Dear Workforce:

We have a couple of employees who will be returning from a leave of absence. Neither was meeting the mark regarding performance when they left. In their absence, other employees have stepped up to fill in where needed, and we are quite impressed with their good work. We understand the need to be compassionate to those returning from leave, but this episode exposed a problem for us: getting managers to document performance expectations. This was not done in the past, and now new supervisors are forced to deal with it. How do we address this? What should we do?

-- Happy/Sad in Government, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Dear Happy/Sad:

From your description, it appears that the former supervisors tolerated mediocre performance, while your new supervisors have higher standards. Now that the employees are back from leave, you must address the gap in performance. That’s both good and bad news.

The bad news is that you cannot do much to make up for past performance, so you must look to the future to correct things. It could require a lot of supervisory stamina to straighten things out.
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Tags: Dear Workforce — Performance Reviews — Coaching — Performance

Dear Workforce:

One of our employees is under a new manager, who has given the employee a negative review. This is out of sync with previous appraisals. As part of human resources, how should I handle this? Question the review or butt out?

— Quizzical, human resources, nonprofit, Greensboro, North Carolina

Dear Quizzical:

You are right to ask a few questions, and you are likely to find one of the following answers:
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Tags: Dear Workforce — Performance Reviews — Performance — Coaching

Dear Workforce:

We have an HR director who appears to be ushering our people out the door. One employee recently notified her that he was beginning a job search. Not knowing how many interviews the employee might be attending, the HR director called a meeting and the two sides agreed to a voluntary separation, with a specific end date.

Now, a similar situation has surfaced with another employee who is having personality clashes with a supervisor. Our HR director wants to tell the employee to start looking, and also give her an end-of-employment date.

I'm concerned about the long-range effects on our retention, as well as our ability to recruit. What could you recommend to help us best handle this situation?

—Driving Them Away, HR manager, advertising, Long Beach, California

Dear Driving Them Away:

Have you considered speaking candidly to your HR director about your concerns? By raising your questions tactfully and in good faith, you might learn more about your company's approach to employee retention and your feedback might make a positive difference.

Don't be surprised if the HR director tells you there are reasons behind her actions that she is not free to discuss with you. If the employees involved were already subject to disciplinary action—such as for excessive absenteeism or tardiness—that might explain why she is encouraging their departure. For example, did you know that company policies generally prohibit employees from taking sick days to attend job interviews? In most cases, doing so is considered a serious breach warranting corrective action on the part of a company. So although voluntary separation might seem harsh, it could in fact be an effective and considerate company strategy that allows an employee to leave before being terminated.

Similarly, when an employee is having personality clashes with a manager, there is an expectation that both the manager and the employee will strive to establish positive communications. If, for example, the employee is not responding effectively to coaching, your HR director may be serving both the employee and the company well by encouraging the employee to move on in search of a better match.

Most HR professionals try to give employees every chance to be successful. While your HR director could be among the relative few who might be described as mean-hearted and shortsighted, I would guard against such a presumption. Rather than challenging her, consider sharing some HR best practices about retaining talent and coaching employees. If need be, demonstrate your courage by respectfully stating that you are not comfortable with her approach to a specific situation.

To safely open such a discussion, you could bring along a couple of current books on the subject. Here are just a few of my favorites for your consideration:
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Tags: Dear Workforce — Employee Retention — Coaching — Performance

Dear Workforce:

When counseling poor performers, what steps could we take to persuade them to adopt new ways of doing things that will improve their on-the-job performance?

—Salvage Job, manager, finance/insurance/real estate, Lagos, Nigeria

Dear Salvage Job:

Most organizations have a process called “corrective action” that guides managers on the proper steps to take when addressing an employee’s poor performance. To persuade the employee to improve, however, focus on the coaching aspects of performance improvement. It positions you to address the root causes of performance difficulties and inspires employees to take ownership of the issues.

Coaching is designed to improve the work of the employee, the team and departments. The idea is to engage employees to take accountability for improved performance, relying on your support to make it happen.

Persuasion is about getting people to want to do what you want them to do. It’s how you tap into their values and needs, and link your goals to the realization of their dreams.

To be persuasive, three key ingredients must be mixed in the proper proportions:
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Tags: Dear Workforce — Coaching — Performance Reviews — Performance