Although there are no hard and fast rules to tackle under-performing employees, we have put together some top tips to get the most out of the process.
Start early and keep it simple
- Don’t let under-performing employees become the norm.
- Identify the problem – is it skill or will?
- Don’t keep putting it off.
- Keep improvement plans simple and relatively short.
- Don’t keep writing new improvement plans or extending them – make a decision.
Manage it smarter
- Put review dates in your diary so that you don’t miss them.
- Try and do review meetings face to face rather than by phone.
- Be aware of holidays that might get in the way or shorten the timeframes you’ve agreed for improvement.
- Maintain momentum.
Protect your position
- Keep dated notes of conversations.
- Send an email to clarify what was discussed to your team member to ensure there’s a record of the agreed actions.
- In more formal performance improvement cases, it may be necessary to ensure improvement plans are signed by both parties and kept on the employee’s file.