No one wants to tell an employee their work isn’t up to scratch. This can be an uncomfortable conversation for all parties involved, but it’s essential as a business owner or manager if you want your team to really succeed. Keep reading for a full run-down of how to approach performance issues at work.
Identifying Signs of Employee Underperformance
If an employee is showing signs of poor performance at work, it’s likely that you’ll naturally start to notice what’s going on somewhere down the line – however, harnessing a level of understanding and awareness of how to spot signs of employee underperformance early on will enable you to step in and handle the situation before it develops.
One of the most obvious signs is a decline in work quality or quantity. Has an employee’s output decreased significantly? Is the work they are turning out not up to their usual standard? Everyone has off days, but if an employee is consistently producing work that’s not up to scratch, this could be a sign of burnout or underlying performance issues.
Another red flag is changes in behaviour or attitude at work. If an employee who is usually active and engaged becomes irritable or apathetic, it might be time to step in and open up a conversation – even if it’s not currently affecting their output or productivity, having respectful channels of communication that go beyond work metrics are what’s going to keep an employee happy, improve job satisfaction, and ultimately boost their performance.
Communication breakdowns are another area that can signify underperformance – failure to respond to feedback, communicate on the progression of tasks or avoiding discussions about work are all indicators of underlying issues.
It’s important to note that other team members may notice a decline in someone’s performance before management does. Pay attention to any complaints or comments made by staff, as these will signal where an employee might need some extra support.
How to Hold an Effective Performance Meeting
If you’re stuck on how to deal with the poor performance of an employee, a great strategy is to hold a performance meeting. This will give both parties the chance to explain themselves, explore exactly what’s going wrong and hopefully put the steps in place to improve things.
An employee performance meeting or employee review is a scheduled, structured discussion held between a manager or supervisor with a member of staff who works to review their performance, provide feedback, set goals, look at development opportunities, and address any concerns each party might have.
This will typically be a formalised process, but regular check-ins and casual chats are just as important for ensuring employee satisfaction and identifying underperformance.
Start With Strengths
It’s important not to go in all guns blazing, even if you feel an employee is severely underperforming. You never know what’s going on in someone’s personal life, so making sure you understand exactly why someone is struggling at work is crucial for addressing your concerns professionally and respectfully.
A good way to approach this is to start by acknowledging an employee’s strengths and accomplishments before you move on to areas for improvement. Make sure they understand that they are a valued member of the team and that you are there to offer support where they need to improve.
Set Clear Goals
Without defined objectives, managing underperformance will go nowhere. Set out clear, achievable goals with metrics designed to give employees the steps they need to take in order to get to where you’re asking them to go. These goals need to be realistic, relevant, and ideally time-bound so you can put a plan in place to reflect on their progress.
When you’re setting goals, it’s also important to focus on specific work behaviours, rather than personal attributes or things you just don’t appreciate about the employee. Focus on their output, tasks, and job duties that fall under their specific role, and define objectives based on these.
Balancing Firmness & Fairness in Performance Management
When you’re managing poor performance, you have to remember to be an active listener – allow the employee space to give feedback and reflect on how they feel they are being managed at work. They might be experiencing issues as a team member that you weren’t even aware of, such as dealing with toxic behaviour from another employee or feeling overwhelmed with their current workload.
Take this meeting as an opportunity to evolve as a team leader. Feedback is the way to grow – these key insights are invaluable for improving your office culture, fostering a positive work environment, and ultimately addressing concerns empathetically.
Developing a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP)
An employee performance improvement plan (PIP) is a structured approach to addressing performance issues in a constructive, proactive manner. This can tie into your performance meeting, and can actually be a good way to conclude your chat by writing down a clear and concise plan for you both to refer back to over time.
The aim of a PIP is ultimately to give employees who are experiencing performance issues the chance to improve before more severe action is taken, such as a termination. It’s likely to hold some gravity in the mind of the employee, so it’s important to ensure they understand what the PIP is expecting of them and why exactly they’ve been given it. Allow them some time to process the information – it might take a bit of time for them to turn their performance around, but it will be worth it in the long run.
Monitoring Progress & Providing Ongoing Support
Once you’ve approached an employee, addressed your concerns, and developed your PIP together, it’s crucial to maintain this level of support with continuous monitoring and scheduled chats so they feel confident in effectively improving their performance at work. You could have a specific day in the week or the month that’s dedicated to getting together for a coffee and a chat, or you could arrange for regular reports to be written up by both parties to help manage your experiences and expectations as they develop.
Make sure your regular feedback is realistic and achievable in order to facilitate growth and keep on asking them what they need in terms of support, whether that’s training, check-ins, or something to help them manage their stress outside of work.
If you’re in need of some extra support, you can also enlist the help of a professional. At The HR Dept, we have an extensive team of experts ready to deliver their knowledge of performance management, with years of experience in developing effective strategies for addressing performance issues at work, training leaders on how to manage underperformance, and creating PIPs designed to help employees improve. Get in touch today to find out more about how we can offer our guidance and support.
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