Q: One of my employees is just coasting along. For some time now she hasn’t been achieving as much as my other staff, is quite negative and doesn’t seem motivated. How do I improve employee poor performance in this case?
A: Employee poor performance can be really frustrating, but it can be improved with the right approach.
To change someone’s poor performance they need to first understand the issues and your expectations. Therefore arranging a discussion where the issues will be covered is necessary.
Prior to arranging the discussion, however, think about what specifically your employee isn’t achieving so that you are prepared to make clear and concise points. You might even want to make a list with examples of each point to refer to if you have a few. Simply stating to your employee that they don’t seem to be motivated is merely an observation and really doesn’t explain the core issue very well. In contrast, providing last month’s poor sales figures, or a number of customer complaints, or evidence of lateness to work, helps the employee better understand what you are not satisfied with.
Hold the meeting in a quiet, private space and don’t be tempted to dance around the topic. Simply tell your employee why you are meeting and explain the specific issues as per the notes you prepared earlier. Ensure the tone of the meeting is supportive, and the agenda is about setting your expectations and implementing a solution for the issues at hand. Also, make sure you listen to the employee’s viewpoints too as there could be something going on that you aren’t aware of.
The meeting should result in you putting in place an action plan which sets out the performance standard. The action plan should be monitored over a period of time, it should be fair and achievable, and it should be agreed to in writing.
If you see an improvement in employee poor performance which meets your expectations, the action plan and monitoring can be removed. If the underperformance continues, our recommendation is to seek further advice from an HR professional about your options.
Did you know Industryus HR offers over the phone advice for employers? Members can call us whenever they need to about issues just like this. If you would like more information or to discuss a specific issue, call us on 07 5655 4047 or email us here.