Dealing With Poor Performance

Dealing with poor performance issues is vital in today’s society and most Companies lose employment tribunals, because they didn’t follow correct procedure not because of the facts of the situation.

Poor performance or falling standards of performance may occur for many reasons for example a lack of training or instruction, lack of motivation, lack of basic ability, or some underlying medical or personal problem which is affecting performance at work.

In some cases the problem may be only temporary.It is important to identify the reasons wherever possible so that support provided to the employee can be tailored to address specific problems.

There are three main causes for poor performance and each need to be dealt with appropriately.

Performance problems

Requiring constant supervision

Missing work deadlines

Incomplete work

Passing on unpleasant or difficult tasks

Behaviour problems

Letting family or personal problems excessively interfere with work

Unreasonable absences

Conflicts with other workers

Attitude problems

Negative attitude

Complains excessively

Expresses dislike for work, Management or customers

Unmotivated in their tasks

Good training and supervision are essential to the achievement of satisfactory performance. Regular dialogue with employees about performance, either formally or informally, will help to identify any specific problem area and allow remedial action to be taken promptly. Poor performance, particularly during a probation period, should be identified as quickly as possible, so that the correct remedial action can be taken. Assessment criteria must be non-discriminatory and should only be relevant to the requirements of the job. Those responsible for carrying out appraisals need to be aware of the dangers of stereotyping and making assumptions based on inadequate knowledge.  The key to effective action is to get the procedures right from the start

Giving feedback on performance is always a delicate matter; giving feedback on poor performance needs careful structuring and preparation. The risk for the person giving feedback is that it can easily develop into a list of criticisms. The difficulties often occur because the giver of the feedback is in some way involved in the situation or the manager does not know exactly what they are doing and feels that they are under performing in some way. All these things lead to the manager taking the individuals poor performance personally, and that makes it extremely difficult to provide independent, effective and empathetic feedback.

Following investigation, it may well be that steps can be taken to offer support and guidance to the employee in the short term which will enable them to achieve and maintain satisfactory standards of work performance; if not, then action can be taken which may lead to termination of employment on grounds of capability, misconduct or some other substantial reason as appropriate. In either case, the Manager should be able to demonstrate that it has followed a fair procedure in dealing with the matter.

What we offer in the Training program

We will equip managers at all levels with an understanding of 'how' and 'why' poor performance occurs and help them to deal effectively and efficiently with the situation.
We will explain

• the causes of disciplinary and performance problems
• how and why some people perform at unacceptable levels
• how to investigate poor performers in a constructive, professional manner
• understand their impact on the process
• assist poor performers by coaching them to deliver acceptable improvements in performance
• Give and receive feedback to deal with performance issues
• Create effective action plans
• Enhance their communication tools to enhance performance
• Deal with customers, staff and Managers who have experienced bad performance from a worker
• essential follow-up and keeping the employee on track