An employer’s guide to managing underperformance

Employees are hired to perform their work at a certain level, as set out in their job description and their annual appraisals. Sometimes an employee’s performance fails to reach that level, and managers need to be prepared to manage the performance of those employees to bring them back to the expected level. Conducting these conversations badly can often lead to personal grievances, and a failure to handle them in a timely manner, or at all, can lead to a decrease in productivity, low morale and even health and safety issues. In this article, we’ll go over everything you need to know about the performance management process as a people manager so you can get it right.

The first step is a conversation

You might be thinking, “Can I tell an employee that their performance is not good?” –  in short, the answer is yes, you can. But managers need to be prepared to have focused conversations with employees to explain the gap between expectations and performance, to work with the employee to understand the reasons for the drop-off in performance, and to support them to return their expected levels of deliverables. And, the key factor for all of this to happen: preparation. A clearly defined process, combined with training and support, can give managers confidence and clarity about how to structure and hold such conversations, and therefore successfully guide employees back to strong performance.

What about discrimination and harassment claims?

Guiding your employee back to the expected performance standards they’re hired to do is not considered discrimination or harassment. However, an important factor to consider is that sometimes performance is affected by things outside the employee’s control, for example illness, or personal circumstances, and understanding the CAUSE of poor performance before taking action is fundamental to treating the employee fairly. An overly strict approach, without understanding the cause, could worsen the problem and give rise to a personal grievance.

It’s also important to remember that the employer will always have a role to play in helping an employee deliver results. This will happen in various ways but might include correcting flawed systems, processes and equipment, improving planning and communication or providing additional support and training.

How can employers help better performance?

Poor performance can also take time to correct. It’s necessary to develop a performance management plan and a time frame during which the employer and employee work together to correct issues.  It’s also critical that the consequences of not correcting poor performance are clear to the employee. Performance Improvement Plans (PIP) are important, formalised documents that set out:

• The expected performance levels.
• The performance gap.
• A time frame for achieving the desired performance levels.
• A meeting schedule where progress will be monitored and issued addressed.
• What the employee and the company will do to rectify performance?
• What the consequences will be for ongoing non-performance at the end of the PIP?

Can I terminate an employee for poor performance?

Termination for uncorrected poor performance is possible, but it should only be contemplated after the employer has made every effort to assist the employee in improving, and the employer must have a good record of what those efforts were. Clear written warnings should be given when performance does not improve satisfactorily, and the employee should be made very clear about the consequences of not meeting the performance deadlines on time.

If it becomes necessary to do so, it’s wise to terminate an underperforming employee using a thorough and fair process, similar to the disciplinary process, where an employee’s rights are respected, and an unbiased decision is made after a full examination of the prior process and evidence.

An important but often overlooked factor in these processes is that other employees will witness to how the employer is treating their colleague, and this can have a real impact (either positive or negative) on workplace morale and culture.

Moving forward

Managing a poor-performing employee is a delicate balance between understanding the behaviour and reinforcing the employee’s job responsibilities. Care needs to be taken when deciding how to move forward, to protect the employee’s well-being, and to protect the business from HR risks.

How Citation HR can help

Citation HR Software helps you to follow best practice processes, and you’ll be able to seek professional advice when you’re not sure of something through our 24/7 HR Advice Line, setting yourself (and your business) up for the best possible outcome. We’d love to offer you a free no-obligation chat to see how we can best help your business, so get in touch with us today.