Managing Staff
Performance - Guidance
V1 – Approved SMT 8 October 2014
Managing Performance
The purpose of this guidance is to provide practical information, to summarise
processes and to link to Company policies and procedures relevant to the
management of employee performance. This guidance enables managers to
manage cases of underperformance consistently and in accordance with legal
requirements. It also gives an indication of steps that can be taken to help
improve performance where this is felt appropriate. However, it is important to
understand what the underlying cause of any performance issue is before this
can be addressed.
Performance, or an employee’s capability to undertake a task, can be
evaluated at work by reference to a number of different documents. The Job
Description and Person Specifications provide the basic information on
standards and expectations while more knowledge can come from Service,
operational and team plans. In addition to this, managers should refer to
Performance Indicators and Personal Development Plans for individual
employees.
The Employment Rights Act (1996) defines capability as follows:
“capability”, in relation to an employee, means his capability assessed
by reference to skill, aptitude, health or any other physical or mental
quality.
However, a genuine lack of capability may have come about for a variety of
reasons, e.g., changing job content, health issues or personal factors affecting
the individual’s performance.
Capability can be broken down into the main factors which can affect
performance. These are:
 Ill health
 Personal circumstances
 Qualifications
 Changes in the workplace environment
 End of career change
 Bullying and harassment
 Lack of understanding of current methodology
 Lack of training
Managers are responsible for defining good performance within their own
teams and at individual level. They are responsible for communicating
expectations to staff through example, induction, team briefings, 1 to1s and
written documentation.
Many of the factors affecting performance can be short-term and it is often,
therefore, possible to support employees to achieve improvements in
performance.
Nothing in this guidance is intended to prevent the normal process of
supervisory control where managers allocate work, monitor performance,
draw attention to errors and poor quality and, as importantly, highlight work
done well.
Staff should be aware of the standard of performance expected, should be
open and honest about their own capability issues and discuss these
concerns with their manager.
It is important that staff receive support and encouragement to improve rather
than receiving punitive action. Managers need to have confidence in staff,
allowing staff the freedom to undertake their duties, providing support if
performance falls short of the required standard. Staff must be able to
acknowledge difficulties with their performance, secure in the knowledge that
positive action will be taken quickly in a supportive and encouraging manner.
Cases of underperformance should be identified early on and then examined
to try to understand the underlying causes, if any. However, it should also be
borne in mind that where contributory factors relate to an employee’s
private/personal life they may not wish to discuss these issues with their line
manager.
Managers must ensure that several basic principles are applied for each
employee in their team;
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All staff need their performance measured;
Staff should receive regular and appropriate review meetings;
All agreed measured outcomes need to be monitored and reviewed;
Any unmeasured outcomes should be discussed and any issues
arising should be tackled ;
Formal appraisal meeting must take place and informal reviews are
recommended at regular intervals.
Employees who are not performing to the required standard can have a
lasting and damaging effect on service delivery as well as on motivation and
job satisfaction for the employee, their colleagues and the manager. It is
important for managers to deal with any performance issues at an early stage
as allowing employee underperformance to continue unchallenged implies to
the employee concerned and to colleagues that their level of performance is
acceptable.
Feedback and Improvement
If an employee’s performance reaches or exceeds the required standard it is
important that this is fed back to the employee. It is just as important to
celebrate success as it is to raise concerns. Managers should also use
examples of good practice and give meaningful feedback in order that
employees know the level of their performance.
Where a manager has any concerns about the level of performance of an
employee the issue should be dealt with by way of informal discussion with
the employee in the first instance.
The aim of the informal discussion should be to make it clear to the employee,
by reference to specific examples, why it is considered that their performance
is falling short of the required standards. The employee must be given the
opportunity to consider and to comment on the performance concerns
identified. It may be that there is a reasonable explanation for the problems
that have occurred.
The success of the informal approach depends on the co-operation of the
employee. This includes the employee accepting that their performance is
falling short of the required standards. Where the employee does not accept
that they are under performing or they are not prepared to co-operate then a
more formal approach will require to be taken.
Informal Performance Management
If any performance issue has been identified, It is important that the manager
determines whether there is a capability issue and if the matter should be
dealt with under this policy, and if so the following should be considered:
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Clarify to the employee what the issue is;
Specify as to what improvements are required;
Clarify what support (including training, etc.) can be provided;
Agree with the employee a reasonable timescale for achieving
improvements
Ensures that the employee understands what the issue is and the
actions that are required.
Set a review date
The purpose of the informal discussion should be to establish if there is a
reason for the employee’s performance falling below the required standard.
The manager must constantly bear in mind that the aim is to assist the
employee to improve to an acceptable standard. It is crucial that as many
aspects of the problem as possible, as perceived by the employee, are
unearthed. This will require a sensitively handled discussion free from
interruption, conveying the manager’s undivided attention, aimed at
establishing an atmosphere of trust and open discussions. During this stage
the employee has the right to involve their staff representative.
The informal approach will normally have as an outcome the agreement of an
action plan for improvement with agreed specific, measurable and time bound
targets. The agreed action plan should include dates for reviewing progress
and any management interventions necessary to facilitate an improvement in
performance. Progress against the action plan should be reviewed with the
employee and a decision taken as to whether adequate improvements have
been achieved, more time is required or a more formal approach requires to
be taken.
The Management of Underperformance Flowchart summarises the process
for informally managing under performance.
Formal Performance Management
Where an informal approach fails to deliver adequate improvements in
performance, the employee does not accept that their performance is falling
below an acceptable standard or where, despite considerable support
underlying causes for the employee’s under performance are not being
resolved, a formal performance management approach should be adopted.
The applicable procedures are contained in the Attendance Guidance for
cases involving ill-health and disability and the Disciplinary Procedure for
other cases.
The aim of the formal performance management process is to enable
discussion and agreement between manager and employee of the specific
performance problems, any potential underlying causes and to identify an
action plan with time scales necessary to help the employee to improve their
performance.
Discussion should not be confrontational and it should be clear to the
employee that the Company’s sole interest is in helping the employee to
achieve an adequate standard of performance of the duties of their job. It
should also be made clear to the employee that the Company is willing to do
all that it reasonably can to assist the employee to improve, including
providing help where personal factors are influencing the employee’s
performance. Nevertheless, the employee should also understand that
continued under performance will not be tolerated in the long term and that
there is an escalation process entailing consequences for future employment
should under performance continue.
The following essential elements of the formal performance management
process must be observed:
 The employee should be provided with written details of the purpose of
formal meeting, including details of the concerns to be discussed and
the relevant amount of notice of the meeting, ie 5 working days.
 The employee must be notified in writing of their right to be
accompanied to formal meetings by a colleague or trade union
representative;
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Following the meeting, the employee should be given details, in writing,
of the performance improvements required, the management
interventions that will be made to support performance improvements,
timescales for improvement and when and by whom progress will be
reviewed. An action planning process is recommended to identify and
agree improvements and timescales. The meeting action log contains
a model action plan for recording outcomes of performance
management meetings;
The employee should be in no doubt about what it is they need to do to
reach an acceptable standard of performance;
The employee should be given adequate opportunity and support to
improve their performance;
Where insufficient progress is made within a reasonable timescale and
no further reasonable management interventions can be made to
support performance improvements, the employee should be warned,
in writing, that a continued failure to improve their performance to an
acceptable level may ultimately lead to their dismissal on the grounds
of capability;
Should dismissal on the grounds of capability become a possibility the
employee (and their representative) should be invited, in writing, to
attend a hearing at which dismissal on the grounds of capability will be
considered. Reasons for considering dismissal should also be set out
in writing;
In the event that an employee is dismissed on the grounds of capability
written reasons for dismissal should be provided and the employee
should be notified of their right of appeal against dismissal.
It is not possible, nor desirable to define how long the formal performance
management process should last. Nor is it possible to define how many
meetings should take place with the employee before the ultimate sanction of
dismissal is considered. However, as a guide, where there is insufficient
evidence of improvements in performance over the course of three review
meetings and all reasonable and practical management interventions have
been exhausted then consideration may be given to dismissing the employee
on the grounds of capability. In such circumstances the advice of HR must be
sought.