How to Handle an Employee Whose Work Quality Is Declining
If you’re a business owner or manager, you’ll encounter an underperforming employee once in a while. If not nipped in the bud, this situation can trigger a domino effect that will impact overall productivity. The results are reduced team morale, output, and revenue. It’s advisable to evaluate your team members to identify and fix the reasons for poor performance at work.
Reasons for Poor Performance at Work
Underperformance occurs when employees fail to meet expectations as outlined in their job descriptions. Examples include refusing to follow company policies and steadily reducing output standards. Common causes of poor performance at work are:
1. Miscommunication
Your employees can’t understand your expectations without effective communication, which can be facilitated through proper HR practices and potentially by utilizing find HR software for streamlined communication processes. It causes delays to project schedules, poor attitude, increased absenteeism, poor customer care, and higher employee turnover. Furthermore, poor communication may result in rising workplace injury when safety procedures aren’t clear enough. Ensuring transparent and efficient communication is vital for maintaining a healthy and productive work environment, and leveraging suitable HR software can aid in achieving these communication goals effectively.
2. Personal and Work-Related Stress
It’s not uncommon for personal issues or personal problems to impact your concentration and productivity. Examples are dealing with debt, divorce, the death of a loved one, or an illness. Other reasons for poor performance at work include bullying from coworkers, harsh management, and heavy workloads.
3. Monotony
Although performing the same tasks over and over can increase efficiency, it can also lead to boredom. Consequently, you’ll have a hard time paying attention to your job, meaning you’ll be less likely to catch mistakes. In other words, disengagement can occur if there is too much monotony in any job.
4. Lack of Motivation
Mental fatigue, low self-esteem, and poor onboarding ultimately contribute to low morale and can create a work performance problem. If you end crucial programs such as settling new employees for the sake of saving costs, you might end up spending more trying to retain them. Employees also lose focus if you don’t have incentives in place to reward them for meeting targets.
5. Limited Growth Opportunities
Everyone wants to work in an environment that offers new challenges and career growth opportunities. If your employees hold the same position for years, it might lead to disillusionment. Consequently, it can affect the rest of the team as they might become preoccupied with seeking greener pastures.
6. Lack of Access to Crucial Resources
As committed as you are to your job, you can’t improve productivity if the management doesn’t provide the necessary resources. Employees need support in the form of financial, physical, intellectual, and human resources. Examples include the latest machinery, skilled colleagues, partnerships with industry stakeholders, and cash or credit lines.
7. Problematic Work Environment
A hostile work environment is one of the primary reasons for poor performance at work. Gossip, bullying, a poor job fit, harassment, and outright discrimination are some actions that can dim employee enthusiasm. As a result, you won’t concentrate on your work while dealing with such negative emotions. Other contributing factors include workload, lack of understanding (job responsibility) as well as lack of guidance.
8. Lack of Skills
Your work quality will decline if the management doesn’t invest in training to update your skills. This observation is accurate for tech-savvy tasks. If you can’t keep up with rapidly evolving technology, your output will always be low quality, no matter how dedicated you are. According to a 2015 report by Learnkit, 89% of North American employees preferred employers who encourage learning and development.
How to Deal with an Underperforming Employee
According to credible estimates, US organizations spend over $100 billion annually solving problems associated with underperformance. Before dealing with such employees, try to understand their reasons for poor performance at work. Do they know their job description? Do they receive regular and useful training? Are they receiving praise for good work? Are they made aware that they’re underperforming?
After contemplating these questions, call them for a meeting to listen to their perspective. Make sure you have as much evidence as possible of their poor work performance. Show them specific ways in which they’re failing instead of speaking in general terms. Suppress your emotions when providing this feedback, or the employee might think you have a personal grudge with them.
Deal with these problems as soon as you notice them, so they don’t affect the other team members. Let the employee know that you’re looking for solutions rather than holding them at fault. Additional solutions are:
Consider External Factors
As much as you want your workers to be professional, their personal lives will spill into the office. If a top employee’s performance suddenly dips, it could be because they’re struggling to adapt to an external situation. Examples are relationship problems, a new baby, family illness, or moving to a new neighborhood. Encourage them to seek counseling if they’re having a hard time coping.
Provide High-Quality Training
The training you offer should be appropriate to the job description, targets, or objectives you assign the whole team. Furthermore, document the entire process to use for reference when you review performance. The new skills should benefit both the company and their long-term career.
Show Them How They Fit in The Company
One of the reasons for poor performance at work is employees who don’t understand their purpose. Explain how their role impacts the team and the organization. Consequently, they’ll be more likely to increase engagement and improve productivity once they understand their contribution to the overall mission.
Explore Their Relationship with Management
Sometimes employees underperform when the management repeatedly ignores their input. You have to gauge their work satisfaction level if you’re one of the line managers or the HR department. This evaluation allows them to open up on how work conditions can improve. Other than face-to-face interviews, you can use survey tools such as 15Five to request valuable feedback.
Figure Out What Motivates Your Employees
It’s hard to encourage your team members to improve if you don’t understand what drives them. Do you recognize their professional aspirations? Have you ever asked them where they’d like to be in the next five years? What kind of support do they need from you to achieve these goals? Once you understand each employee’s passion, it’s easier to assign them enjoyable roles.
Offer Incentives
Other than praise, there are various creative incentives you can use to reward a good performer. They include allowing them flexible hours, generous compensation, job promotion, company cars, gift cards, gym membership, and a business phone. Additionally, you may offer them company stock and discounted health insurance coverage. Such offers will motivate underperforming team members to work harder and improve output quality.
Punish Continued Underperformance
Some employees will continue underperforming, even after offering them carrots in the form of juicy incentives. To avoid spreading their slackness to other employees, let them know you won’t tolerate continued poor performance. Give them warnings every time their work quality declines.
As the boss, sometimes dismissal is the only logical way to deal with a non-performing employee. Although it’s a difficult decision, it will be in your organization’s best interests. It’s especially advisable if the reasons for poor performance at work are an employee’s bad attitude and emotional immaturity. Although the process of recruitment is hectic, picking a more competent replacement will result in long-term benefits for your company.
Conclusion
It’s essential to identify the reasons for poor performance at work as soon as you can. Quick action means you can deal with any obstacles before the malaise becomes widespread. Demonstrate firmness and fairness while helping affected employees. Finally, engage your workforce regularly and encourage feedback to solve performance issues before they spiral out of control.