Effective performance management is crucial for maintaining a productive and harmonious workplace. When an employee struggles with their workload or fails to meet expectations, it is essential for employers to address these issues with fairness, transparency, and support.
This article explores the steps and considerations involved in managing performance issues, emphasising the importance of open communication, adequate training, and understanding the potential impact of health and personal factors on an employee’s performance.
By adopting an ethical approach to performance management, employers can foster a positive work environment that encourages growth and development. This not only helps in resolving performance issues but also strengthens the trust and commitment between employees and the organisation. Through clear expectations, regular feedback, and a supportive framework, employers can ensure that all employees have the opportunity to succeed and contribute effectively to the team’s goals.
If this area is something you’re looking at in your business, you might also find it interesting to read our series of articles on annual appraisals here:
- Ensure you’re getting the best out of your staff: Charity Employment Appraisals
- Let’s reach for the stars together – what are the options for appraisals and ongoing performance management?
What kind of situations might this come up in?
The easiest way to explain that is probably through an example:
- An employee is assigned a workload on a new area of business. They take that on willingly, even though aspects of the work would be a stretch.
- After they have been servicing that workload for a few months, it transpires that various tasks have not been completed as scheduled, there have been communication challenges with key stakeholders (both internal and external) and work has been lost.
- A complaint has also been received.
- The employee appears to lack any urgency or commitment to resolve these issues. They take frequent breaks from work and have also had a lot of absences recently. They have missed training days and core office days, citing illness and preferring to work from home.
- To address these issues, regular meetings have been initiated with the employee to support her workload management. Work can be reassigned but that will have a negative impact on the employee’s own workload.
What should we be considering?
Initially, we always recommend that employers look at things informally in the form of daily management and conversations about performance and expectations. Through an honest and open dialogue between employer and employee, most cases of performance issues will be fixed. It is always sensible to keep a timeline and record of these conversations so that you can demonstrate your attempts to resolve things informally first.
If these are not effective it can be difficult for employers to know what the next step is; this is where we at HRExpress are often asked to provide guidance. At that point, we will want to understand:
- The context to the performance concerns: is it a long-standing employee whose performance has recently dipped or a newer employee or someone who has moved across to a new area, as in our example above?
- What training has been given to the employee? Are you confident that they have had the right training to know how to do the work expected of them and at the level required? In the example above, the employer knew the new area was going to be a stretch for the individual. If that’s the case, make sure you’re not setting them up to fail and that you equip them with the guidance they need to perform.
- Are there any external factors that might be in play, particularly around the individual’s health? If the employee is unwell, is that a short-term condition or something more long-term, which may need to be investigated and then factored into any targets or review periods set? Note that if you do need a medical report from the employee’s GP or occupational health, there will be several rights you need to allow for in making and processing that request. We can support with that and provide templates or guidance on how to approach that request.
I have tried talking and nothing changed – what now?
If an informal approach hasn’t achieved the improvement you need, you may well want to move to a formal performance management process. The first step before inviting an employee to a performance management or capability meeting will be to carry out a reasonable investigation or assessment to confirm that this is necessary. This will usually involve reviewing their personnel file, appraisal and training records and monitoring their work. You may also want, confidentially, to seek feedback from those who work with the employee. Finally, you should satisfy yourself that performance management processes are being applied consistently across the organisation to avoid any perception of favouritism or bias. You should then provide the findings from this investigation to the employee as part of the invitation to a formal capability meeting.
The purpose of the formal meeting is to allow you to set out your concerns regarding their performance as well as explaining likely outcomes following the meeting. It is also important that the individual has an opportunity to comment on their own performance and anything which might be affecting it. That may, in turn, lead to a discussion around what you can to do support and assist the individual in improving their performance, such as additional training or supervision.
There are several requirements that should be included in the invitation and several rights which are afforded to the employee during these meetings such as bringing a companion (colleague or trade union representative). Our team can advise on those rights and ensure that the invitation sent is compliant and provides all the right information.
We held the meeting – what does the future look like?
You will need to confirm the outcome of the meeting in writing. It may be that that outcome is a written warning or improvement note or, if the poor performance is sufficiently bad, you may go straight to a final written warning or improvement note. We can give guidance on what level of warning is likely to be considered reasonable and on how to set out the areas where improvement is needed, including any targets, review period and additional support measures.
The improvement plan you put in place for the employee should include regular check-ins with a manager and the goals set should be S.M.A.R.T (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-related). If there is an ill health issue in play, that may affect both the targets being set and the period for any review.
Further meetings should be organised to track the employee’s performance and any improvement. Make sure, too, that constructive feedback is given regularly, not just during formal reviews. This helps employees understand their progress and areas for improvement. If the employee’s performance does not improve sufficiently, then you may need to progress to a further capability meeting, with fresh targets and a further review period. Ultimately, you may look to dismiss the employee but we recommend that specific advice be taken before you make that decision.
The employee has the right of appeal at each level of your decisions.
What happens If I get it wrong?
Taking unjustified performance management or failing to have the right evidence to support the steps you take may cause an employee to lose trust in you and your organisation and open you up to constructive dismissal claims. Alternatively, if you fail to follow the right procedural steps and/or dismiss before you have reasonable cause to do so, you could face an ordinary unfair dismissal claim.
A failure to understand the severity of medical issues in the context of capability and performance may bring about disability discrimination issues. It may be that your employee’s ill health amounts to a disability under the Equality Act 2010. If a person is found to fall within the scope of the Act, then as an employer you may be under a duty to make reasonable adjustments to overcome any disadvantage they are experiencing. In the context of performance management, adjustments could include making alterations to their duties, giving the employee additional training or making adjustments to the capability procedure itself, such as holding meetings at the employee’s home if attending a meeting at work is difficult.
Don’t forget the individuals involved
It is never pleasant to have to take an individual through formal performance management or be the manager who has to do that. It takes up considerable time and places an emotional strain on all involved. Fairness, transparency and support are all crucial to managing the process well.
Fostering an environment where employees feel comfortable discussing their challenges and concerns and managers engage in active listening can help identify underlying issues that may be impacting performance at an early stage. By creating a positive organisational culture around these discussions, you will not only promote employee growth and wellbeing but also enhance overall productivity.
If this is something that your organisation needs help with then get in touch with our HRExpress team.
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