A lack of trust is often one of the main reasons managers and companies do not allow remote work. The pandemic, though, forced anyone who could work remotely to do so. As the world starts reopening, businesses around the world are making decisions about what comes next.
No matter what you and your company decide (fully remote, blended office, or back on-site), the reality is that working at home and trust go hand in hand. However, if the reason you’re bringing staff back to the office is that you can’t trust them, there’s a good chance they have performance issues that have never been addressed.
Talking about underperformance is never fun. However, it is a necessary and essential part of management. Not only can addressing underperformance help your staff be better employees, you can improve your company’s performance, too.
Why Performance Matters—No Matter Where You Are
One survey of workers found that 68% of respondents felt that low performers lowered overall workplace morale. And another 44% felt that low performers increased the workload for the rest of the staff. Finally, many of the respondents felt that management spent too much time dealing with underperformers and the problems they caused, making it hard for the organization to grow.
Understand What Underperformance Is Showing You
It’s easy to assume that poor performance is the employee’s fault, and that they lack the skills or the drive to succeed.
Before you assume your staff isn’t performing, take some time and examine your procedures. Work with your staff to see if a change in processes and procedures improves performance before moving on to issues with individuals. And make sure that you get feedback from other team members about any potential process inefficiencies. Your company should establish these guidelines and help educate employees on best practices.
Start With a Culture of Accountability
Creating a culture of accountability can help you stop performance issues before they start.
No matter where anyone worked before the pandemic, where they work right now, or where they will work post-pandemic, a corporate culture that includes accountability means staff have a clear understanding of their roles and expectations.
Accountability in corporate culture includes:
- Unlimited job posts
- Low, flat membership fee
- Access top-level remote advice
- Unlimited resume searches
- Reach the right candidates
- And so much more!
- A job description that clearly describes the role (what they do and how they do it)
- A definition of the metrics that measure performance
- Regular supervisory feedback that provides positive recommendations for improvement (when necessary)
Discover a better way to recruit remote talent
Founded in 2007, FlexJobs is the most experienced remote & hybrid hiring platform.
How to Address Performance Issues
Choose your approach carefully and be sure to make an effort to view underperformance as a nuanced issue with solutions that likely vary by team, department, and employee.
Don’t Wait
Most people dislike confrontation or uncomfortable conversations, but being a manager often means handling these kinds of situations. Instead of approaching performance discussions with dread or anxiety, look at it as an opportunity to help your staff grow into better professionals.
And, just because you’re remote, don’t use that as an excuse to put it off.
Identify and Define the Problem
As you meet with the employee, make sure that you clearly define the problem. Be specific and provide examples so that the conversation is constructive, relatable, and actionable. This approach should enable employees to reflect on their experiences and think about why these issues happened, and work with you to find solutions.
Don’t Assume You Know the Why
Don’t assume you know why someone is underperforming. There are a myriad of reasons why people underperform at work. They could be in over their heads or burned out by the job. Maybe they don’t have the tools they need. Or balancing working at home has taken a bigger toll than anyone realizes.
Start by clearly stating what you’ve noticed in terms of the employee’s performance (i.e., quarterly sales goals are down), then follow up with open-ended questions that let the employee guide the conversation while staying focused on the specific performance issue. “Do you know why that’s happening? Is there something going on that’s impacting your performance?”
As the conversation happens, don’t offer suggestions or explanations for the underperformance. Instead, let the employee reveal to you what could be causing the performance issues. Attentive listening is critical here.
Keep Emotions in Check
It seems obvious, but it’s worth repeating: Keep your emotions in check when discussing performance issues. This can be intense for the person on the other side of this conversation, too, so if it’s presented calmly and professionally, the employee is more likely to be receptive and open to dialogue instead of combative.
It may help to let the employee know that you aren’t blaming them, but that you are trying to help them be a better employee, which should ultimately help in the long run.
How Are They Accountable?
As you explore the issue, try to determine how they are accountable. For example, if an employee is underperforming because they don’t understand the administrative functions of their job, did they ask for help? If they didn’t, why not?
Help them understand and identify how they are accountable for their underperformance without judging or shaming them. Though that may seem like a tall order, consider the next step.
How Can You Help?
Start by exploring whether or not the employee received proper—and ongoing—training. If you don’t have the resources for a robust internal training program, are there outside resources like seminars, courses, and conferences that could help the employee learn more about doing the job?
Or, is there something happening in your company culture that needs to be addressed? For example, if the employee didn’t ask for help, is it because they feel that asking questions about the job or for assistance is frowned upon?
Show Empathy (But Don’t Let Them Off the Hook)
Unless the employee is doing something egregious that accounts for the poor performance, empathy and accountability are not mutually exclusive. You can feel empathetic to your staff member’s unique situations and ask them to improve their performance.
This also means not feeling guilty about addressing the issue. As a manager, it is your job to make sure every staff member performs to the best (or better) of their ability. Though times may be stressful, that’s not a reason to stop doing the job.
It also means letting staff know it’s OK to make mistakes as long as they own them and make mental notes to fix them. We are all humans (and currently living through some historic and extraordinary events).
Help Them Solve the Problem
If you’re going to create an improvement plan, be sure to define not only clear end goals, but milestones along the way that will help ensure that effective progress is being made. Help employees find a process to improve their performance, and be sure that the necessary foundation exists to support employees (i.e., communication, collaborative docs, check-in calls, etc.).
Be sure that you have a strong understanding of what employees may need from you, too, and that expectations are both realistic and achievable.
Successfully Addressing Remote Employee Performance
Working remotely can be difficult at times, but the good news is that remote employees tend to be more productive than traditional workers. Addressing performance might look different in a virtual setting, but good performance from all of your staff will help your company grow and thrive no matter the circumstances.
Whether your company is going remote permanently, or plans to implement remote work for certain teams, we can help! FlexJobs has been a leader in the distributed workplace for more than 13 years. We work with companies of every size to provide support and advice for businesses that want to integrate remote work.
For continued support as you build and maintain your remote team, check out the employer blog for more tips and advice. Or, if you’re looking for expert guidance on your company’s remote work strategy, get in touch with us and discover a better way to recruit remote talent!
Learn More
Don't forget to share this article with colleagues!
