If people are the greatest creators of value in organisations, then good performance management is critical for an organisation’s success. Employees need to understand what’s expected of them, and to achieve those goals they must be managed so that they’re motivated, have the necessary skills, resources and support, and are accountable.
Performance management is the activities and processes that focus on these areas to maintain and improve employee performance in line with an organisation’s objectives. Ideally, performance should be managed holistically, throughout the range of HR activities and processes.
Our HR experts will work with you to discuss critical aspects of getting performance management right, as well as recent changes in thinking. We will provide you with some of the main tools used in performance management, including objective setting, performance ratings, performance appraisals and feedback, learning and development, and performance-related pay.
Understanding the difference between capability and conduct
When you become concerned about an individual’s performance, attitude or behaviour, then you should try to address this with the individual as quickly as possible. However, before you do this it is important to consider whether there is anything that could be causing the issue
It is important that your organisation understands which HR procedure would apply. Essentially, the steps involved in addressing issues of under-performance fit within the general framework of managing performance outlined within this guidance. The aim of managing under-performance is to help the individual to improve and to meet the agreed standards.
When dealing with issues of conduct the Disciplinary policy and guideline should be used. This is because there is a presumption that the conduct is mostly in the control of the employee, and that with some support they should be able to improve this.
In relation to capability we have two separate guidelines i.e. the Sickness absence management and the Capability guideline. As these latter two procedures deal with capability there is more of a presumption that the issue may be outside the employee’s full control, and as such both procedures emphasise the need to consider various options/support.
Performance may also be negatively impacted if an employee has a concern, problem or complaint to do with their work or a person they work with, so it is important that these are addressed fairly and promptly and, where possible, informally via the Grievance guideline.
It is also important to identify the issue as this determines which procedure should be used, however, as this is not always clear cut. Our HR experts will guide you to adopt and follow a process to make your organisation legally compliant