Perspectives: The Performance Paradox

October 14, 2026 at 2:00 pm ET

Why the way organizations measure performance is failing the people doing the work – and what HR can do about it

Employees are putting in the effort. Organizations are watching the numbers. And somewhere in between, the connection between individual work and meaningful results has gotten harder to track, harder to manage, and harder to trust.

The tools HR relies on to measure performance were designed for a different kind of work – predictable, visible, and largely separate from the disruption that now shapes every quarter. Stack rankings are making a quiet comeback. Surveillance is increasing. And employees are performing productivity rather than producing it.

In this Perspectives session, Matt Poepsel, PhD and our panel examine what a performance system that actually works looks like in 2026 – and how HR leaders can rebuild one without losing their people in the process.

Attend this webinar to:

• Identify where your current performance system is measuring activity instead of impact.
• Redesign goal-setting and review processes to reflect how work actually happens in a hybrid, AI-assisted environment.
• Equip managers with the behavioral insight they need to have performance conversations that are honest and useful.
• Resist the organizational pull toward surveillance and stack rankings as proxies for accountability.
• Connect individual performance to business outcomes in a way employees can see and believe in.

Credits

Bonus for our live attendees… tune in for 1 HRCI and 1 SHRM credit!

Panelists – TBA!