Underperformers - Under the sword of Damocles

This may not be the problem of your employee and I would first suggest that you ensure that your management approach to this situation is up to scratch. Perceived weaker performers react negatively to their manager's perceptions and as a manager you can set yourself up to fail. If you perceive an employee to be an underperformer then you will always be on the lookout for signs of poor performance.

Have a meeting with your employee to address your concerns. Employees have a responsibility to achieve a satisfactory level of performance and should be given help and encouragement to reach it. In all cases, it is beneficial to point out in what way their performance fails to meet the required standard and what that standard is; leave your employee in no doubt about what is expected of them. Special attention should be paid to ensuring that standards are understood by employees whose English is limited and by young people with little experience of working life.

I am presuming that your employee is still in their probation period. While in their probation period, you as the employer can foreshorten, in accordance with your own procedures, the disciplinary process and move straight on to dismissal. If you feel that the employee deserves a second chance then do grant it, however, it would be good practice for you to lengthen their probation period. This extension will allow you, as the employer, a chance to monitor the progress of the employee. This staff member will also be aware of their situation and will therefore have an incentive to work towards enhancing their capability and showing you, the employer that they are suited to the role.

Your employee should be given regular opportunities to explain and assess their own performance; if the standard of performance does not reach an adequate level then the employee should be given a formal verbal warning that a failure to improve and maintain the performance required could lead to dismissal. At this and any further stage, the employer should also consider whether or not the employee could be offered more suitable equivalent work if this is available, or even non-equivalent work where there is no alternative.

If the employee is not in a probationary period and the required improvement is not achieved after a reasonable time then the employee can be invited to a capability hearing via a written warning. The meeting should be used to state that failure to improve and maintain performance could lead to dismissal. If the required improvement is still not achieved then the employer should issue a final written warning stating clearly that the employee will be dismissed without action. When the employee is still not forthcoming following this final warning, the employee should be dismissed with notice. The provisions of the Dispute Resolution Procedures should be followed where dismissal is considered.