If you have some employees that are underperforming, it can bring down the overall morale in your office and impact your business goals. This is why you need to address underperformance, but you need to ensure that you manage these employees correctly. Incorrect management of underperforming employees can cause more problems than they solve and you need to be aware of this. If you’re unsure, contact an HR consultant such as http://cornerconsult.com.au/
Question Yourself Before You Approach
Before you approach your underperforming employees, you need to ask yourself some questions. The most important is if all of your employees have been explicitly told what you expect from them. If they have not, then they have no way of knowing if they are underperforming or not.
You should also ask if they understand what the repercussions of underperformance are. You should also consider if they are aware that they are actually underperforming in their job. If they are not aware, confrontation is not the best approach and you should look at talking to them about this instead.
Avoid Any Emotional Confrontations
Emotional confrontations will not help anyone and will only cause more problems. Threatening behaviour and accusatory questions will not help your relationship with your employees or boost morale. You need to ensure that you stay calm while you talk to your employees and collect your thoughts beforehand.
Be Prepared
Before you arrange to talk to your underperforming employees, you need to gather evidence and materials that will help your case. There is no point in saying that the employee has been underperforming if you cannot prove this. Saying that they are not doing a very good job is vague and will not help anyone.
When preparing for the meeting with the employee, you need to be as specific as possible. If you feel that only one area of their work is being affected, focus only on this. If you have goals for your employees that they know about, you should also bring documentation regarding this into the meeting.
Deal With Underperformance As Soon As Possible
When you notice that an employee is underperforming, you need to address this as soon as possible. Waiting for the employee to sort this out on their own may create a work culture where this behaviour is acceptable. When you do finally talk to the employee, you could be confronted with the fact that you did not have a problem before this time.
Of course, this does not mean that you should be meeting with your employees every time they fall slightly behind. Not meeting one deadline does not mean that they are consistently underperforming and meeting with them could cause problems. However, if they miss multiple deadlines and do not seem to be doing anything to remedy this, you have to speak to them.
Managing underperforming employees can be a challenge for any manager. However, it is important that you address this as soon as possible before you create a culture where this behaviour is acceptable. Before talking to the employee, you will need to determine if they are actually underperforming and if they are aware of this.
