Poor staff performance and ‘problem workers’ are some of the trickiest things to be dealt with in the office. It’s difficult to balance morale and productivity in the optimum way for office success, and as a result I often hear of managers turning a blind eye to poor staff performance, fearing that drawing attention to it will cause problems in the atmosphere and work environment.

The truth is that avoiding dealing with problem staff is often the worst thing you can do. If you turn a blind eye, the rot can spread to the other apples. If a member of staff is consistently late, for example, and nothing is seen to be done about it, then why should other staff members keep up high standards of timeliness? Inevitably, a rot sets in around the office and poor staff performance becomes the rule rather than the exception! Even if it is something that others are unaware of, like plummeting productivity, it is still something that should be dealt with as soon as you become aware of the issue – intervening in a timely manner will hit the problem on the head early on, and prevent it from spreading and causing resentment and ill feeling. After all, problem employees may not realise they are doing anything wrong unless you intervene, and doing this early can act as a wake-up call to improve staff performance before it’s too late!

So the first step of dealing with problem staff or poor performance is to inform them of the problem. Naturally this should be done in private to avoid shaming them in front of the others (this will cause major resentment), and the issue should be explained clearly so there is no grounds for misunderstanding. If they have a reasonable excuse for a drop in form (severe illness in the family or problems at home) then you should endeavour to be understanding and come up with a compassionate solution – see how you can help the employee return to standard. If they have no reason, you need to reiterate (or in some cases, iterate) clearly what your expectations are from them – after all, if they don’t know what they are it can be impossible for them to be met! If you have a problem employee, you don’t want to wait until their annual review to tell them what goals they should have met!

The next phase is actually helping them to meet your outlined expectations. In the case of something like consistent lateness this is easy to monitor, but with something more abstract – like quantity and quality of work, it’s harder for both you and the employee to keep an eye on things. For this reason, you may need to consider the following things when managing poor performance in your staff:

Plenty of Feedback

Positive, constructive feedback is a good idea to give your employee an idea of whether they’re heading in the right direction or not. Let them know clearly what’s improved and what still needs to be tightened – it should be specific, detailed and timely.

Possible Supervision

Problem employees often require direction and for employers to work closely with them in order for them to reach their potential. Both parties should understand that this hands on approach to managing poor performance is with the ultimate goal of the employee working competently independently of constant supervision.

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