Helping an Underperforming Employee
When an employee doesn’t perform at their job, it doesn’t just affect productivity. It causes resentment and demoralization among their teammates. It will also affect the company’s reputation with external stakeholders like customers and suppliers. The effect of poor performance spreads far beyond the individual.
Thus, immediate action is needed to halt the slide. But as the manager, what can you do? How can you help them improve? And ultimately, when should you say that enough is enough, and let them go?
What Causes Underperformance?
Before you can solve the case of an underperforming employee, you first need to understand what causes it. There can be multiple factors, but here are some of the most common:
- Skills mismatch: If you hire, say, a chef to do the work of a computer programmer, it’s obvious that they will do poorly. Without the requisite skills, employees will lose confidence and underperform.
- Lack of training: For some jobs, a certain level of training is required. If this is not provided, performance will be adversely affected.
- Unclear expectations: If a job has vague or ambiguous expectations, the employee won’t know what is expected of them in the first place. Thus, underperformance is almost a given.
- Job dissatisfaction: Perhaps the job is not what the employee expected, or the job has become too mundane over the years. This will result in a lack of motivation to perform.
- Disengaged employees: If an employee is not sufficiently engaged with the team or company culture, they won’t feel like they belong. Hence, they likely won’t make an effort to be a team player and perform at their job.
- Stress and/or burnout: Unrelenting stress and unrealistic workplace expectations can lead to stress, which leads to an employee burning out.
- Personal issues: Issues involving family members or tight financials can creep into the workplace and distract from employees’ performance.
How to Help an Underperforming Employee
1. Actually Do Something About It
When dealing with an underperformer, you need to deal directly with the problem. Managers too often don’t want to confront the person head-on. Common tactics to sweep the problem under the rug include transferring the person, excluding the person from team meetings or activities, or even ignoring the problem altogether. Hoping for the problem to go away will only make it worse and have a negative impact on the team’s productivity.
2. Diagnose Before Acting
When diagnosing the cause of a particular employee’s underperformance, you will need to look at more than their results. Looking at their historical performance, have they always performed strongly, or is this a prolonged issue? It would also be useful to talk to their peers or teammates and see what they say.
Based on this feedback, you can get a better understanding of why that person is underperforming before taking action – if you so choose to. Sometimes, the underperformance may only be a temporary blip. Or, the employee’s overall performance is sound, but they may not be performing in some crucial areas which will affect future prospects. Often, many employees don’t realize they are underperforming until a manager flags it up to them.
Otherwise, here are some clear signs from an underperforming employee:
- Reduced work quality.
- Tardiness in completing tasks.
- Increased absenteeism.
- Unprofessional conduct.
- Minimal interaction with colleagues.
Whatever the case may be, building a list of reasons for underperforming is preferable before starting the discussion with the employee in question. Begin by listing down concrete examples of how their work has suffered and failed to meet expectations, as well as any problematic behaviour you’ve noticed.
3. Talk to The Underperforming Employee
Starting the dialogue can be hard, but you need to take decisive action to cure underperformance. When you set the meeting, you need to set out the areas they are underperforming in, along with clear evidence. If necessary, you can refer to the objectives and KPIs set in their annual review or employment onboarding.
When talking to them, be direct about the problem, but don’t be accusatory. Also show that you’re here to help them, especially if they performed well in the past. Now is the time for you to hear directly from the employee themselves why they think they are underperforming. Remember, this is a two-way dialogue, and you should give space to the employee to air their concerns.
4. Develop a Plan for Improvement
Once you know the reasons for their underperformance, you and the employee in question can develop a plan to dig themselves out of the rut.
The plan needs to be actionable, measurable, and most importantly attainable. Work together with them to set both of your expectations straight, while making it clear that you’re on their side. Crucially, you don’t want to set unrealistic goals or expect immediate improvement. Your role at this stage is to be a coach and cheerleader.
For your part, you too have a role to play in revitalizing an employee. If they are a long-serving employee and have lost their motivation, remind them of the key role that they have to play in the company and discuss how they can renew their purpose. Perhaps allow them to take on a new project. If the reason for underperformance is due to personal reasons, find out if you can accommodate their work schedule, e.g. flexible hours or taking time off. If needed, you can also arrange for training or reskilling sessions based on their job scope.
At this stage, calling it a performance improvement plan (PIP) will only serve to frighten and demoralize the underperforming employee. It’s common knowledge that a PIP is the first step towards dismissal, so unless you’re prepared to take that step, don’t call the plan a PIP. Try to keep everything informal at first.
Also, keep everything in writing so both you and the employee have a record of what was discussed and what action plans should be done. Email the notes to the employee after each meeting. This will also help if a dispute happens and formal action needs to be taken.
5. Monitor and Follow Up
Resolving a situation like this takes time, and you need to monitor the employee’s progress preferably on a weekly basis. It helps if both parties could list down three tasks to complete each week, agreeing on measurable actions. After each week, praise each success and give constructive feedback on any areas that still need improvement. Get them to be more accountable on more tasks with each passing week.
Doing this sends a positive message to the employee. That you are engaged with them and genuinely invested in their improvement. This is especially important with employees who are struggling with remote work. Sometimes, remote employees underperform not because of tech issues, but because they miss their counterparts at work, such as over informal office chats. Or they may just have a general feeling of disengagement. Having regular chats is a morale booster and shows that you care.
6. Ensure Continuous Support
Once your employee shows improvement or is back to their previous level of performance, don’t just leave it at that. Continue to support them and let them know you have their back, while entrusting them to their required level of responsibility. You can also take this as an opportunity to implement healthier work practices, such as giving time off to burned out employees or encouraging regular conversations and feedback.
If All Else Fails
1. Change the Tone of the Conversation
Thus far, we have been discussing the scenario of an underperforming employee that wants to improve. But what about those that are intransigent, or don’t want to admit there’s a problem?
Here, you need to change the tone of the conversation. You need to take a sterner stance and warn them of the consequences of underperformance. Lay down the disciplinary actions that you may need to take, up to and including dismissal. Make it obvious that their job is on the line.
In addition, set out an improvement plan as discussed – but this time, make it clear that it is a PIP and formal action is being taken. If your organization has a set performance management procedure, now is the time to utilize it. Progress is expected and fast.
But as above, you should do your best to help them during this difficult time. Giving them your support will ease the blow of going through the formal performance management process. It also shows that you are giving the employee a fair chance to improve themselves.
2. When to Say Enough Is Enough
If you’ve tried everything, and the employee is still performing poorly, perhaps it may be time to sever the relationship. Oftentimes, you may be unlucky enough to get a bad hire, or it is simply a person’s time to go when things don’t work out.
While it may be painful to dismiss someone, it may ultimately be the best option. Cutting ties may be disheartening, but at the same time it may be a relief to let a serial underperformer go.
At the end of the day, if an employee is underperforming, the will to improve needs to come from within themselves. You can do your best to facilitate the improvement process, but if all else fails, letting go may be the best option for both sides.
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