{"id":3959,"date":"2022-01-07T13:10:25","date_gmt":"2022-01-07T13:10:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/43.204.200.242\/hr-glossary\/bell-curve\/"},"modified":"2024-10-03T17:05:46","modified_gmt":"2024-10-03T11:35:46","slug":"bell-curve","status":"publish","type":"hr-glossary","link":"https:\/\/akriviahcm.com\/resources\/hr-glossary\/bell-curve","title":{"rendered":"Bell Curve"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1 class=\"h3\">What is Bell Curve?<\/h1>\n<p>A bell curve is a graphical representation of data and is shown like a bell. The top of the bell curve shows the mean and median values. Below it, in the descending parts lie the low tier values.<\/p>\n<p>In the HR domain, they are used to measure employee performance for performance appraisal.<\/p>\n<p>During a performance appraisal process, a bell curve can be used to divide employees into three different categories:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Top performers who make up 20% of the surveyed demographic.<\/li>\n<li>Average performers, who make up 70% of the group surveyed.<\/li>\n<li>Low performers who make up the remaining 10%<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These categorizations can help companies recognize top performers for retention efforts and create targeted upskilling plans for low performers.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"h3\">What are the advantages of using the bell curve?<\/h2>\n<p>The advantages of the bell curve include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>By assessing their performance data, an employee\u2019s suitability for their role can be identified using a bell curve.<\/li>\n<li>Skill gaps can be spotted as employees are evaluated based on their competencies<\/li>\n<li>Regular assessment can also facilitate a consistent professional development plan which can contribute to employee engagement.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 class=\"h3\">What are the demerits of using the bell curve?<\/h2>\n<p>While the bell curve is exceedingly popular, it is a very restricted ranking process (hence the name \u2018force ranking\u2019). This can be inadequate for certain scenarios and job roles.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The bell curve scales are extremely inflexible and poorly fit smaller workforces.<\/li>\n<li>With the bell curve scales, companies do not get an opportunity to measure the performance of their employees on an individual basis.<\/li>\n<li>The comparison factor can also be demoralizing for certain employees and result in unnecessary feelings of antagonism and resentment among employees.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 class=\"h3\">Bell Curve \u2013 FAQs<\/h2>\n<h3 class=\"h5 text-bold\">How is a bell curve used in performance reviews?<\/h3>\n<p>A bell curve is used to map employee performance with the majority of the employees being given an average rating, and thereby falling close to the median range.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"h5 text-bold\">What is a 5-point rating in a bell curve?<\/h3>\n<p>A bell curve graph that is divided into five performance ranges uses a 5-point rating to grade performers. The divisions are arranged in ascending order of performance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-3959","hr-glossary","type-hr-glossary","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v23.4 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What is Bell Curve? | Definition &amp; Meaning | Akrivia HCM<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Bell Curve is used to measure employee performance. It\u2019s a visual representation of how an employee performs in their position.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/akriviahcm.com\/resources\/hr-glossary\/bell-curve\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bell Curve\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Bell Curve is used to measure employee performance. It\u2019s a visual representation of how an employee performs in their position.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/akriviahcm.com\/resources\/hr-glossary\/bell-curve\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Akrivia HCM\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AkriviaHCM\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-10-03T11:35:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AkriviaHCM\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/akriviahcm.com\\\/resources\\\/hr-glossary\\\/bell-curve\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/akriviahcm.com\\\/resources\\\/hr-glossary\\\/bell-curve\",\"name\":\"What is Bell Curve? | Definition & Meaning | Akrivia HCM\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/akriviahcm.com\\\/resources\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-01-07T13:10:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-10-03T11:35:46+00:00\",\"description\":\"The Bell Curve is used to measure employee performance. It\u2019s a visual representation of how an employee performs in their position.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/akriviahcm.com\\\/resources\\\/hr-glossary\\\/bell-curve#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/akriviahcm.com\\\/resources\\\/hr-glossary\\\/bell-curve\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/akriviahcm.com\\\/resources\\\/hr-glossary\\\/bell-curve#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/akriviahcm.com\\\/resources\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Bell Curve\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/akriviahcm.com\\\/resources\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/akriviahcm.com\\\/resources\\\/\",\"name\":\"Akrivia HCM\",\"description\":\"Hire to Retire HCM Suite\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/akriviahcm.com\\\/resources\\\/#organization\"},\"alternateName\":\"Akriviahcm.com\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/akriviahcm.com\\\/resources\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/akriviahcm.com\\\/resources\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Akrivia HCM\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/akriviahcm.com\\\/resources\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/akriviahcm.com\\\/resources\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"\",\"contentUrl\":\"\",\"caption\":\"Akrivia HCM\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/akriviahcm.com\\\/resources\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/AkriviaHCM\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/AkriviaHCM\",\"https:\\\/\\\/instagram.com\\\/akriviahcm\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/company\\\/akrivia-hcm\\\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What is Bell Curve? | Definition & Meaning | Akrivia HCM","description":"The Bell Curve is used to measure employee performance. It\u2019s a visual representation of how an employee performs in their position.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/akriviahcm.com\/resources\/hr-glossary\/bell-curve","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Bell Curve","og_description":"The Bell Curve is used to measure employee performance. It\u2019s a visual representation of how an employee performs in their position.","og_url":"https:\/\/akriviahcm.com\/resources\/hr-glossary\/bell-curve","og_site_name":"Akrivia HCM","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AkriviaHCM","article_modified_time":"2024-10-03T11:35:46+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@AkriviaHCM","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/akriviahcm.com\/resources\/hr-glossary\/bell-curve","url":"https:\/\/akriviahcm.com\/resources\/hr-glossary\/bell-curve","name":"What is Bell Curve? | Definition & Meaning | Akrivia HCM","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/akriviahcm.com\/resources\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-01-07T13:10:25+00:00","dateModified":"2024-10-03T11:35:46+00:00","description":"The Bell Curve is used to measure employee performance. It\u2019s a visual representation of how an employee performs in their position.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/akriviahcm.com\/resources\/hr-glossary\/bell-curve#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/akriviahcm.com\/resources\/hr-glossary\/bell-curve"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/akriviahcm.com\/resources\/hr-glossary\/bell-curve#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/akriviahcm.com\/resources"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Bell Curve"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/akriviahcm.com\/resources\/#website","url":"https:\/\/akriviahcm.com\/resources\/","name":"Akrivia HCM","description":"Hire to Retire HCM Suite","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/akriviahcm.com\/resources\/#organization"},"alternateName":"Akriviahcm.com","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/akriviahcm.com\/resources\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/akriviahcm.com\/resources\/#organization","name":"Akrivia HCM","url":"https:\/\/akriviahcm.com\/resources\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en","@id":"https:\/\/akriviahcm.com\/resources\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"","contentUrl":"","caption":"Akrivia HCM"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/akriviahcm.com\/resources\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AkriviaHCM","https:\/\/x.com\/AkriviaHCM","https:\/\/instagram.com\/akriviahcm\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/akrivia-hcm\/"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/akriviahcm.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hr-glossary\/3959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/akriviahcm.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hr-glossary"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/akriviahcm.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/hr-glossary"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/akriviahcm.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}