If you ran a straw poll of line managers, asking them what the least favourite part of their role was, we’re pretty sure that having to deal with a situation where an individual was under-performing would be at the top of the list.

Tackling these situations can seem daunting and uncomfortable but, if you have straightforward processes in place and you communicate clearly, managing performance at work doesn’t have to be awkward for you or your employee.

In this article, our team at Pure® Human Resources shares their insightful knowledge and practical tips, based on many years of extensive experience supporting SMEs in the Hampshire area.

How do you define an underperforming employee?

It is essential to have an up to date job description in place for every role in your company, regardless of what that job is. It is the only way to measure what each person is meant to be doing on a regular basis.

This, along with an employment contract and a staff handbook that outlines your rules and procedures, is the only efficient and fair way of managing your employees.

So, if you have concerns that someone might be underperforming, the first thing you need to do is re-read their job description and make sure that what your employee is actually doing reflects their job description and, if it doesn’t, then update it accordingly.

It’s also useful to benchmark one person’s performance against their peers. This is easier if you have several people doing the same job, as it’s reasonable to expect their standards and performance levels to be similar.

What causes employees to underperform?

There can be many reasons – some internal and some external.

For example, on the internal front, perhaps you didn’t give them a proper induction and onboarding process and they’re not used to how you do things and need more support.

That could be a reason for someone who’s new and doesn’t perform straight away.

If it’s a case of someone who was performing but now they’re not, it could be that you’ve had some changes in systems, people and/or procedures, and the individual might need more training or support.

Whatever the internal factors might be, it’s really important that you keep your side of the bargain as an employer. You need to have robust systems and processes in place to support your employees in doing the best job they can, and demonstrate to them your commitment to doing so.

Looking at possible external factors for under performance, there can be all sorts going on in people’s lives outside the office. Someone may have relationship issues, money problems, family pressures. As much as we might try not to bring our personal problems to work, we’re only human and sometimes these distractions can affect our demeanour, work ethic and performance in the office.

Some of the classic signs that someone has a problem at home are when someone starts coming in late on a regular basis when they’ve previously been on time, or maybe their appearance has dramatically changed, or their normal working practice is out of kilter. They may seem preoccupied, flat or withdrawn. Any of these indications could give you a heads up that something’s going on and you might want to reach out and offer support.

How do you speak to an employee about poor performance?

Having regular updates with your employees is really important. It doesn’t have to be a big formal meeting with a lot of paperwork. Just quietly sitting down for a quality conversation on a weekly, monthly or quarterly basis, where you give feedback and welcome theirs, finding out how they’re feeling about their job and whether there’s anything they’re struggling with, is hugely impactful.

This ongoing, open dialogue should mean that raising any issues about poor performance can be raised in a timely fashion, and flow naturally and organically, rather than being a bolt out of the blue where the employee may feel ‘attacked’ or ‘accused’.

You can ask them if there’s anything wrong and if they know what’s causing the shortfall in performance. You might have some thoughts to suggest to them, too.

Rather than sound accusatory, asking questions and discussing the topic together creates a more supportive and collaborative environment.

It is surprising how often companies let performance issues fester and grow into much bigger situations than they ever needed to have been, if they had just nipped things in the bud rather than avoiding raising anything negative.

Tip: If there is a specific incident, try and talk to them about it at the time, rather than making a note to bring it up weeks or months later.

How do you manage underperformance?

When it comes to performance management if you have got to the stage where you have identified specific under-performance, the processes and support mechanisms you have put in place will help you and your employee.

When you sit down with your employee and highlight what the performance issues are, you can use their job description to clearly state what is expected of them, what they are doing well, what they are not doing well and what you need them to be concentrating on.

You can facilitate this by using something like a Performance Improvement Plan.

What is a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) and what should it include?

A PIP gives you a clear framework, in writing for both parties’ easy reference, that details the parts of the job the employee is not fulfilling and that you would like them to focus on.

It could be a simple one pager that you draw up after sitting down together and agreeing what they are going to improve on over the next four to six weeks.

A table format is a helpful way to include three or four objectives you would like them to concentrate on, including a timeframe for them to achieve the improvement, and the mechanics of how you want them to achieve them.

Outline what you expect as the standard for each task, and identify if there is any training or support needed to help your employee improve their performance and achieve their objectives.

Tip: When managing performance at work, don’t wait for the four to six review to see if your employee has achieved the required improvements. Check in every week to make sure they’re on track and not leaving it to the last minute.

What if there is no improvement?

If your employee continues to under-perform in their role, you need to implement a capability procedure that you hopefully already have in place and which therefore shouldn’t come as a surprise to the individual.

We recommend that all employers have a Capability Procedure in your staff handbook. Regardless of the size of your business, all employers have to follow the Acas Code of Practice on managing people, which requires you to have a disciplinary procedure, but we recommend that you also have a separate capability procedure which deals specifically with underperformance (whereas a disciplinary procedure deals with conduct and behaviour).

A capability procedure clearly states to your employees how you will manage shortfalls in performance, so they know what to expect. It gives you a process to formalise improvement, take action and ultimately dismiss the person if they don’t achieve the required standard.

It is important that you follow the process in the Acas Code of Practice, which includes key steps like inviting the person, in writing, to a hearing.

You need to give them notice of any meetings they’re going to need to attend, as well as giving them the right to be accompanied.

You should also define what kind of outcome they’re going to get, i.e. an official warning.

Make sure that you carry on with any Performance Improvement Plan throughout this process.

But ultimately, if you follow the full process and there’s still no improvement over a reasonable time period, you may well end up having to dismiss them from your employment.

This outcome is actually quite rare. What is more common is for the individual to decide that the job is not for them, or your company isn’t the right fit for them, at which point they usually choose to resign and leave voluntarily.

How long will it take to follow a full performance management process?

It really depends on the job, the individual and the shortfall in performance, but it’s probably not as long as people expect. Our clients often think it’s going to take six months or more.

However, if you are communicating with your employees well and regularly touching base,  and if you are using a performance management process and keeping on top of your capability process, then the whole process could actually be as little as eight to 12 weeks.

The important part is that you, as an employer, are being fair and reasonable.

You need to make sure that the employee knows what is expected of them, that you’ve given them the training and tools they need to do their job well, and the time and opportunity to improve.

You shouldn’t rush the process but, at the same time, don’t let it drift. If you say you’re going to review their performance in four weeks, make sure you put a date in the diary.

If you let things slide, you’ll lose the momentum for what you are trying to achieve and you could be back at square one.

How do you manage performance when someone has a disability?

In an employment context, we use the Equality Act to guide us on the definition of a disability. It is a low threshold so the chances are that, if you employ 10 people, you are likely to have at least one person in your workforce who has a disability.

They may not associate themselves with that term but you have an obligation as an employer to make a reasonable adjustment. It may not be expensive, it could just be tweaks here and there that will help that person in the workplace.

When managing performance of someone with a disability, the best thing to do is to ask the individual for guidance, as they are usually well informed about what they need support with. Or, you could turn to an occupational health provider for advice. We have an outsourced provider that we use as a preferred service – contact us if this is something you would like support with.

Again, an up to date job description is helpful for identifying the role’s requirements, so that you have something tangible if you make a referral to an occupational health provider and ask what adjustments you need to make to the role to help facilitate that person’s optimum performance at work.

As an employer, you will have an obligation to review their recommendations, and accommodate whatever adjustments are reasonable for you to do so. As they are recommendations, not laws, you are not legally obliged to adopt all their recommendations.

Rarely will an occupational health provider suggest that you should be paying the individual more sick pay, however they may make practical suggestions that you may not have thought about, like adapting your standard attendance targets, monitoring regular break times, adding a screen filter, changing the lights, chair or desk set up, and any facilities they need to have if they work from home.

Then, you can sit down with the individual and talk through what’s practical and what they think will be helpful for you to implement.

Contact Pure® Human Resources for support with Managing Performance at work

If you have underperforming employees that you have been avoiding dealing with, don’t put it off any longer.

Our friendly and expert team has helped clients to navigate these situations many times over the years, and we’re here to help you now.  We offer an accessible Pay As You Go HR service – just pay for the help  you need, when you need it, no long term commitment – as well as a Retained HR package for those requiring on-going support.

You can call us on 01794 329470, email us or fill out the Contact Form on our website.