“I recently completed performance reviews on my staff and it went pretty well. One of my employees hasn’t been doing a very good job but I just didn’t feel like there was a need to be too hard on her. However, things have not improved and I’m tired of giving her chances and plan to fire her. Are there any issues I need to worry about?”
My HR survival tip
The fact that you weren’t more honest on her performance review can hurt you and makes it more difficult or risky to terminate her based on poor performance. That review will be the employee’s proof that she was doing well enough just a couple of months ago to get a mediocre rating (e.g., 3 on a scale of 1 to 5). At this point, to reduce your risk, you may need to slow down and properly document her performance issues.
When conducting a performance review in the future, understand that you can be truthful without being mean. Remember that the point of the review is to give the employee feedback… both positive and negative. You are attempting to provide specific examples of projects, tasks, etc. that your employee has done well so she’ll better understand exactly what you like and be able to repeat those behaviors.
At the same time, you use the review to discuss specific examples of projects, tasks, etc. that haven’t worked out so well. Your aim is not to make the employee upset or become so defensive that your feedback isn’t heard. This is meant to be a coaching session and how you bring up and discuss any poor performance will make a difference in this employee’s motivation going forward.
The most important thing to remember is that an annual performance review should really be a summary of the feedback and discussions you’ve had throughout the year. If you are being a good communicator year-round, completion of the annual review is very easy. However, if you rarely provide feedback, that review will be painful for both you and the employee. So, are your reviews easy or painful?
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