to the demo, and confirm each requirement with the team.
Different forms and competencies by role, one set of reminders and one completion view. Send us the form you post to site today.
Explore the featureBring project managers into a review alongside the regional or operations manager who owns it.
Explore the featureDiscuss provisioning from Microsoft Entra ID or your HR system during evaluation, so site teams get access without a ticket for each person.
Explore the featureSee how site and office objectives could sit in one place, with progress visible to the regional manager who owns the review.
Try the interactive preview
Explore a focused space for a project manager to record a few lines at handover, before the team moves to the next site.
Try the interactive preview
Give site staff the same cycle as the office, with a form that fits their role, and make it possible to complete on a phone or a shared device. Collect a short note from each project manager at project end so the appraiser has evidence from the year. Hold the conversation on site or by video.
Keep competence records in your training matrix or HR system, which is the record for audits. Refer to them in the appraisal to plan the next ticket or qualification and to discuss readiness for the next role.
Access for people without a corporate email address, and provisioning from a directory such as Microsoft Entra ID, should be confirmed for your set-up during evaluation. Bring your directory and HR system details to a demo so the answer is specific to your firm.
That is the usual starting point. Send us the form you post to site today and we will show it running as a cycle in the platform, with reminders and a completion view, before you commit to anything.
Associate and partner review cycles, chargeable-hours context and progression frameworks for firms of 15 to 200 people.
Performance management in professional services firmsOKRs, career ladders, peer feedback and calibration across matrix product teams.
Performance management in technology companiesBalanced scorecards, conduct evidence and annual certification under SM&CR.
Performance management in bankingAnnual appraisal, professional revalidation and clinical supervision on a 24-hour rota.
Performance management in healthcareSafety-critical competence, rotation crews and the skills for the energy transition.
Performance management in the energy sectorReviews across studios and offices, freelance and permanent staff in one view, and progression frameworks for creative roles.
Performance management in media, agencies and creative studiosObjectives, values and fair outcomes in central and local government.
Performance management in the public sectorAnnual teacher appraisal, the Teachers’ Standards, early career support and support staff.
Performance management in schoolsDevelopment reviews, academic probation and promotion across research, teaching and citizenship.
Performance management in universitiesShort check-ins, guest feedback and visible career paths for shift-based teams.
Performance management in hospitalityStore KPIs, part-time and seasonal teams, peak trading and routes into management.
Performance management in retailShift teams, skills matrices, safety behaviours and continuous improvement.
Performance management in manufacturingSee what performance management could look like for your organisation.
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