The FAQs of Managing Employee Performance

As a people leader, you are just as responsible for your employee’s performance as you are for your own because your success is directly proportional to the success of your employees.

Therefore, you cannot afford to take a back seat when it comes to the management of employee performance. You have to actively manage it.

If you’re wondering what that means exactly, then you’ve come to the right place, as you will find the answer to that question and more of the most frequently asked questions related to employee performance below.

How Do You Evaluate Employee Performance?

When it comes to performance evaluations, two things matter: what you evaluate and how you evaluate it.

First, let’s discuss what you should evaluate. Metrics alone can almost never tell the whole story about an employee’s performance. While they’re a vital part of a performance evaluation, you also need to evaluate more intangible and anecdotal aspects that influence an employee’s performance. As Assess Team put it, you need to evaluate against both quantitative and qualitative factors, such as:

• Individual goals
• Role-specific KPIs and metrics (ex., sales, marketing, customer experience metrics)
• Productivity and time management
• Quality of work
• Skills and competencies
• Organizational values

Now, when it comes to how you evaluate employee performance, it can be helpful to seek out the insights of others who have personal experience with the employee you are evaluating. You may even wish to have the employee themselves conduct a self-evaluation. This will help you create an evaluation that is a realistic and fair representation of an employee’s performance.

How Do You Manage Employee Performance?

In June 2022, PwC conducted a study on the “new normal” of performance management.  In that study, researchers noted, “The initial purpose of a performance management process was simply to evaluate performance. In this new era, organizations rely on the performance management process to inform compensation, promotion, and succession planning, as well as drive productivity, accelerate development, and increase engagement.”

Given that and the expectation today’s workforce has when it comes to their development, performance, and relationship with their leader, it’s no longer enough to only get involved with your employee’s performance when there’s a problem or when annual performance review season rolls around.

So, how do you manage employee performance, then? According to many experts, you take an agile, continuous, and employee-centric approach, where you:

• Evaluate performance on a regular basis (monthly or quarterly vs. annually)
• Give in-the-moment coaching
• Openly discuss performance during check-ins and proactively address concerns Create a culture of continuous feedback
• Show empathy and compassion when appropriate
• Provide recognition when desired performance is achieved
• Seek input/feedback from multiple sources when evaluating performance

What Are the Most Common Employee Performance Issues?

Employee performance issues will arise from time to time, even with your star performers. The key is the identity and address those issues early enough that they are still manageable and can be improved. The most common employee performance issues to keep your eye out for include:

• Unprofessional behavior
• Insubordination
• Poor quality of work
• Excessive non-work related activities (internet, phone, socializing)
• Customer complaints
• Absenteeism
• Tardiness
• Preventable accidents
• Destructive interpersonal behaviors
• Poor communication and responsiveness
• Poor time management
• Missed deadlines
• Poor prioritization
• Lack of attention to detail
• Excessive mistakes or inaccuracies in work
• Lack of accountability
• Excessive resistance to change

How Should You Address Employee Performance Issues?

As soon as you have identified the issue(s) when an employee’s performance, you will need to address it promptly.

While there are general steps you should take when addressing performance issues, it greatly depends on the severity of the issue(s) and your organization’s official performance management process. So, before taking any action, always meet with HR first, as they may wish for you to take a different approach.

To give you a sense of the steps generally taken to address employee performance issues, though, here is an example:

1. Gather supporting documentation or evidence.
2. Meet with HR to discuss your findings and next steps. They will be able to provide you with valuable suggestions and guidance.
3. Informally discuss the issue with your employee in a one-on-one meeting. Explain what you have noticed and why you’re concerned. Ideally, this will be a two-way conversation where you both try to better understand the issue(s) at hand.
4. Create a performance improvement plan together.
5. Document this meeting by sending a warning memo, attaching the improvement plan, and CC’ing HR, if they request to be.
6. Check in with the employee on the specified date. If adequate progress is made, provide recognition for their efforts. If the issue is not resolved or has escalated, continue to Step 7.
7. Meet with HR again to discuss the next steps. Depending on your organization’s processes, this is also the time you would get HR’s help drafting a reprimand letter.
8. Schedule a formal meeting with the employee to discuss the performance issues and outline the implications, as well as the consequences.
9. Document this meeting and send the official reprimand letter.