Employee underperformance goes beyond not completing tasks at the required level. For example, it can affect your business with profit loss and low office morale, two factors that are especially difficult to fix during COVID-19. Fortunately, there are ways you can help employees reach their full potential while also helping your business. By encouraging communication, trust, and investing in your workers, you can increase your workforce value and create a more productive work environment.
Where to Begin?
Be on the Lookout
An excellent way to help struggling employees is by looking out for early signs of underperformance. Having a head start allows employers to approach workers before their job performance suffers more. Early signs of underperformance include missing deadlines, doing less work than usual, being disorganized, and being late for meetings.
Meet One-on-One
Once you identify a worker has a problem, schedule a check-in to connect on the situation. Remember to approach the employee in a way that lets them know you are helping them find a solution. For example, listening and using supportive language rather than punishing them
encourages workers to open up and ask for help. You can also explain to the employee how their poor work performance affects the rest of the team, enforcing the importance of teamwork and collaboration.
Find A Solution and Track Performance
After finding the reason behind an employee’s underperformance and finding solutions to overcome it, continue to observe their work quality. You can set up more one-on-one meetings, let workers share their wins and losses for the week, and give continuous feedback on their tasks. Once you start seeing consistent improvements, you can allow them to regain control of their responsibilities. Just remember to keep monitoring their progress.
Invest in Your Employees
If there are no underperformance issues in the workplace, employers can always provide employees with ways to express what they need to work more effectively. Options range from setting up a suggestion box in the office to hiring a team building company to ignite collaboration in your workforce. Employers can also budget for incentive prizes and encourage employees to use their vacation days to refocus. These methods allow employers to know what can be improved on in the workplace while also building communication between workers and upper management.
When it comes to apprentices and glaziers, employers can encourage these workers to attend their apprenticeship classes and the upgrade journeyman classes. This support helps ensure that our glazing workforce is continuously refining their craft and improving their quality of
work.
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