How KeHE Grew Goal Participation From
Under 10% to 70%
With Betterworks

KeHE Distributors wanted performance management to do more than document what happened twice a year. By introducing clearer goal alignment, quarterly check-ins, and more consistent development conversations with Betterworks, KeHE built a performance approach that employees and managers are actively using to stay focused on the work that matters most.

Before Betterworks, KeHE's performance process followed a familiar pattern: goal setting at the beginning of the year, a midyear conversation, and a year-end review with a formal rating.

But the process wasn't creating much value for employees or managers. Nick Haap, who leads talent management at KeHE, describes it as more of an HR mandate than a tool for improving performance, as is the case for many businesses. Goal adoption reflected that. He estimates fewer than 10% of employees were setting objectives in the previous system.

At the same time, KeHE was growing quickly. The company needed a performance approach that could help managers and employees stay aligned as priorities changed, rather than waiting months for the next formal review.

The goal was to make performance conversations more regular, useful, and connected to the work employees were doing.

Moving away from a traditional performance model meant introducing new habits across the organization, including objectives and key results, quarterly check-ins, more frequent performance conversations, and a greater focus on employee development.

That was already a significant change-management effort. KeHE didn't want the system itself to become another source of friction.

The company ran what Nick describes as a robust request for proposal process across multiple performance management vendors. Betterworks stood out because it could support the performance model KeHE was trying to build while keeping the experience manageable for employees, managers, and HR.

That usability mattered during rollout. Employees were learning new concepts at the same time they were learning a new system, and Nick says Betterworks' intuitive experience helped make the transition easier.

KeHE replaced its heavier, twice-yearly approach with quarterly conversations designed to focus managers and employees on four areas:

• Results from the previous 90 days

• Objectives and priorities for the next 90 days

• Individual development

• How the manager can support the employee’s needs

Development was an especially important addition. Rather than treating growth as a separate talent process, KeHE began incorporating it directly into performance conversations. Employees also gained a defined opportunity to tell managers where they needed help.

The check-ins were intentionally lighter than the old review process. KeHE wanted more conversation and less narrative writing, with the discussion fitting naturally into the manager-employee relationship rather than creating another large administrative event.

Over time, the new rhythm started becoming part of how the organization worked.

One of the clearest changes showed up in goal setting.

Before Betterworks, Nick estimates that fewer than 10% of employees were entering objectives in the system. Today, roughly 70% are creating and managing objectives, including aligning their work to higher-level priorities.

That alignment helps connect individual work to KeHE's broader Food First strategy. Leaders can trace how objectives connect from the CEO through the organization, giving teams a clearer view of who is contributing to each priority and how their work supports the company's direction.

For KeHE, the change is about more than getting employees to complete another HR task. It gives the organization a more consistent way to translate business priorities into individual commitments and revisit them as the work progresses. KeHE's five-year Food First objectives remain steady at the top, while teams define the tangible outcomes they can influence underneath them.

Adoption extends beyond goals.

Employee participation in KeHE's quarterly check-ins is now above 95%. And KeHE is achieving that participation without HR having to spend significant time tracking people down. Built-in reminders help, but Nick also sees growing recognition among employees and managers that the conversations themselves are useful. That means less time for HR to spend driving process compliance and more room to focus on improving the program, strengthening manager conversations, and connecting performance to the priorities the business is trying to achieve.

KeHE's engagement survey provides another signal.

As leaders create and review objectives, the process gives them a reason to question whether the work on their teams is contributing to Food First priorities or simply adding to the noise. That helps managers make clearer choices about what to prioritize, postpone, or stop.

The change has also reduced administrative friction for KeHE's talent team.

Nick says Betterworks is the easiest performance platform he has worked with — to use and configure. He and his direct report now spend substantially less time manipulating, checking, and repairing the system, leaving more room for strategic work and building new talent programs.

Betterworks Calibration has helped simplify another formerly manual process. KeHE's HR business partners can set up calibration groups, determine who should be included, and make changes during calibration meetings in a centralized environment. Previously, the team relied on combinations of spreadsheets and PowerPoint, creating version-control challenges and additional administrative work.

Nick is careful not to attribute every workforce outcome to a single system or initiative. But as KeHE has changed its approach to performance, he says several broader measures have moved in a positive direction.

Professional-level turnover has declined, according to Nick, while employee engagement survey measures related to manager quality have improved. He also says most engagement topics connected to performance and the manager-employee relationship have risen over the past couple of years.

KeHE is also seeing more employees ask what they need to do to improve, develop new skills, and advance within the organization. That matters as the company looks to strengthen succession and increase the share of future roles filled by internal talent.

For KeHE, those changes extend beyond the performance process. More regular coaching and clearer expectations are helping strengthen leadership capability, while greater focus on development supports KeHE's goal of building more of its future talent from within. And as the company continues to grow quickly, keeping managers and employees aligned on priorities gives the business a stronger foundation to execute without losing focus as the organization scales.

KeHE's relationship with Betterworks has continued well beyond implementation.

Nick says the quality of support has been another differentiator. He continues to meet with the Betterworks team every two weeks to stay current on new capabilities, discuss what's happening at KeHE, and share ideas for future enhancements. He describes that level of ongoing collaboration as something he hasn't experienced with previous performance technology partners — and says the support extends beyond implementation into the long-term partnership.

And when colleagues inside KeHE are asked about their experience with Betterworks, Nick says the response has consistently been positive.

For other organizations rethinking performance management, his recommendation is straightforward.