Performance management: Frequently asked questions

Answers to questions MyHR receives from its members about the performance management process and how to deal with poor employee performance or behaviour.

Questions covered:

• How do I keep unmotivated staff motivated?
• What advice do I give my leaders about managing toxic employees?
• How can I balance micromanaging my staff and being too hands-off?
• How do I have difficult conversations with employees who get upset easily?
• How can I deal with different personalities and different ways of working?
• How do I deal with an employee who is being negative to the team, generally making trouble, and undermining management?
• I’m a General Manager new to the role - how can I deal with staff that are not complying with company procedures?
• How do I deal with a staff member whose  performance is poor but they are good at hiding it?
• Are frequent one-on-ones important to raise performance issues?
• How do I manage a poor performance issue with my staff who work remotely?
• Are there boundaries of what is or isn’t considered poor performance?
• Would poor attention to detail, time management, and consistent grammar and spelling mistakes amount to poor performance?
• How do we address continuous poor performance/misconduct due to personal issues outside work?
• What is the best course of action to address the poor performance of an existing employee who has been given a role in a new department
• Should I always have a third party present at informal discussions with an employee about their performance?
• What is the full disciplinary process and what investigation is required?
• Do I still have to follow the disciplinary process to dismiss someone who I made it clear that their employment would end after 3 months if there wasn't enough improvement, and I've documented this weekly and monthly?
• Can we hold an employee accountable for talking to other staff about things said about them in a disciplinary?
• Once you have done a PIP, and the employee does improve, then 6 months later their performance drops again, do you start again?
• If attendance is included as an issue in a PIP, do you still need to consider the reason for further non-attendance?
• What’s the difference between misconduct and serious misconduct?
• How do we address a team member’s excessive sick leave?
• If someone is off work due to mental health, how long is it reasonable to hold their job open, before you can go down the medical incapacity route?
• How can we manage an employee discussion outside of work that management fears was an attempt to negatively affect company culture?

How do I keep unmotivated staff motivated?

Some suggestions are:

Connection

• Reiterating why their work matters, and who it helps.
• Spending time and effort building a strong team culture.
• Regular one-on-ones with your team, so that they feel connected to you as their manager/leader.
• Sharing positive (and negative) customer feedback regularly with your team

Autonomy

• Avoiding micromanaging practices with your employees
• Clearly state the goals and objectives for the task/project, ask what support/tools they need…then get out of their way!
• Have regular feedback sessions; what went well on this project? What didn’t go so well? What can we do next time? Implement those change
• Trust your team to do their jobs, provide support where needed, and hold them accountable if things don’t go well

Competence

• Ask your team if there’s part of their job they find difficult. Provide training or coaching to improve their skills here
• Provide honest, kind feedback about areas of strength and areas for improvement
• Compliment your employees when they’ve done a good job (research shows that for every 1 negative interaction, you need to have 5 positive ones for your employees to feel supported and engaged)
• Balance the amount of “stretch” work you give your team with “comfortable” work; don’t overwhelm them with tasks that they’re not yet skilled enough to deliver

What can you (or your business do) to make your team feel more connected, autonomous, or competent?

For further reading, you might enjoy Drive, by Daniel H Pink or read our blog post on strategies for motivating employees.

What advice do I give my leaders about managing toxic employees?

Toxic behaviour at work is bad for everyone – leaders, colleagues, direct reports, and customers – and ultimately bad for the business and your bottom line.

In dealing with an employee's toxic behaviour, you’ve got a few options:

• Do nothing – accept that this toxic behaviour is the price of having this person in the business, and that everyone will need to suck it up.
• Intervene - reduce the impact of this person on others. Can you physically separate them from their colleagues and peers? Is there a senior, level-headed employee could can be the intermediary between them and the rest of the business? What actions can you take to minimize the damage they can cause?
• Move them on – using either performance management or misconduct/disciplinary tools, start planning to move this person out of the business. Be prepared for tantrums, nasty behaviour, and short-term pain.
  Get expert advice. It’ll be worth it in the long run, but uncomfortable in the short-term.

For further reading, you might enjoy The No Asshole Rule, by Robert Sutton, or watch this TED talk about why civility is good for business.

How can I balance micromanaging my staff and being too hands-off? Most staff are trustworthy, but some will take advantage, and others may need more support.

Finding that balance is always tricky – micromanaging is often demotivating for employees (and very time-consuming for managers!).

Expect that some of your staff will always need a bit more support and guidance, especially if they’re new to the business. Some of these needs will reduce over time, as they become more confident, but depending on their own confidence and skill levels, you might find yourself always working more closely with a couple of your team members.

In terms of guarding against staff taking advantage, your best tool here is to set clear, measurable outcomes/targets/deliverables against which they can be held accountable.

If they’re consistently not delivering, then you can start addressing their poor performance quickly and clearly – they’ll either get it together and lift their game, or their employment will ultimately end (either because they’ve decided to move on, or because you’ve let them go at the end of the process).

For further reading, you might enjoy learning about situational leadership – an oldie but a goodie.

How do I have difficult conversations with employees who get upset easily?

It depends on why they’re getting upset. For example, some people cry when they feel frustrated or annoyed – it’s not because they can’t carry on with the conversation, but it can definitely look like that to others!

However, if someone is experiencing extreme distress (whether from factors at or outside of work), you’ll need to manage this with care and compassion.

Getting upset is also a natural reaction to challenging circumstances – it doesn’t necessarily mean that you are “being mean”, or doing something wrong. As long as you manage it kindly, don’t let it deter you from having the conversation that you need to have.

I’d suggest:

• Go into the conversation calmly, with a clear plan for what you want to achieve.
• If the employee becomes upset, ask:
  • I can see that this conversation is difficult for you. Would you like us to take a 5-minute breather, and then continue?
• If “yes”, leave the room, take 5 minutes then come back together to continue the conversation.
• If the employee has pulled themselves together, great. Continue with the discussion.
  • It’s important that we have this conversation, but I can see that you’re feeling upset.
• If they continue to appear distressed, or if they become more upset, ask:
  • Are you comfortable carrying on?
• If “yes”, carry on.
• If “no”, ask:
  • There are a few things we can do to make this more comfortable for you. Would you like to reschedule this conversation for another time? Would you like to have a support person attend – perhaps your partner, a friend, or family member?
• If they’re uncomfortable with all of those options, you might choose to communicate in writing:
  • Would you prefer if I sent you my comments in writing first, and then we meet in person to discuss once you’ve had some time to review and process?

It’s reasonable to provide support and accommodate your employees’ preferences, but don’t let tears or anger put you off doing what needs to be done. Agree on a pathway forward, then deliver.

How can I deal with different personalities and different ways of working?

All of us have different working styles: some of us are more direct/blunt, and others are more softly spoken/sensitive.

There’s nothing better or worse about any particular working style – different approaches are more suited to certain situations, and certain people, than others.

Figuring out how your employees like to be managed is a key management and leadership skill.

Some people want direct, immediate feedback – others will prefer to receive feedback in writing so that they can process it and reflect before discussing it with you. Some people are motivated by having strong personal relationships with their colleagues and customers; others are motivated by doing interesting work that stimulates them and isn’t boring.

You might find it helpful to do a working styles exercise with your team – who likes to get immediately stuck in when tackling a work problem? Who prefers to spend time thinking first, before getting involved in the problem? Who’s the person to check in with everyone and keep team morale positive? Who’s the person who likes to hang out in the details, and who likes the big picture?

There are heaps of models out there – a few that I’ve used and would recommend include:

• Belbin Team Roles.
• DISC profiles.
• Myers-Briggs framework.

How do I deal with an employee who is being negative to the team, generally making trouble, and undermining management?

If this hasn’t been addressed with the employee before, then call them out on it. This might be an informal conversation, along the lines of:


I’d like to give you some feedback about your behaviour and conduct at work.

I’ve observed… [provide examples]

This behaviour is concerning to me because it brings the mood in the office down, it distracts people from getting things done, and it makes it harder for our managers to do their jobs because they’re navigating unnecessary and distracting noise.

Do you have particular concerns or frustrations that you’d like to provide me/the management team with feedback on?

If yes – great, let’s schedule time for this to happen.

Going forward, my expectations are that any frustrations, concerns, feedback, or opportunities for improvement are brought to me directly, so that I can help improve things, or so that I can escalate them to the appropriate person.

Are there any reasons that this wouldn’t work for you?

Sometimes the squeakiest wheels are the people with the most ideas for improvement, or the people who are particularly committed to your business, so you don’t want to shut them down entirely, but you do want to give them constructive channels for their energy and ideas.

If the behaviour continues, start using your performance management tools to address this with them.

I’m a General Manager who is new to the role - how can I deal with staff that are not (and have not been) complying with company procedures?

Broadly, if an employee has been doing something untoward for a long time – in this case, not following company processes or procedures – then you need to have a discussion with them to reset expectations.

You’re not going to punish them for behaviour that’s been allowed previously, but you will hold them accountable for not meeting expectations going forward.

This could be along the lines of:

"Susan, I’m aware that you haven’t been keeping your pool vehicle tidy on a regular basis.

I know that the previous General Manager didn’t mind this, but our company policy is clear that keeping pool vehicles to a respectable standard is required. I think this is important for several reasons, including that it gives a good impression of the brand when we’re out and about visiting customers.

Going forward, my expectations are that your pool vehicle is clean and presentable, beginning next week. Is there any reason this wouldn’t be achievable?"

Once you’ve made your expectation clear, you can then hold them to account. If they don’t do what’s required, you can start using your performance management tools to address the situation.

How do I deal with a staff member whose performance is poor when I'm not around but is good at hiding it (and now that I am measuring things, I think they have been hiding it for a long time now that I am measuring things)?

First, well done on measuring performance in your team/business. This is the first step to doing something about it!

I’d begin by treating them as an ally, and assuming that they’re operating in good faith to improve the business and deliver the necessary results. Have a conversation with them about your plans or goals for the next quarter/year, ask for their feedback about what would need to happen to achieve these goals, and set clear goals/objectives/targets for them to achieve and be responsible for that moves your business in the right direction.

Establish regular catch-ups, with clear milestones and goals. It’s a lot harder to hide in a week-to-week setting, than it is over several weeks and months. Ask what’s going well, what needs to change, and hold them accountable for what they’ve said they would deliver.

If performance starts to improve – great! That’s the outcome that you’re looking for.

If performance slips, or doesn’t improve - you’ve now got the paper trail to have tough conversations, make improvements where needed, provide training or support (if appropriate). And, ultimately, move this person on if they’re not right for the role.

Read our post on managing employee underperformance.

Are frequent one-on-ones important to raise performance issues, rather than pulling the employee into a meeting out of the blue?

Absolutely. I’d recommend all managers have at least monthly one-on-ones with their direct reports, for that exact reason: to raise any niggles or concerns before they get blown up, provide coaching or guidance, connect them with the right people and resources for them to do their jobs, celebrate wins, etc.

How do I manage a poor performance issue with my staff who work remotely?

No differently to the way that you’d manage it with someone who works onsite with you.

What will be key to your success is having clear outcomes/deliverables/targets for this person to achieve. If they’re not getting there, offer support and guidance, and if they continue to fall short, start your performance management process.

Are there boundaries of what is or isn’t considered poor performance, e.g. an employee taking a lot of sick leave that has a negative effect on their team and their workload?

Good question. Absence from work isn’t a performance issue – if someone is repeatedly showing up late (with or without letting you know that they’re running late), or repeatedly missing shifts, that’s a conduct issue, because it reduces your trust and confidence in them as an employee.

If someone is repeatedly absent for “legitimate” reasons – sickness is the most common – then you’ll need to manage that in other ways, for example, agreeing with them that they’ll work reduced hours while they’re managing their health issue.

Would poor attention to detail, time management, and consistent grammar and spelling mistakes amount to poor performance? I’m managing an employee where we have ongoing meetings to give feedback and informal coaching, including support from the manager, but there have been no changes.

It all depends on whether the issues are relevant to the person's role and are causing problems with the tasks that they’re responsible for.

If so, they would amount to poor performance.

On the other hand, if a barista had poor spelling, but was only required to read coffee orders printed off the point-of-sale machine and didn’t ever need to write anything down, then it wouldn’t be fair to discipline them for a skill that wasn’t relevant to their work.

If you’ve already tried to resolve the issue, it sounds like a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) or potentially a disciplinary process may be the appropriate next step.

How do we address continuous poor performance/misconduct due to personal issues outside work (and the person doesn’t show any improvement or behavioural adjustment)? Should we begin formal process?

It's important to be understanding and empathetic at work – are there accommodations you could reasonably make for this person? If they’re having a tough time being civil to their colleagues because of something happening in their personal life, could they work from home for a period of time and reduce contact with their colleagues?

Regardless of the reason for them (personal circumstances or otherwise), if these issues are persistent, negatively affecting the person's work and/or work relationships, then it sounds like it’s time to start formal performance management.

A Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) could be a good place to start.

Depending on their behaviour to date, you may need to prepare yourself for a hostile or aggressive response. Stay calm, don’t blame them, but reiterate that their performance/behaviour at work is not acceptable, and you need to see positive changes.

What is the best course of action to address the poor performance of an existing/legacy employee who has been given a role in a new department (their skills and capabilities don't match the job profile, they’re reluctant to take on training and feedback, and are generally demotivated, snarky, and distracted)?

It sounds like there are two issues here: a conduct/behavioural issue, and a performance/output issue.

I’d tackle the conduct issue first – there’s no legal risk to doing it either way, I just think this will be most effective.

Broadly, if an employee has been doing something untoward for a long time – in this case, being snarky, distracted, reluctant to take on training and feedback – then you need to have a discussion with them to reset expectations. You’re not going to punish them for behaviour that’s been allowed previously, but you will hold them accountable for not meeting expectations going forward.

"[NAME], you’ve been in this business a long time, and I respect the knowledge and skills that you bring to the table

After working closely with you for a few months, I’d like to give you some feedback about your behaviour and conduct at work.

I’ve observed… [provide examples]

This behaviour is concerning to me because… [outline the reasons it makes life harder than it needs to be]

Do you have particular concerns or frustrations that you’d like to provide me/the management team with feedback on?

If yes – great, let’s schedule time for this to happen.

Going forward, my expectations are that you communicate appropriately and positively with myself and your colleagues, and bring any concerns that you may have to me directly, so that I can address them or bring them to the appropriate people

Are there any reasons that this wouldn’t work for you?"

Give it a week or two, then tackle the performance issue.

Have a conversation with them about your plans or goals for the next quarter/year, ask for their feedback about what would need to happen to achieve these goals, and set clear goals/objectives/targets for them to achieve and be responsible for that moves your business in the right direction.

Establish regular catch-ups, with clear milestones and goals. Ask what’s going well, what needs to change, and hold them accountable for what they’ve said they would deliver.

If performance starts to improve – great! That’s the outcome that you’re looking for.

If performance slips, or doesn’t improve - you’ve now got the paper trail to have tough conversations, make improvements where needed, provide training or support (if appropriate). Or, ultimately, move this person on if they’re not right for the role.

If I'm having an informal discussion with an employee about their performance, should I always have a third party present?

Typically, you don’t need a third person present for informal discussions with employees about their performance.

But there are some benefits to having a third person present, including:

• Someone to take accurate notes regarding what was discussed.
• A witness to confirm something did or didn’t happen.

The downsides include:

• Escalates the tone of the situation; i.e. it doesn’t feel very “informal” when there’s two managers sitting across from you.
• It can be hard to find someone else to join you (especially in smaller businesses).
• Can be time-consuming to arrange, when a quick conversation is what’s needed.

It depends on your comfort level, and on your employee’s comfort level. If it’s useful and serves a purpose, go ahead – if not, consider keeping it to just the two of you.

What is the full disciplinary process and what investigation is required?

Firstly, I recommend you read our blog post that outlines the necessary steps in a disciplinary process.

Regarding investigations – this is where the terminology gets a bit tricky.

An “Investigation”, with a capital “I”, is a full-blown employment law process. You must provide terms of reference to all parties concerned, all interviews and evidence must be provided to all parties and a final report written up that provides the conclusions of the investigator. If your investigation is conducted by an external party, they must be a licensed private investigator.

Most disciplinary matters will not require a full investigation.

However, as you prepare for a disciplinary process, you might “investigate” – as in, “look into” or “find information about” – the matters at hand.

This could include reviewing CCTV footage to see if you can spot your wayward employee eating the bar snacks, or comparing emails that your employee has sent you with the actions that they’ve actually taken with the customer who’s complaining about slow service… and so on.

It's perfectly fine to “look into” the matter as part of a disciplinary process, or when your employee provides you with their response and you need to go back and check more information. This doesn’t amount to an “Investigation” – you are just fact-finding.

Do I still have to follow the disciplinary process to dismiss someone who I made it clear that their employment would end after 3 months if there wasn't enough improvement, and I've documented this weekly and monthly?

I would take a step back and suggest that you don’t have legal grounds to terminate them after 3 months, regardless of how clearly you made your expectations.

NZ case law is very clear that, in most circumstances, employees must be issued at least two written warnings for poor performance/misconduct (through two separate disciplinary processes) before termination can be considered (through a third disciplinary process).

This typically takes between 3-6 months total, depending on what type of work they do, and how frequent the issues are.

Whether you’re considering a Formal Warning, Final Warning, or dismissal on notice for continued poor performance, in each instance you must go through a disciplinary process – it is not enough to say “if you don’t hit these targets in 3 months, you’ll be issued with a warning and lose your job”.

Can we hold an employee accountable for talking to other staff about things said about them in a disciplinary?

Yes, you can.

Confidentiality obligations go both ways – you can’t talk to someone’s colleagues about the disciplinary that you’re running with them, but equally they need to keep these processes confidential too.

Once you have done a PIP, and the employee does improve, then 6 months later their performance drops again, do you start again?

It depends on the circumstances – yes, you could take them through another PIP, or, depending on the severity of the issues, you might be able to go straight to a disciplinary process (with the potential outcome either a Formal Warning, Final Warning, or dismissal on notice, again depending on the circumstances).

If attendance is included as an issue in a PIP, do you still need to consider the reason for further non-attendance?

Yes, as a fair and reasonable employer, you do.

For example, if someone had a week off because their partner caught meningitis and needed intensive care, it wouldn’t be fair to include that week of absence as “failing” the PIP.

What’s the difference between misconduct and serious misconduct?

Serious misconduct is any behaviour or issue that significantly undermines your trust and confidence in the employee.

It’s often described as “you’ll know it when you see it”, and typically it’s a one-off issue – a drunken employee groping a younger staff member, the front-of-house staff stealing from the till, a tradie failing to wear correct PPE in a hazardous environment, showing up to work intoxicated etc.

Examples of more chronic issues that would typically be serious misconduct include bullying, fraud (e.g. your office manager is skimming off the tops of accounts receivable for months), serious negligence, repeated and consistent failures to follow company policies and procedures, and so on.

Read our blog post on handling serious misconduct.

How do we address a team member’s excessive sick leave?

Ultimately, you don’t have to support an employee’s absence from work forever.

Case law has established that the default length of time you’re expected to support an absence from work is about 12 weeks, but you can specify a shorter period of time in your employment agreements (MyHR defaults to 5 weeks' absence in our standard employment agreements for clients).

You’ve got a few options:

• Do nothing – accept that this employee is going to be away for as long as they’ll be away, and work around their absence.
• Do nothing, for now – accept that this employee is going to be away for a while, and decide how much longer you’re prepared to support their absence. Take action if they’re not back by that date.
• Make accommodations – are there in-between measures you can take so that the person can do some work while managing their health concerns? This might include working part-time (e.g. only Mondays and Tuesdays, or shorter hours across the week), taking on light duties (e.g. admin and paperwork if their job is normally physically demanding) etc.
• Immediately take action – depending on what their agreement says, and how long they’ve been away, you might want to start a medical termination process immediately. There’s a bit to consider here, so get expert guidance before you begin.

The right choice will depend on what you want to prioritise – being a kind employer versus getting someone in the seat who can reliably do the work.

Read our blog post on managing sick leave.

If someone is off work due to mental health, how long is it reasonable to hold their job open, before you can go down the medical incapacity route?

Again, the default length of time you’re expected to support an absence from work is about 12 weeks (established by case law), but you can specify a shorter period of time in your employment agreements, e.g. 5 or 6 weeks' absence.

Check what the person's employment agreement says before you proceed.

How can we manage an employee discussion outside of work that management fears was an attempt to negatively affect company culture (the staff didn’t feel comfortable speaking to management about the issue and our director is very protective of our culture)?

Unless the subject of the “outside of work discussion” was serious - e.g. alleged bullying, harassment - I’d be inclined to leave it alone.

Employees are absolutely entitled to speak about issues outside of work – you certainly can’t punish them for talking about work if a member of the management team wasn't present.

If your director is gung-ho about saying something, ask them to consider how it will sound to these employees. If you already know that they felt uncomfortable speaking to management about their concerns, how will they feel when the director tells them it’s not acceptable to have these discussions or asks what was discussed?

Broadly, this sounds like a trust issue to me, and that kind of behaviour will further undermine their trust and confidence in the director (if not the whole workplace).

Without knowing the details, I’d suggest having a look at why they might not have felt comfortable raising their concerns with management. Are there changes you can make here? Have your leaders made promises before and underdelivered? Is there a “bad actor” on the management team that makes your employees feel nervous or uncomfortable?

Focus on being good employer and managers, and this kind of stuff is likely to die down.