September 11, 2015

IDENTIFYING PERFORMANCE ISSUES -  Signs that an employee is not getting the job done

- Not getting work done on time, if at all.
- A generally negative “attitude.”
- Yelling and making angry outbursts.
- Engaging in passive-aggressive behavior.
- Trying to rally other employees to side with him or her.
- Going from cubicle to cubicle, stirring up trouble.
- Tuning out or being argumentative.
- Showing up late, leaving early, or taking long lunches.
- Discussing personal matters with clients, customers or coworkers.
- Flagrantly violating or ignoring company policies.

ADDRESSING PERFORMANCE ISSUES - Meeting with an employee to discuss performance

Prior to the meeting

 - If it is not a situation that warrants immediate attention, schedule the meeting and notify the employee of the date and time and the purpose of the meeting.
- Remain calm and professional.
- Arrange to meet somewhere private.
- Put your agenda in writing to keep you on track.
- Have documentation of the problem.
- Know ahead of time what you want the employee to do to remedy the situation.

During the meeting

- Talk with the employee about the performance deficiency you observed (be objective), not your opinion about the employee (don’t be subjective).
- Focus on specific (not general) behavior, for example, an assignment that did not get done, too many errors in a report, or not following the instructions of a manager.
- Examples of what to say about performance issues:

“Here is the memo you sent to accounts receivable about the Smith account. It has the wrong balances and you mistakenly flagged the
account as past due.”

“When we spoke last, you agreed that it was reasonable to complete the report in two days. It’s now four days later. I’ve checked with you every
day and you’ve told me everything is under control. I need the report by the end of the day. If you don’t think you can finish it, tell me now.”

- Ask the employee what’s going on. Listen to the employee’s side without interrupting and without challenging the employee’s perceptions. If you have questions, wait until after the employee finishes.

NOTE: If the employee raises a problem within the workplace that interferes with his doing his job, then tell the employee you will
investigate his concerns and plan a follow-up meeting at a different time.

- Provide guidance on what is expected of the employee. Relate your comments to the job description. Provide effective feedback.

- Agree to an improvement plan. Although it is preferable that the employee participates in developing a plan, thereby taking ownership of it, make sure it achieves the goals you desire.

♦ Example of a specific goal for improvement:

“Every memo that leaves this department must be free from grammar and spelling errors.”

♦ Example of specific steps for achieving the improvement:

“I want you to run spellcheck before you save or print and documents. For the next week, we will meet at 3:00 p.m. and go over your outgoing memos together.”

♦ Example of specific time limit for achieving the improvement:

“I checked the memos I showed you. Each had 7 mistakes. This week, I want memos we review to have fewer than 3 mistakes each. Next week, I will meet with you and I want every memo we review together to have no errors that spellcheck is capable of detecting.”

After the meeting

- Document the meeting (but first, consider carefully the words you will use).
- Record “who,” “what,” “where,” “when,” and “how” or “why.”
- Note the specific example(s) you used and how the employee responded.
- Again, be objective, not subjective…for example, “The employee disagreed.” not “The employee was ticked off.”
- Note the details of the agreed upon improvement plan.
- Follow up with the employee within the agreed-upon time limits.