Ascent Solutions

Managing poor performance

It’s never easy to find yourself in a situation where a member of your staff is underperforming and not hitting targets. There can often be a myriad of reasons behind underperformance, but pulling the situation back from the brink is not something that always happens successfully.

A business (especially in media sales or a similar environment) can never afford to carry people whose performance is below par, but it is always worth trying to pinpoint the reasons behind underperformance and address them – bringing that unproductive member of staff back into the fold and saving you the hassle of recruiting and training a replacement. In addition, you’re also retaining the experience that the member of staff has acquired – and letting people can go can often have an unsettling effect on the rest of the office, whether it is friends of the person who are angry he or she has been shown the door, or the uncertainty that ‘it could be me next’. All in all, it is a situation that must be addressed.

When trying to manage underperformance, there are a few simple, basic steps that can help all parties to quickly come to terms with what is required.

Confirm and clarify the job description
Ensure that the member of staff has been given a clear job description (you’d be amazed how often this fails to happen!) and that they fully understand just what is expected of them, and the tasks they are responsible for.

Discuss the problems – and solutions
The person needs to be told that they are falling short. Give them specific examples of the areas in which they are underperforming, and explain that their performance needs to improve – but that you want them to succeed and will give them the chance to correct the problems.. Agree a sensible timeframe for the improvements to be implemented, and make sure that clear targets and objectives are set.

Support through training and development
If the person appears to be underperforming on a task because they simply don’t know how to do it, ensure they are given access to training. Such training needs to be incorporated into the agreed timescales – if someone is learning something new, you will need to agree extra time for them to get it right, as opposed to situations where the person knows exactly how to perform the task but has not been meeting quality expectations. It may also be that the person is underperforming because of issues away from the workplace – domestic difficulties, for example, or an illness in the family. If this is the case – and remember that you have no right to pry – you must tread carefully and try to ensure that the staff member is aware that you are supportive of them and want them to improve their performance, but that below par performances cannot be tolerated indefinitely. If your company has a counselor, ensure that they are aware of the support that they can draw on as well.

Is the training working?
If training has been implemented, its effectiveness needs to be assessed. Is the information being relayed correctly, and is it being retained by the person being trained? Remember that if training is not working, you need to assess the training itself before automatically assuming that the trainee is incapable of improving!

Review the performance
Once the training has been given, the tasks have been clarified, the expectations have been laid out and the timescale has been agreed, there will come a time to review the situation. Ideally, everything will be fine – the number of calls being made will have reached the required quantity and/or quality and all parties can move forward positively. However, if that is not the case then further action is required. A new timeframe will need to be agreed for improvement, and it will need to be made clear that failure to reach the required standards will result in the a disciplinary procedure. Milestones will need to be set and agreed on.

Manage the disciplinary process
you can’t just sack someone immediately for underperformance – you will need to follow the standard disciplinary procedures of verbal warnings and written warnings before there can be a final warning and ultimately a dismissal if there is no chance of iproved performance. Dismissing a member of staff is obviously the last step, and not something that should be done lightly – always seek advice from an experienced HR professional before proceeding with a dismissal to make sure you have done everything correctly in legal terms and are not leaving yourself or your company open to an unfair dismissal claim.

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