Poor performance costs businesses huge amounts of money each year. Naturally employers want to tackle performance issues to improve results.
Managers need to know how to tackle performance issues. Performance is one of the ‘fair’ reasons for dismissing an employee. This means that you are not ‘stuck’ with a team member who is performing badly, but you do have to follow a fair process. Getting it wrong can cost you even more money and tribunals are happy to award your former employees thousands of pounds in compensation if your managers get it wrong.
Managers skilled in tackling performance issues save you money and help protect you from employment tribunal claims. It starts with managers who can motivate their teams and who have excellent communication skills. These two qualities can avoid the need for addressing performance issues more formally. If motivation and communication is good the manager and their team will work together to establish what contribution each team member can make to the organisation and quickly identify a ‘bad’ fit. They can coach their team to tackle challenging situations and improve their skills. They can help them see the areas they are struggling with and what, if anything they can do to improve.
A skilled manager will allow their team members to reach their own conclusion as to whether they can perform the role or not. In appropriate situations, they will encourage and support a team member to move on or to switch roles.
We have developed a step by step guide covering the main steps managers need to follow when tackling performance issues. This is free and available on request. We also provide expert advice and training to up-skill your managers so that poor performers don’t cost you any more money – either in terms of lost revenue or in terms of expensive legal claims.
I am a qualified employment law solicitor with over 25 years' experience working for the most part with employers. All businesses are vulnerable to tribunal claims from employees. My firm…
