Friday, October 30, 2009

How Can You Improve Employees Who Are Not Performing Well?

By Amit Kumar

You must take action and keep it Going.

As we see the recent trends in HR, one needs to manage and understand why an employee behaves in a negative fashion and ends up performing low at work. As an HR Manager, one has to come out with effective ways to curb such employees in the organization

People tend to break down when they are loaded with work responsibility at home and in office. Some people manage these situations exceptionally well while some loose hope for any improvement. This results in throwing tantrums on their employer and making them the sole reason for their current sorrows.

The organization looks upon these medium performers as a liability to them and hence do not recognize them nor fire them. These kind of employees are involved in daily management activities and hence do not display or showcase exceptional results which ultimately leads to no career development for them.

Showcasing low standards of performance

A low performing employee in an organization definitely affects the motivation of other people around him. It is the responsibility of the employer to deal with such kind of problems and make such employees realize how their negative behavior is disturbing the environment of the organization.

The following is what the low performing employee does:

Passes improper comments about the organisation and its culture. Talks about the work negatively with co-workers during breaks and lunch time. Criticises company policies and spreads dissatisfaction in the workplace. Most employers are unsure of how to deal with such employees, who spell trouble for workplace positivism and morale.

Building understanding for employee

Change in the employee behavior needs to be studied by the organizations so they can understand the change in the mindset of its employees. In any new job people start off with enthusiasm however as time passes by they tend to loose their energy and ultimately lands up in an unplanned situation which they cannot handle.

Understanding what has gone wrong in the whole episode is a difficult task for managers to handle. This is because employees are not open to accepting the problem or taking responsibility for mediocrity at work.

Employers are criticized because of:

They fail to recognise a troublesome employee. The employee spreads his discontentment to others. Dealing with such an employee requires time, tact and effort.

How to effectively deal with such situations?

Work towards reducing communication gap by discussions:

Create an open environment culture with employees. Talking to the point will alarm the employee to a greater extent. This will eventually result in getting relevant information from the employee and his issues are addressed before been getting spread. If the employee gets confident that the organization or the HR professional will work towards solving his concerns, he would definitely work towards improving his shortcomings at work.

You can reward the employee and provide him support to grow in the organization which will result in improvements in his attitude and work responsibilities.

Make Goals:

Help the employee in setting achievable goals, discuss acceptable and unacceptable behaviors with him and help him align behavior at work with goals. Review his behavior and efforts to improve constantly. Acknowledge a positive change and encourage his efforts. Such small steps can help the employee eliminate negative attitude and bring in new perspectives to work.

Go to the grass root level:

Need specific training and development programs will definitely put the employee into the next level where they will not only gain confidence and perform better but will also specialize in his current work profile.

Do a timely Review:

After the training program, the HR manager must ensure to evaluate and review the employee's progress in his job. If the employee is still not performing well he should be alarmed accordingly. Clear cut communication must be made so that the employees are aware that this kind of negative behavior will not be tolerated and can result in any disciplinary action against them.

Time to say good bye:

A strict action must be taken against him if he doesn't change inspite of continuous efforts and help from the HR professional. He can also be terminated from his services. To avoid any heated arguments try to communicate the same to him privately and calmly. Try to be specific in highlighting the major causes which led to such a decision. Clearly tell him that his negative attitude is spoiling the organizational culture and his poor performance is affecting company's growth. It is seen most of the time that managing such termination is an easy task as these employees are already prepared for the worst.

What can be concluded?

Once the employer is done with dealing with such employees, it conveys a very important lesson to the organisation-it pays to be extra cautious in recruiting employees, screening for negative attitudes and building a positive work culture!!!

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