Here’s an idea for insurers seeking to inspire and retain their talented, and younger employees: continuous performance evaluations.

Friendsurance, the Berlin-based peer-to-peer insurance broker, designed a version of this idea for its employees, and launched the system in 2016. In a recent LinkedIn blog post, Eirill Eckbo, Friendsurance’s head of HR, said that the system has served the startup well, with regular feedback helping employees learn, grow and contribute more to the company’s growth.

“Supporting growth is more complicated than providing a nice atmosphere,” Eckbo wrote. “You must be aware of each team member’s status quo, how they want to develop and what measures are needed to reach their goals. In other words, you need a strong performance evaluation and development commitment system.”

The process Friendsurance uses is one that is customized for the company, Ekbo said, relying on feedback from employer and employees over time to help improve it.

Essentially, the evaluation process happens automatically when an employee is recruited. There are further evaluations, however, when a new team member is ramping up to speed and over a designated probation period. There are also regular feedback talks to help an employee develop further, and then evaluations concerning promotions, salary increases, or termination of employment, depending on the situation.

The performance evaluation system Friendsurance uses is designed to be truthful and pragmatic, give feedback to both supervisor and employee, development commitments shared between team leaders and HR, and also provide for measurable results. There are scorecards, self-evaluations and other elements.

Also important, ongoing evaluations are designed to take up as little of Friendsurance’s employee’s time as possible.

Does this process work? Friendsurance thinks so. Eckbo’s blog posting cites a ranking by employer review platform Kununo noting Friendsurance is one of Berlin’s top 10 employers.

For the full blog posting, click here.