The monthly or yearly work evaluation is often looked forward to with a mixture of anticipation and dread by employees. But what if employees could see their evaluation as it develops and see what they are doing right and wrong, as they work?

An Irish company, Performix Technologies has devised a Webenabled business application for call centres, which allows both employers and employees to see the data on the performance of themselves and their colleagues.

Not only does the software allow employees to see whether they are reaching targets but it allows employers to see where they can help their employees improve on weaknesses through accurate individualised evaluations.

One of Performix's founders, Mr Cathal McGloin said that transparency alone often encourages workers performance because with Acumen - as the application is known - they can see how near they are to getting the rewards which call centres often link to targets.

Employees can even choose what rewards they receive, therefore making reaching their targets more attractive.

Mr McGloin said that productivity in the telesales section of Esat Digifone increased by 50 per cent when the software was on trial there. Esat is already using the software.

The company has just sold the software to Conduit, the company behind the directory inquiries number 11850, which employees around 500 people in their call centre in Dublin. The combined value of the deals is around £250,000.

The focus in call centres has often been on the technology with nobody tackling the issue of people management, according to Performix.

Mr McGloin said that Acumen, unlike other technologies, does not compare people to generic "averages" of performance.

It builds a profile of each individual's normal performance on the basis of their work over a period of time.

In that way impossible goals are not set, and the weakest employee's performance is not gauged against the strongest in a company.

Mr McGloin claimed that companies who use Acumen will see an immediate improvement in productivity of between 5-15 per cent in the customer service and technical support area. In telesales he claimed the increase could range between 30 and 50 per cent.

The software monitors and evaluates the performance of each strata of a company and can operate any form of communication, including Internet, telephone and WAP.

Mr McGloin said Acumen is about treating people like adults by showing them he data on how they are performing and giving them achievable targets.