By Annette Micallef and Bethany Silverman
Juggling leave requests, grievances and complaints, reviewing performance, and general day-to-day tasks – hands up if you’re a busy people manager or employer? Managing people in general is time-consuming and can zap your energy, so imagine having to manage an employee who is consistently underperforming or is found to been involved in misconduct; suddenly your workday has gone from manageable to manic. One of the biggest challenges that employers face is managing a difficult employee – it’s tricky and takes time!
We recently hosted and exclusive online event, where Senior Workplace Relations Consultant at HR Assured, Bethany Silverman shared some valuable tips on how to manage a difficult worker. Some of the topics she covered included when you need to commence performance counselling, how to performance manage, and what happens if you get it wrong.
If you missed the event, here I cover some of the key topics Bethany discussed and you can also access our free Performance Improvement Plan template!
This article is the first in a two-part series, so, sit down, get comfortable, and let’s begin…
1. What’s the difference between performance management vs conduct issues?
Performance management – employers need to undertake performance management processes where an employee is not meeting the expectations set by the employer in relation to quality or quantity of work.
Conduct issues – usually takes the form of a breach or breaches of any of the organisation’s employment policies or rules. Breaches vary in significance. Gross misconduct usually involves criminal or fraudulent behaviour, or serious dishonesty.
2. Why do performance issues arise?
At the webinar, Bethany explained that often unsatisfactory performance is the gap between actual and expected performance. Let’s take a look at both the employee and the employer and the issues that could arise from each party:
Employee:
- Lack of knowledge or awareness;
- Inadequate skill and experience;
- Personal problems outside of work;
- Capacity;
- Conflict;
- Perceptions of fairness or equality;
- Motivation; and
- Lack of, or unclear, performance goals, measures or priorities.
Employer:
- Unrealistic expectations;
- Lack of supervision or training;
- Insufficient or inadequate resources;
- Lack of leadership, direction or instruction;
- Pressure on leaders; and
- Culture and values.
3. What are the objectives of performance management?
When you’re considering performance managing an employee, it’s important that as an employer, you set the objectives from the beginning. Below is a list of possible objectives that could be achieved when following a best-practice process:
- Improve performance outcomes;
- Fair and effective appraisal of performance;
- Identify training and development needs;
- Improve behaviour (conduct);
- Identify barriers to performance;
- Facilitate good employee relations; and
- Repair employee relationships.
4. How to start the performance management process
During the webinar, Bethany explained the best-practice approach to starting the performance management process: “When undertaking a performance counselling process, it is important to have a plan. This involves identifying the performance concerns, what is causing them, and the desired outcome.”
Below are the steps to start the performance management process:
- Do you know what is causing the employee to underperform? Refer to point two above.
- Is the employee’s poor performance caused by a capability, capacity or behavioural issue?
- Capability – skills, experience, knowledge, behavioural competency such as communication skills.
- Capacity – availability, physical/psychological capacity, resources.
- Behavioural – attitude, motivation, conduct, confidence.
- Could there be any other factors contributing to the employee’s poor performance?
- Personal circumstances.
- Conflict / grievances / bullying or harassment.
- Others – leadership, manager or peers.
- What outcome would you like to achieve?
- Termination.
- Performance improvement.
- Understanding what is causing the poor performance.
- Compliance.
5. Free tools to help you manage performance
Many businesses fail to use Performance Improvement Plans (PIP) properly. Bethany says a PIP should only be used when there is a commitment to helping an employee improve, not as a way to commence a termination process. For example, often, managers implement a PIP for an employee who continually breaches process and protocol, and the company wants to terminate the employee. However, where the company is genuinely looking to help the employee improve, they can be incredibly useful.
To help businesses with improving an employee’s performance, HR Assured has created this free template for businesses.
This template is a good starting point for most businesses, but we cannot guarantee that they’re fit-for-purpose for all. As such, if you have any questions, please contact us.
When it comes to managing a difficult employee, you’ll want to ensure your employee is given the opportunity to improve their performance, and a well-thought-out PIP can certainly support this activity.
In the next article in this series, Bethany discusses disciplinary processes, and the key steps employers need to follow to avoid any risks.
6. Arrange a 30-minute consultation call for free!
Have a question about managing a difficult employee? For HR Assured clients, contact our 24/7 Telephone Advisory Service.
Not an HR Assured client and need some advice? The team at HR Assured can support your business on a range of workplace matters. Contact us today to arrange a confidential, no-obligation chat.
Annette Micallef is a Content Marketing Manager and works for FCB Group (HR Assured’s parent company). Annette is an incredibly passionate and enthusiastic marketing communications professional and she is responsible for creating interesting and meaningful content across FCB Group’s businesses. When Annette isn’t creating e-Books, email campaigns and blogs, you can find her in the great outdoors; she loves being surrounded by nature and considers this to be her happy place where she finds inspiration and ideas.
Bethany Silverman is a qualified Senior Workplace Relations Consultant at FCB Group and HR Assured. She regularly provides advice to a wide range of businesses in respect of compliance with workplace laws and managing complex matters including disciplinary and performance management processes and terminations.
Articles in this series
Part 1: How to manage a difficult employee: performance management
Part 2: How to manage a difficult employee: disciplinary process