What is the ideal performance improvement plan and how is it put together?

What is the desired outcome when confronted with an underperforming employee? It’s a simple but important question. Archaic, and frankly harsh, mindsets will immediately call for this individual to be terminated. They are clearly a drain on the company and resources, and this needs to be addressed quickly.

But there’s a better, preferable approach: developing a performance improvement plan. Granted, this employee may be struggling or failing to meet targets, but this may not be for lack of trying. And it certainly doesn’t mean the only recourse is firing them.

By implementing a performance improvement plan, you can get to the definitive root of what is affecting employee performance.

Which will create steps to remedy pain pressures, in a way which doesn’t impede on your carefully cultivated company culture.

What is the ideal performance improvement plan?

The solution isn’t a complex program or some cumbersome ordeal. A performance improvement plan is, quite simply, a written document that outlines exactly where an employee is falling short of expectations. It does this by identifying skills relevant to the post in question, as well as goals that need to be met. Doing this, it also clearly indicates how the employee is failing to meet those targets.

Thanks to this transparency and clarity, the performance improvement plan document itself is not viewed as a hostile one. Rather than an attack, it’s a summation of the situation the employer has detected and is the first step to improvement.

It’s an unambiguous signal that the organization doesn’t merely want to remove the problem (i.e., fire the employee) but work together to remedy the issue.

The performance improvement plan isn’t solely about highlighting where objectives are not being met, it also serves as a roadmap to help develop the employee’s experience and skillset to ease their struggling.

When should you implement a performance improvement plan?

When it comes to performance improvement plans, knowing when to act is crucial. Much like a fire, raising the alarm every time you feel heat may be too premature and creates feelings of frustration and chagrin. But left too long, you risk a fire spreading and subsequently losing the entire building. This is because acting too soon can lead to the employee rejecting or dismissing the assessment. But leaving the warning signs unchecked, can have a disastrous company-wide knock-on effect.

Being able to identify when to implement a performance improvement plan comes down to good attentive management and a solid line of communication.

It’s also important to remember that you need to give the employee enough time to change and demonstrate improvement. This is why it’s necessary to account for adequate time to meet specific milestones. These are set at 30, 60 and 90 days. The reason being, it’s believed that if the employee is failing to show growth and revision from 90-120 days, it is unfortunately unlikely to happen at all.

How to create a performance improvement plan

While there are performance improvement plan steps, examples and templates, each plan should reflect the role in question. It’s a tailored solution and should be treated as such. The first step is to outline what the employee’s role requires. Much like a job specification for recruitment, this should be a straightforward list of responsibilities and KPIs.

This should be followed by a description of the performance issues. By outlining the case the employer is raising, the misalignment should be evident and non-accusatory, merely a summation of demonstrable facts.

The performance improvement plan then pivots from assessment to correction. The employer details how the employee can improve their performance. Acting as both an invitation to explain themselves and highlight extenuating factors, as well as an offer to provide necessary resources to get them back on track.

The final step is to agree on a realistic timeline and expectations to be met. And a concise detailing of the consequences should improvement fail to manifest.

What are the main benefits of a performance improvement plan?

A cultural fit

Having a performance improvement plan policy in place helps to promote positive company culture. From the outset, employees will understand that their output is monitored in a fair manner. And as it is enshrined in company practice, it removes a looming sense of victimization, that an employee could be picked on at random. Quite the contrary, it indicates that the organization has a positive attitude toward employee performance betterment, rather than a cut-throat approach.

A helping hand

By investing in a performance improvement plan, employees feel supported. It signals that their manager has clearly been attentive to their struggles and is committed to a remedy that benefits both the employer and employee. What’s more, rather than being a beratement or dressing down, the process is designed to highlight difficulties and offer as many recommendations as is needed. As such, it is an affirmative confirmation that the employee matters and has a second chance to prove themselves.

A process avoided

From a more mercenary point of view, one of the key performance improvement plan benefits is the work you don’t have to do. Going through the rigmarole of dismissing an underperforming employee and then starting the recruitment process, can be time consuming. Not only that, but it can also act as touch paper for a spreading sense of concern among other employees. How much of a warning was given? Why was there no opportunity to improve? Am I next?

This can be particularly frustrating if the underperforming employee has a host of desirable soft skills: good communication, a courteous manner, cordial attitude, etc. Which will be lost when the resolution could have simply been a formal conversation and a handful of useful training courses.

Things that can go wrong when issuing a performance improvement plan

A fruitless undertaking

Yes, the whole process is designed to save time, money, and resources, but that’s not to say it isn’t an involved, prolonged exercise. From the preparation stages, employers will have to take time from their responsibilities to monitor and assess where and when the employee is falling behind. This then needs to be written up, along with considered suggestions of how to resolve the matter.

On top of that, given that every employee undergoing a performance improvement plan has three months to show signs of improvement, you could be waiting a very long time to end up biting the bullet and dismissing the employee anyway. Making the whole process feel frustratingly futile.

A backlash

We always hope that the interaction between manager and employee will go smoothly but this can be a very personal ordeal. And regardless of how sensitively the plan is broached, it’s still a criticism and can be taken very badly.

This can lead to the entire assessment being rejected and the conversations that need to be had can become awkward and uncomfortable. And with the intended effect being an employee continuing their tenure at an organization, it’s entirely possible that a rift can form between the two parties and that trust takes a lot of time and effort to repair.

A descent

In a similar way to the employee responding to a performance improvement plan with outward hostility, there is also the possibility of inverted self-flagellation. Despite best efforts, the plan could be interpreted as the first step to an inevitable termination. Rather than being the opposite – trying to save the job and bolster the employee. Feeling on death row, drawn out unwanted stress and friction bubble to the surface, leading to the employee’s output spiraling.

But with the right preparation, attitude and a widely broadcasted policy, delivering a performance improvement plan should be seen as an opportunity. More than that, it’s an investment in development and an assurance that no one will be left behind.

Take a look at our exciting agenda for UNLEASH America 2023.