How to Deal with Poor Performers and Non Performers?




Performance Management (Appraisals)
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17
Belinda Coetzee
Analyst, South Africa

How to Deal with Poor Performers and Non Performers?

How does one manage poor performing employees and how do you deal with someone that comes to work that is not productive at all (being drunk, hangover)? They claim that they work for that matter.
Do you send them home? Or do you keep such person at work?
How do you handle them if you keep such employees at work.
 

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15
Jaap de Jonge
Editor, Netherlands
 

Short Guide to Dealing with Poor Performance of an Employee

Good question! Last week we focused on improving the performance of employees who are doing just fine in their complex jobs. Handling a situation of poor performance by an employee in your team is a different, yet equally important, and complex management skill... What are the main steps and issues?

First of all: Don't jump to conclusions, quick fixes or actions. Start with a personal meeting and actively listen to what the employee has to say about the situation. Avoid making assumptions. Ask questions instead, like if there any special personal circumstances? Examine the issues and concerns the employee brings up.

Determine if you’re dealing with a consistent or temporary non-performer. Is she (he) currently overloaded or stressed but normally a good, performing employee?

Then perform a brief diagnosis of the reasons for the poor performance by assessing what caused it. There are typically 2 main causes of poor performance of an employee (apart from the 0. PERSONAL OR TEMPORARY circumstances) and you need to apply situational management to them:
  1. COMPETENCE / ABILITY. This includes a person's aptitude (natural ability to do something), and also any training or learning resources the person received. Typical indicators of low ability are:
    - Low aptitude (natural ability to do something)
    - Low intelligence
    - Low skill level
    - Low knowledge level
    - Difficult or complex tasks
    - Poor performance despite of strong effort
    - No or little improvement over time
    - Was assigned to a too demanding job after hiring or was promoted to one later on

    Now that you know the reason(s), you can try to enhance the person's cabilities. If the performance gap is not too big, consider providing extra help, training, coaching, reassigning him/her. If the gap is too big or nothing else works, be ready to let the person go. That could be better for your team and organization. After all, holding onto an underachieving employee may result in a ripple effect of negativity, low moral and quality of work which may demotivate others. Ensure timely assistance of HR / legal.
  2. MOTIVATION. The commitment and desire of the person to perform and improve.

    If the motivation level is low, you should first provide good and clear feedback about it, so the person understands your opinion and that improvement will be needed.
    Also you might set more detailed, clear and SMART performance goals, and/or provide regular assistance or coaching (either by yourself or by someone else).
    You could create and agree upon a performance improvement plan or ask the employee to create one.
    Follow up and monitor the progress.
    If the motivation level is extremely low or if there is not enough improvement, you'll have to be ready to let the employee go.
A final tip: Keep records during the whole proces described above, in case you need evidence later on.
Hope this is helpful... Any builds?

 
4
Norman Dragt
Netherlands
 

Cultural and Legal Aspects of Poor Performing Employees

As Jaap de Jonge nicely summates you can do a lot about poor performance. As an extra you may want t... Sign up

 
1
Paramathmuni srinivas Kumar
India
 

An Inside Out Approach for Poor Performers

Irrespective of the job that is being performed, it is clarity in the inner being that is res... Sign up

 
1
Graham Williams
Management Consultant, South Africa
 

How to Deal with Poor Performers and Non-performers

I resonate with both Jaap's response and that of srinivas. There are a myriad of causes from self-a... Sign up

 
-1
Debashish Banerjee
Turnaround Manager, Kenya
 

Redundant Appraisal Mechanisms

@Jaap de Jonge: in contemporary situations, performance appraisals are routinely real time with stro... Sign up

 
2
Norman Dragt
Netherlands
 

Redundant or Not

@Debashish Banerjee: It is true that we can break down performance appraisal to the level of 'what ... Sign up

 
2
Helen Strong
Business Consultant, South Africa
 

Risk Management in Case of Poor Performers

Totally agree that the situation needs to be handled with an evidenced approach and respect. However... Sign up

 
1
Kathleen Tan
HR Consultant, Singapore
 

What if a Non-performer Retaliates and Disagrees?

If we encounter a denial of non-performance, we are unable to have a positive outcome. Wonder how to... Sign up

 
1
Graham Williams
Management Consultant, South Africa
 

What if Non-performers Retaliate and Disagree?

Good question @Kathleen Tan! The same question arises in a number of situations, for example when ac... Sign up

 
2
Norman Dragt
Netherlands
 

Procedure to Address Retaliating Non-performers

@Kathleen Tan: One possible approach to non responsiveness to feedback about performance, is asking... Sign up

 
2
Oshun, Grace Okaima
Lecturer, Nigeria
 

Remedial Measures for Poor or Non-Performance

The first step is to have a chat with a worker who is considered a poor performer or non-performer i... Sign up

 
1
Sridhar Gopal
Management Consultant, India
 

Managers Need to Be a Coach!

I generally like to believe that there is an unwritten professional commitment between employers and... Sign up

 
1
Lawrence Gqesha
Analyst, South Africa
 

Poor Performance and non-Performance can also be Caused by Other Reasons

The major problem in the South-African context between employer and employees is trust and there are... Sign up

 
1
Jaap de Jonge
Editor, Netherlands
 

What if MANY Employees are not Performing Well?

@Lawrence Gqesha: Thank your for clarifying the South-African situation. You are right to argue tha... Sign up

 
1
Maurice Hogarth
Consultant, United Kingdom
 

Responding Rationally to 'Poor Performance'

Agree with all the responses. We should start by considering if the poor performance is a matter of:... Sign up

 
1
Graham Williams
Management Consultant, South Africa
 

How to Deal with Poor Performers and Non-performers

Was it Rosdenberg in the 60s who developed nonviolent, compassionate communication? I believe that h... Sign up

 
1
Maurice Hogarth
Consultant, United Kingdom
 

Poor 'Soil' ⇨ Poor 'Seed'

If the 'organisation entity' is the 'soil' and the individual the 'seed': poor soil cannot enable a ... Sign up

   

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