DEALING WITH POOR PERFORMERS

During a probationary period, when the employee has done something or failed to do something which adversely affects his/her work, the ability of others to do their work, or the agency's mission, an Employer is then faced with decisions on how to handle the incident or series of incidents. The first thing to do in such a case is to decide whether the incident involves the employee's poor job performance or an act of misconduct or delinquency - normally it is one or the other but in some cases it may be both. After this decision must be taken as to what type of management action will best deal with the incident(s). There are many possible causes for an employee's performance and/or conduct problem, for example, illness, disability, substance abuse, personality conflict, family problems, lack of training, low job morale, etc. The nature of the problem will determine the course of action to be taken. Maybe the employee should be referred to the Employee Assistance Program for drug or alcohol abuse counseling, or a fitness-for-duty medical examination may be needed to determine physical or mental capability to do the job. If it is misconduct or delinquency, such as tardiness, failure to properly request leave, insubordination, theft, etc., then one option could be to take disciplinary action. If the problem is failure to meet one or more critical results, then appropriate actions would be taken under the Performance Management Program. . If performance continues to be unacceptable, then more severe actions could be reassignment, demotion, or removal.