Why is employee performance management important? When your company does well, you should thank your employees for that. After all, where would your company be without them?
Just like a good employee can improve your company, an employee may also be what hurts the success of your business as well. This isn’t to say that this employee is bad and that they need to be fired. Employees can also be managed with some coaching and training. By helping a worker utilize their full potential, you’ve not only helped that person but your business as well.
In order to implement employee performance management, you first need to recognize why an employee is underperforming. By pinpointing the reasons first, you can then work on a solution moving forward. Let’s understand why an employee can underperform so that you can assess how to better help someone realize their full potential.
Managing Employee Performance to stop underperforming
If you are the kind of boss who simply lets someone go because they are not doing what you want them to do, you’re hurting yourself. Especially if you did not sit down with the employee to get to the root of why they are underperforming. Not only is this bad for turnover, but your existing employees can see this and worry that any little mistake that they make can cost them their job. This isn’t good for morale, nor performance.
You don’t know if the reason for someone’s tardiness or decline in work is due to a personal or domestic reason. As someone in the position of employee performance management, it’s important to know your employees are people too. Depending on what is happening in their lives, they could be taking it to work with them. The way to face this is not from a combative standpoint.
Here are some of the reasons that employees underperform:
- Some employees may not have the knowledge of what task they are given. If you have an administrative assistant who has never done accounting before, don’t expect them to excel right away.
- Are the goals you want an employee unclear? If that is the case, then how would an employee succeed in a role like that? You need to set precise goals and make sure there is a clear sense of accountability.
How can we improve employee performance? Employee performance management starts with six tips:
Communicate Openly
Communication is incredibly important. All too often, managers are not clear with their expectations. An employee is then set up to fail. In the spirit of employee performance management, communicate with your employee. Let them know what the goal is and what you expect from them along the way. This way everything is lined up and nothing is left to chance.
Check-In Along the Way
You do not want an employee to be doing a project and only wait until the project is done to get in. Make sure you are keeping an eye on the work along the way; make sure you point out what an employee is doing right. And what they need improvement on. This way, an employee knows that they are headed in the right direction.
Keep Employee Development in Mind
When you first bring in an employee, you ask them where do they see themselves in five years. During the interview, they give an answer. If your employee is there in five years, sit down with them. See if they’ve met the goal they set out for themselves. Did they succeed? Are they not there yet? What can be changed to make sure the employee is headed in the right direction? If the employee did reach those goals within five years, you’ll want to explore what’s next.
Look to Improve Morale
In case you didn’t know, morale is a very important ingredient when running a successful business. You want to review a few things when you’re implementing employee performance management:
- How is the work environment? Is it something that entices them to come in every day or is it something they dread day in and day out?
- How are the benefits? Employees want benefits. It’s no longer how much they’re paid, but rather what are the perks that can be offered to them. Employees know that if they are not getting what they want in your company, they can go elsewhere.
- Of course, salary helps as well. An employee can feel unmotivated to work hard if they know they are being underpaid.
Motivate Your Employees to Succeed
You want to be a coach just as much as you are a boss. In an effort of employee performance management, you need to be a cheerleader. Whether this comes in the form of giving them input on the goals and objectives or giving them more freedom, it’s a good start. You want the employee to not feel like they are micromanaged, but also have them feeling accountable.
Provide the Right Tools
You cannot expect an employee to succeed if they do not have the right tools. Working on outdated computers and not having the right tools can make a difference. Technology is a very important thing for many industries. Making sure you are updated on everything may be exactly what you need to boost employees’ performances.
This is especially true for mobile workers. Whether they’re working at home or while travelling, they need the proper tools for the job. Bad technology can be incredibly frustrating and make someone not even want to open their laptop. When you give an employee the proper tools, they want to work. They know that it’s an easy process to do and therefore feel more motivated. When something is holding an employee back, that is when they become unmotivated.
Employee performance management doesn’t need to be complicated. It’s basic human needs that will allow an employee to have the boost they want to do their job the best that they can. With these tips, hopefully, you’ve learned how to best improve your employee performance management.
