Managing Poor Employee Performance| Fairwork Online

Managing Poor Employee Performance

There will always be times where the standard of some employees’ performance fall below what an employer expects of them. In such circumstances, the following procedure should be followed by an employer:

1. Arrange a meeting with the employee, and discuss your concerns with them. The purpose here is to explain to them that their performance is not at the level you require of them, and give them an opportunity to provide you with a reason as to why they may be performing poorly (i.e family problems, lack of training, not getting along with another staff member).

2. You should then both develop steps to resolve the problem. This may involve counselling, some re-training, shuffling employees around to different duties, or even bringing in a new system of how things are done in the workplace.

3. At the end of this, you should tell the employee that their performance will be re-assessed in the near future (i.e in 3 months time).

4. Always document everything that was discussed in your meeting, including what you said, how the employee responded, what you both agreed to do, and when the employee’s performance will be re-assessed. You should also state that if the employee’s performance does not improve, their employment may be at risk.

Here are some extra tips:

• If there is a repeat of any event, you should refer back to previous warnings
• Do not get to the situation where there are six or seven written warnings before any action is taken
• The final written warning should state that a repeat of the event may lead to termination of employment