‘Poor performance’ refers to the employee’s inability to discharge their contractual obligations as they do not possess the required skills/ability to do so.
It is important to remember that what we are referring to here is a situation where the employee “cannot do the job” as opposed to “will not do the job”.
An employer will frequently charge an employee with poor performance which is actually an act of misconduct. In this case, the employee's ability to do the job is not disputed. Rather what the employer has taken issue with is the employee’s “devil may care” attitude in doing something that is all too familiar to them.
So, to summarise, you can bring these types of charges against an employee if:
They do not meet a performance standard.
The employee was aware – or was expected to be aware – of the standard.
The employee was given a fair opportunity to meet the standard.
Dismissal must be the appropriate sanction for the offense.
How To Learn More About Handling Poor Performance Issues
If you want to learn more about handling poor performance issues – as well as other aspects of absenteeism and leave abuse – then you need to attend our Managing Absenteeism and Leave Abuse webinar.
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