Dealing with poor performance at work for employers can be a sensitive and daunting
issue to broach with an employee, the temptation for an employer is to leave
the discussion until they are at the end of their tether and they just want to
dismiss the employee. It's really important to deal with this
at an early stage, the reasons are it's far more likely that an employee can then
turn their performance around - offering training and support can result in a positive
outcome and this can be less time consuming and costly than going through
a poor performance procedure and then potentially having to recruit a replacement.
Being able to show that you have given the employee support and an opportunity to improve will then
improve your chances of carry out a fair dismissal and avoiding successful claims
made by employees. If you're an employer you should either follow your own policy on
capability or poor performance, or if you don't have a good policy in place or you
don't have one at all, use the ACAS guidance on capability procedures. What's key is
that the employee should be left in no doubt of what your standards are for them
to perform and the work that is expected of them. The first step is to have an initial
investigation into the issue, keep it as informal as possible and this
should include a discussion with the employee - it's quite possible that you
may discover issues that need to be addressed instead or as well as poor performance,
for example a lack of performance could be caused by ill health or a disability,
poor management in the team, harassment or bullying, or too heavy a workload.
It's sometimes possible to resolve these sorts of issues by a formal discussion
with an employee. If matters can't be resolved informally and a formal procedure
needs to be started, this should entail holding several meetings
with the employee to consider their performance, ways to prove it
and to set and review targets for improved performance. If you're having formal meetings
with an employee they should be allowed to be accompanied by a colleagues or a
trade union representative, or another person if this is what is required by your own
policy or procedure, or if it would be reasonable in the circumstances - for
example you might come to the conclusion that the employee that you are dealing with
is vulnerable in some way or has a disability whereby you need to make a
reasonable adjustment and you might allow them to take a family member instead.
If you decide to take formal action you should write the employee setting out
your concerns regarding their performance, the reason for your concerns,
and invite them along to a meeting to discuss the situation. The letter should
explain the possible outcomes following the meeting such as a disciplinary warning
and ultimately if their performance doesn't improve, potentially dismissal. The
length of the review period should depend on the nature of the poor
performance, the needs of your organisation and what's reasonable in the
circumstances. If the employee's performance does not improve following a series of
meetings this could culminate in their dismissal.
At each stage where you take a disciplinary decision or action the
employee should be allowed to appeal that decision and this must be outlined
in the letters informing the employee of the outcome of each stage of the
procedure. Hopefully you will be able to nip such issues
quickly in the bud and provide training and support that will improve
employees and the way that they're performing at work, however in some
circumstances it might be worth considering if it would be preferable to
offer the employee some kind of exit by way of settlement as an alternative
to a capability procedure - however discussions like these need to be handled
extremely carefully including to avoid potential claims so if it's something that
you're considering doing it's advisable to take legal advice first of all.
So what is key is to deal with these issues sensitively and promptly, if you do there's
a good chance you will improve the performance in your workplace and also
maintain good staff morale, not only for the individual concerned but also the rest of your team.