Imagine a situation where you’re tasked with managing underperforming employees but you don’t want to scare them away by calling them out. So, you choose to avoid bringing it up directly. At first you let them be, assuming that things will improve later on. Nothing changes and you realize you might have to take action. You start monitoring their work more heavily and ask other workers to start helping the underperforming employee without making it obvious. Slowly, you employ a few more discreet strategies for improving the employee’s performance, but there are limited ways to do this, and you find things are not improving at all.
You want to do something more to help the employee but by now the senior management has noticed and they decide it’s not worth the hassle of keeping him on the team. Suddenly, the employee finds out that he’s being fired, without ever being informed that there was a problem at all. In the end, the result is the same—the employee loses a job without having been given a chance.
This might sound like an extreme situation but it happens quite often, where employees are given no indication of a problem until it is too late. The opposite happens too, where there is excessive pressure on employees to make a change without any support, so they remain stuck where they are. Managing underperforming employees is an employer’s responsibility and there is a lot that can be done to help workers get better at their jobs.
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Strategies for Managing Underperforming Employees
A large part of the employee retention ritual involves managing underperforming employees. The first step of defining who an underperforming employee is can be simple with clear performance metrics in place. However, dealing with underperforming employees can be a lot more difficult when the performance results cannot be seen immediately. Despite the difficulty, for an organization to shine at its productive best, there has to be a conscious effort towards understanding and supporting the employees who have been tasked with holding the organization up. Dealing with underperforming employees requires active data collection and planning, but there are a few strategies we think you can get started with.
Performance Assessments Are A Prime Way of Helping Underperforming Employees
An employee is only capable of applying what they already know to a task and then repeating those same behaviors just as they have so far. Unless their employer comes up to them and informs them that they would like something done differently, there’s no way for the employee to realize there is a problem at all. It is also quite unfair to call an employee an “underperformer” when they have not been informed about the metrics they’re being evaluated on or given the chance to improve.
Conducting regular performance assessments gives both you and the employee a chance to discover any problems early on in the association. This leaves room for both sides to determine the next course of action and find a way to address the issue. Create a performance improvement plan with a fixed objective, regular deadlines, and a plan of action so you can track the employee’s work and check for improvements.
Encourage the Employee to Communicate With the Company
Following up with regular check-ins with employees is a great way to keep in touch with them and understand how they’re doing at work. Building a healthy rapport with them will encourage them to reach out to you when they encounter a roadblock at work or one outside of it that is impairing their ability to work. Now you’re in a position to brainstorm strategies for improving the employee’s performance but instead of enforcing it on them, you’re able to get them to volunteer suggestions as well.
Communication is also a great way to identify company-centric problems at an early stage. Maybe the employee’s performance is being impaired because of being isolated from the central communication channels or it might be because their onboarding did not cover information that was essential for their role. Such issues can be addressed to ensure other employees don’t suffer the same fate.
Strategies for Improving Employee Performance Include Self-Reflection
Reflect on what the organization can do for the employee. Consult with other members of the team to understand what resources are available and get a more diverse perspective to cover all your bases. There could be an angle of support that you’re not seeing so work as a team to devise a strategy. Similarly, ask the employee to reflect on what the issue is and what kind of help they require. More support in terms of language assistance or accessibility accommodations at work might be factors they can recommend that you might not think of yourself.
Find a Mentor For Them
An employee might be underperforming because of a lack of direction or an inability to understand how things are done at the organization. If a manager or supervisor has sufficient time to guide them that’s great, but a mentor can often perform the role better. Identify a more senior employee with a similar role and ask them to make themselves available to the employee for any advice and assistance. Encourage them to build a comfortable bond with each other.
If a senior team member is unavailable, a peer mentor can also be assigned so employees can help each other when necessary.
Conduct Training Programs Aimed At Managing Underperforming Employees
When common themes and skill gaps appear among your employees, it might be a good time to conduct training programs to address these issues. One of the best ways to support underperforming employees is to provide them with room to learn on the job rather than expect them to fix their issues themselves. Training programs can help all your employees stay up-to-date without singling an employee out and making them feel inferior to the rest.
Reassessment of Skills and Reassignment of Roles
Every employee is hired because they have the potential to bring something to the table. Managing underperforming employees involves understanding why that potential is not translating into results. Explore the employee’s skill sets and assess whether there is a role at the organization that they might be better suited for. This might give you a chance to move them to a role where their skills are fully utilized instead of firing them and wasting all the energy and resources poured into their hiring.
Try to Ensure Constructive Criticism is Provided In a Private Space
Yelling at employees in front of the whole office floor has never been, and likely never will be, a good way to provide feedback to an employee. Minor suggestions and requests can be made while other employees are around, but dealing with underperforming employees requires some tact. Try to arrange for a private discussion when anything major has to be discussed and try to provide feedback in a more neutral tone.
Showing the employees that you’re angry, frustrated, or disappointed with them will only make them display the same feelings, which is counterproductive when helping underperforming employees. You don’t have to be overly cheerful but a calm demeanor is always best.
Provide Employees With Some Motivation
Dealing with underperforming employees is a simple task sometimes—all they might require is something to work towards. If there is a general lack of motivation at work, it is useful to find a common cause that can motivate them to push themselves a little more every day. From better coffee and snacks in the breakroom to a bonus or reward for best performance, there are various motivators that you could explore. Consult with your employees to understand what might push them to work better and try to make it available to them. Simple things such as breaks that last 5 minutes longer or freedom to sit anywhere in the office to work, are small changes that can be made around the office to make it a more comfortable space to thrive in.
Helping underperforming employees understand their weaknesses and limitations is a part of running a business and there is a lot that can be done here. Try to be proactive in communicating with your employees and work with them to make them feel their productive best when they log into work every day.