Premier League performance
Casting my eyes over the football results, I always wonder why football inspires so much emotion and devotion. But it certainly does and that passion is reflected in the headlines. Today the headlines say “United claim Carling cup: Wayne Rooney’s superb header won the Carling Cup for Manchester United against Aston Villa.” Whatever the sport (and I’m more of a rugby fan), it is inspiring to see really fantastic performance taking the team on to reach its goal.
What lessons can Premier League football give us for the workplace? Most people turn in a good job most of the time. Sometimes you get workplace stars, like Wayne Rooney, who light up your working life; and sometimes you get workplace tortoises, who toil away, doing their very best, but still not quite hitting the mark.
Where there is a performance issue, you should gather evidence, including actual example of where he has not met targets and meet informally with the employee on an informal basis.
Note that many employers confuse competence and misconduct. Competence is poor performance. Misconduct means the employee chooses not to meet your standards, but is still often incorrectly described as poor performance. You can remember which is which by keeping in mind that poor performance is a case of ‘can’t’ rather than ‘won’t’.
Tell the employee what performance you want and explain what’s actually happening, giving your examples as evidence. Discuss what can be done to help him, including the provision of more training, if that’s appropriate. Set a review date and document the conversation.
In the case of poor performance, I might have two such informal conversations. In the second conversation, I would advise that if he doesn’t come to the required standard by the review date I will need to move to the formal disciplinary process.
Coming out of the conversation you should
- Ensure the employee knows what level of performance is needed to perform his role
- Agree precise targets to improve performance
- Identify any training, support or coaching that will assist improvement
- Explore any possible reasonable adjustments that may be required (for example if there is a disability issue)
- Set reasonable timescales to allow performance to improve
- Inform him that should performance not improve to an acceptable level then you will consider moving to formal disciplinary action
- Review the employee’s progress regularly
- Record the conversation and confirm in writing
If you would like to find out more about how to deal with managing poor performance in the workplace, we provide expert knowledge in the practical application of employment law. For more information, visit www.russellhrconsulting.co.uk or contact us on 0845 644 8955 or e-mail pm@russellhrconsulting.co.uk.