The growing interest in employee benefits has hit a fevered pitch this year. Many large organizations like Netflix, Microsoft, and Facebook have all recently enhanced their benefits packages. Others, like Gravity Payments, made a splash in the headlines with news of higher wages across the board.

As a result, I’ve had plenty of fodder for recent articles on the topics of interesting employee benefits programs, as well as the potential dangers of companies attempting to “keep up with the Joneses” with sometimes outrageous offerings.

Don’t get me wrong; extending additional benefits to employees is a wonderful thing. The danger, in my opinion, has more to do with the why behind these efforts and the selection of which benefits to extend versus others.

The Why Behind The What

The question that I often ask my clients is why are they looking at extending additional benefits to employees? Is it because the rest of the world seems to be doing it? Is it because you’re trying to keep up with your competitors?

Julia Gometz, author of the book, The Brandful Workforce: How Employees Can Make, Not Break Your Brand, suggests that a company’s benefits offerings define a brand. “If you focus on salaries then you will attract people who are motivated by that. People who apply to work at your organization make their decision based on what you are offering and if it aligns to what they are looking for. Not everyone is looking for the same type of offering and it’s the organization’s responsibility to seek out the types of people they want and figure out what motivates them,” Gometz says.

Rather than simply keeping up with your competitors, benefits should help attract and retain the right talent and help your employees succeed in their roles with your company.

Which Benefits Is An Important Question To Ask

Companies that clearly align their benefits package to the values of both their employees and the organization are better positioned to succeed in today’s competitive landscape.

I recently had an opportunity to spend some time with the leaders at Hilton Worldwide, an organization that is taking a thoughtful approach to employee benefits. I asked them about several benefits changes being implemented across their corporate offices and corporate-owned and operated properties.

Matt Schuyler, Chief Human Resources Officer at Hilton Worldwide says, “In the hospitality industry, we believe that it all starts with culture. Our team members join Hilton because they love to please others. It’s our job to ensure that we take care of our people so they are empowered to take care of our guests.”

The first major benefits changes instituted by Hilton is the January 2016 roll out of extended parental leave benefits to fathers and adoptive parents. In January, new fathers will be eligible for two full weeks per child. Additionally, the company’s existing maternity leave will be extended for an additional eight weeks (to a total of ten weeks of fully paid leave per child).

The second benefits expansion announced by Hilton was the roll out of a new GED assistance program to all full-time, US-based staff of corporately owned and operated properties. In a partnership with the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL) Hilton will provide one-on-one GED preparation and advisement services, as well as test preparation.

“It’s tough for many adults to go back to school and to commit to getting their GED”, says Mark Crowley, Director of Internal Communications. “For many of our hourly team members, the achievement of obtaining a GED can help them not only continue to develop themselves, but it can unlock additional professional opportunities for them both within the Hilton organization and beyond.”

In an effort to provide employees of corporately-owned properties increased ability to plan their lives, Hilton also instituted a ten-day schedule guarantee. This commitment meant that employees no longer had to plan their lives around very short notice work scheduling. Instead, they now see their schedule with enough advance time to effectively schedule the rest of their personal commitments and plans.

How to Choose the Right Benefits

These benefits will positively impact thousands of Hilton Worldwide employees across the country by providing them with additional support in both their family lives and their personal development. But it’s important to understand how these benefits came about.

Rather than being the brainchild of an HR staffer in subbasement D, Hilton’s leaders took the time to understand the unique values and needs of their employee base in order to craft enhanced benefits that actually mean something to them.

Using both data analytics and personal interaction and insight, Hilton’s leaders were able to gain a clear understanding of employees’ needs and struggles. This allowed them to be intentional with their employee benefits, as opposed to chasing the latest fad or the latest perk that their competitors just announced.

In the hospitality industry, the experience is everything. If hospitality brands are able to create an internal culture that models their values and their desired customer experience, they are much better positioned to drive long-term customer satisfaction and loyalty. Hilton’s Schuyler describes his organization as desiring to attract and retain talented team members who love what they do. “If you love what you do, it shows.”

Culture is evidenced in your product. And in this transparent world, it shows. Julia Gometz explained that, “Brandful companies have figured out how to merge the culture with the organizational brand. They cannot be spoken about separately and those organizations who isolate the customer from the employee experience will fall behind.”

Schuyler adds, “There is a lot of copycatting going on in the benefits space. We’ve consciously rejected this approach. What works at Netflix won’t work for us.” Hilton’s efforts to gain a true understanding of the needs and values of their employees in order to provide meaningful benefits speaks to the power of being intentional and aligning benefits packages to support and reinforce the deeper values of the organization.

This article originally appeared on Forbes

The HR scene has been up in arms recently as several large firms; including Deloitte, Accenture and GE have made the decision to eliminate their traditional performance evaluation processes. But before you go storming the gates of your CEO’s office with torches and pitchforks demanding that your organization follow in their footsteps, you may want to step back and consider a few things.

The biggest media splash around the topic came from Accenture, who will be eliminating their annual performance review and ranking process this September. According to the announcement and the subsequent press coverage, they cited empirical research that suggests a lack of clear value, an overwhelming amount of time and energy that’s expended supporting the process each year, and the plain and simple realization that their annual performance review process was failing to drive the performance they are looking for as an organization.

But, Accenture did not say that they are getting rid of the process altogether.  Accenture’s CEO Pierre Nanterme told the Washington Post in a recent interview that, “We’re going to get rid of probably 90 percent of what we did in the past”.

Rather than being a once-a-year process where people are force-ranked, the general sentiment seems to be moving away from structure and administrative burden to more frequent, real-time periodic feedback to let employees know where they stand on an ongoing basis.

And this, like GE’s new real-time performance development process, allows employees and their managers to clarify expectations, provide feedback, and set goals on an ongoing basis throughout the year.

Consider This Before Eliminating Performance Evaluations

I recently spoke with Philip Hendrickson, Chief Talent Strategist at Qwalify, about some of the more important considerations around employee evaluations. Collectively, we came up with the following three critical considerations every leader must know before eliminating performance evaluations in their organization:

1. Consider the importance of feedback. Your employees need feedback. They do. Performance evaluation processes are vital for a company. Done well, they reward certain behaviors and acknowledge business success. They also provide developmental guidance, ensuring that people feel they are growing and learning in their role.

Good programs make employees feel valued and retained. There is no better way to build a positive company culture than on a foundation of transparency and respectful acknowledgment of performance.

2. Know what will replace your current process. If your annual performance evaluation is tied to compensation and incentives, how will you make those decisions if you completely do away with your current process?

Professionals at all levels are used to a process that recognizes quality performance that rewards consistent behaviors. Whether you use formal performance evaluations or not, leaders must ensure that there is something else in place before eliminating their company’s current processes for rewards and recognition.

3. Make sure the new way is an improvement. Most companies view the annual performance process with cynicism. But most of the issues with typical performance processes are with the final ranking that individuals receive, not the evaluation itself. People feel that however hard they strived and pushed themselves during the year, they were still ranked as “meeting expectations.” It takes the wind out of them.

A lack of transparency is another cause of cynicism with many performance evaluations. It creates a feeling that there is some mysterious back room where the real decisions are made and some criteria not related to real performance that tips in favor of some people and not others.

Poor reviews, without clear communication of the process, literally chase employees out the door. Be very cautious how yours is structured and delivered.

How We Manage Performance

Our small firm currently has an annual performance evaluation process and we’ll probably stick with it.  Since our employees work with numerous supervisors on several project teams each year, it’s nice for folks to have a chance to get formal feedback from the Partners and Managing Directors at the end of the year. It’s not a very labor-intensive process and it ensures that people are getting feedback from everyone with whom they interact throughout the year.

That said, because people work on many different project teams over the course of a given year, we rely more heavily on the more frequent, specific feedback employees receive at the conclusion of each project. This feedback is delivered individually with the project lead as well as in a group during the after-action review process. Team members work together to identify the things that went well and those that didn’t go so well, in order to continually refine our processes.

Is There A Better Way?

While it may seem that there isn’t a single person walking the face of the earth who looks forward to annual performance evaluations, it doesn’t mean that performance feedback is not desired. Feedback is essential for driving behavior and success.

The talent marketplace has shifted and more employees have begun looking for other opportunities. When someone doesn’t feel their skills and experience are valued by their employer and they feel that they are not getting the level of feedback on their performance that they need to grow, they are much more likely to take a call from a recruiter.

So before you do away with your evaluation process for good, consider the needs of both your organization and your people. Be intentional about how you evolve your systems and processes to provide a winning formula for providing feedback on a more consistent basis.

This article originally appeared on Forbes.com

We’ve all come across this type of person in our careers: the guy who is miserable to work with but who’s also “the top salesman we have.” Or how about “the smartest guy in the room,” who’s also the most unapproachable person you’ve ever met? The talent may well be there but, in today’s increasingly networked workplace, it isn’t a guarantee of success.

Sometimes, very talented people just aren’t a good fit for your organization, but more often, the problem lies in a leaders’ inability to harness or align their employees’ talent to the mission. Either of these situations can cause employees’ talent to atrophy — or, worse, give them a reason to move on to a more engaging position at another company. Your job, as a leader, is to recognize when talent isn’t being used to its fullest potential and correct the situation.

When Talent on Its Own Isn’t Enough

As a leader, you may be tempted to hire an individual, or keep him in your organization, based on talent alone. Unfortunately, this might be a recipe for disaster. To make a difference, talented people need to be given the right roles and responsibilities, proper direction, and a sense of urgency. Most of all, they need to be properly aligned to advance an organization’s long-term goals.

Here are some common talent issues leaders face that could hinder your business’s success in building high performance teams:

• The “lone wolf”: The lone wolf archetype makes for a great western, but in today’s hyper-connected business world, that mindset just doesn’t work. You could have the smartest guy in the industry working for you, but if he can’t interact with the rest of your team, he’s ultimately a drain on morale and productivity. A successful business requires a team of people who make use of each person’s talents through effective and productive communication and collaboration.

• Misaligned talent: Businesses can fall victim to misaligned talent for many reasons, but what I’ve seen happen, time and time again, is talent being evaluated based on short-term operational needs versus long-term business goals. Perhaps you needed someone to fulfill certain responsibilities in a pinch when your business was growing, but now that person is stuck in a role where her talent is being wasted. Leaders must be able to see past pressing operational needs to the future performance of the company, which includes putting your best and brightest in leadership and strategic roles.

• Disengaged talent: If a talented employee is bored or unmotivated, they’re not going to perform to their highest potential. Getting employees out of their comfort zones, but not in panic mode, will help employees feel like they’re contributing to a greater cause and experiencing individual development. Those employees will know they are truly putting their strengths to good use and will go above and beyond for your business. However, fail to provide a challenge that fully utilizes an employee’s talent, and that talent will start to mold.

How to Align a Team’s Talents

Business moves fast. Often, business leaders get caught up with other priorities and let the performance and direction of their teams fall by the wayside. Here are three simple remedies to get talent back on track:

1. Communicate: The most effective way to align a team’s talents is through honest dialogue. Take the time to evaluate internal processes and dynamics. Hearing from your team about what is — and isn’t — working will help create alignment and do more for your team’s big picture than any task management system or monetary bonus ever could.

2. Look at your business objectives: When you put talent in the context of business strategy, talent will start to naturally align itself. Leveraging the strengths and preferences of employees according to where they fit within your long-term business objectives will naturally bring out the best in your people and organization as a whole. Make sure all employees know their roles and how their actions contribute to the bigger picture.

3. Put the right people in the right seats: Jim Collins said it best when he advised that people need to be put in the right seat on the bus to drive performance. If your goal is building a high performance team, find the right roles and responsibilities for the right employees. Find out what your employees enjoy doing and what motivates them to determine where they are best suited.

All leaders want the most talented people working for them, but talent alone can’t carry an organization. Leaders must provide oversight and direction to ensure employees are engaged, motivated, and challenged on a daily basis. Most of all, they must harness talent effectively by putting people in roles that align them — and the organization — for long-term success.

This article originally appeared on Forbes