Member Article

How to deal with poor employee performance

All employers will inevitably encounter the situation at some point where of their employees is under-performing. This article gives you some practical advice on how to go about dealing with poor employee performance.

Don’t put it off

Most of us don’t like conflict, so managers often put up with poor performance to avoid having difficult discussions with employees. The problem is, if a performance issue is not addressed, it is unlikely to get better, and it will often get worse. I’ve seen this time and time again in my HR career and the typical outcome is that the manager eventually decides they have had enough and wants to get rid of the employee, which can be painful and costly for the business. In my experience, the majority of performance issues can be resolved satisfactorily if the right action is taken early on.

Establish the underlying reason

The key to managing under-performance is to diagnose the underlying reason, as this will determine the best course of action to remedy the situation. The underlying reason behind the poor performance may turn out to be very different from what you originally suspect, and to what to the employee initially tells you. Here are some of the common reasons for poor performance:

• Distractions – e.g. problems outside work, nervousness about organisational changes, issues with colleagues
• Lack of motivation – e.g. boredom, not being stretched in their job
• Lack of clarity about what is expected
• Workload too high - e.g. leading to mistakes due to rushing
• Inadequate resources
• Insufficient training or experience
• Manager too busy to provide necessary guidance and support
• Ill health or disability
• Deliberate poor performance – e.g. to make a point

Have an informal meeting with the employee

To understand the underlying reason, you’ll need to meet with the employee to discuss their performance. Don’t dive straight into a disciplinary process though; most issues are best resolved through an informal chat in the first instance. It’s important to be properly prepared for this, so prior to the meeting, make a list of all the areas in which the employee is under performing, with some specific examples.

At the informal meeting:

Try to act as calm and relaxed as possible. The employee is much more likely to be open and honest about admitting there is a problem in a relaxed and non-confrontational setting.

• Outline the ways in which the employee is under-performing, giving specific examples. Avoid generalising.
• Ask whether they recognise that things need improving?
• Help them to understand the impact that the under-performance is having on the team and the wider business.
• Ask questions to try to identify the genuine reasons for the under-performance, such as “Is there anything which is impacting on your ability to your job?” or “How are things outside of work?”.
• Agree specific targets for improvement and a time-frame for reviewing.
• Agree follow up actions that will be taken (by both the employee and you) to enable improvement.
• Agree a time-frame for reviewing how things have progressed.

Even though the conversation is informal it is a good idea to follow up in writing (an email is sufficient) confirming the main points of what was discussed, the agreed targets for improvement and action points.

Monitor their performance and provide feedback

After the meeting, monitor the employee’s performance and provide regular feedback, whether positive or negative. Don’t wait until the end of the agreed review period. If you have agreed to any actions yourself – for example to provide training - make sure you follow through on them.

If things still don’t improve…

A well carried out informal meeting with appropriate follow-up actions can often resolve the under-performance, without having to resort to more formal action. However, if the employee’s performance does not improve sufficiently within the agreed timeframe, you should consider progressing to formal disciplinary action (unless there are mitigating circumstances which warrant giving the employee further time to improve).

Particular care is needed in the case of employees with disabilities to avoid the risk of disability discrimination. It is advisable to seek specialist HR or legal advice in such situations.

Written by Stuart Hearn, CEO of OneTouchTeam

OneTouchTeam gives you a complete set of step-by-step HR guides covering everything from recruitment all the way through to dismissals. It also includes legally compliant template employment policies, contracts, letters and forms. Find out more on our website.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Onetouchteam .