You can assign weights to individual goals in the Goals experience to reflect their relative importance. Set a percentage for each goal so that the total weight for each group adds up to 100%. In this article, you'll learn how to review individual goals, assign weights, and understand how goal weights work.
Overview
Goal weights let you define how much each individual goal contributes relative to other goals in the same group. This helps you distinguish between high-priority objectives and smaller goals.
In the Goals experience, you can review an employee's goals and attainment for a specific period, then assign a percentage weight to each goal.
The main features include:
- Assign individual weights: Set a percentage for each goal, with the total adding up to 100% for each group.
- Distribute weights equally: Use the automatic distribution option to assign equal weights across all goals in a group.
- Redistribute weights when deleting a goal: When a goal is deleted, its weight is shared among the remaining goals.
- View goals in context: Individual goals are grouped by period and frequency, making it easier to review related objectives together.
- Read-only access: Users who don't have permission to manage goal weights can still view them.
Goal weights are intended to support performance scores and incentive calculations in the future. These uses are not available yet and are expected in the coming weeks.
When and why to use it
Use goal weights when you want to reflect the relative importance of an employee's individual goals.
For example:
- Give a key annual business objective more weight than a smaller supporting goal.
- Make sure an employee's most important goals receive the greatest share of the total weight.
- Review all goals and their attainment for the people in your team.
- Establish a consistent weighting approach across an employee's goals for a given period and frequency.
Assigning weights helps clarify priorities and prepares goal data for future use in performance scores and incentive calculations.
How to use
- In your sidebar, go to Performance
- Go to Goals
- Select Individual goals
- Select a person
- Choose a group of goals
- Click on Edit weights
- Assign weights to the goals. You can assign weights in two ways:
- Enter weights manually: Type the percentage you want to assign to each goal
- Distribute weights equally: Click Distribute weights equally to divide the total weight evenly across all goals in the group
- Save your changes
- Review the weights when goals change
Goal weights are managed separately for each group, so make sure you're editing the correct period and frequency.
If a goal is deleted, its weight is automatically distributed among the remaining goals.
Keep in mind that once a goal has a weight assigned, its period and frequency are locked.
Tips and best practices
- Prioritise goals according to their importance. Give more weight to objectives that have a greater impact on team or company priorities.
- Make sure the total adds up to 100%. Each group of goals must account for the full weighting.
- Use equal distribution when all goals are equally important. The Distribute weights equally option helps you save time.
- Review weights when priorities change. Make sure the distribution still reflects the relative importance of the goals.
- Check the period and frequency before assigning weights. These settings become locked once a goal has a weight.
- Remember that performance score and incentive calculations are not available yet. Goal weights are currently available in the new Goals experience, with these additional uses planned for the coming weeks.
FAQ
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What are goal weights?
Goal weights are percentages that define how much each individual goal counts relative to the other goals in the same group. The total weight for each group must equal 100%.
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Can I assign different weights to different goals?
Yes. You can manually assign a percentage to each goal to reflect its relative importance.
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Can I distribute weights equally?
Yes. Use Distribute weights equally to divide the total weight evenly across the goals in the selected group.
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What happens when I delete a goal?
Its weight is distributed among the remaining goals in the group.
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Can I change a goal's period or frequency after assigning a weight?
No. Once a goal has a weight assigned, its period and frequency are locked.
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Do goal weights affect performance scores or incentives?
Not yet. Goal weights are intended to support performance scores and incentive calculations in the future. These uses are expected in the coming weeks.
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Who can edit goal weights?
Users with permission to manage goal weights can edit them. Other users can view the weights in read-only mode.
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Is this feature available to all companies?
Yes. Goal weights are available to all companies using the new Goals experience.