Addressing and Resolving Poor Performance

Most Federal employees work hard, and their performance is considered good or even exceptional. However, at times Federal supervisors are faced with employees whose performance is not acceptable. This purpose of this book, Addressing and Resolving Poor Performance: A Guide for Supervisors, is to help you address and resolve poor performance. This guidance should be used in concert with the technical advice you receive from your agency's human resources staff. You should also be aware that most agencies have specific procedures and requirements that must be followed, whether they are part of a negotiated bargaining agreement or other internal agency regulation. Addressing and resolving poor performance is a three-step process. These three steps are: 1) communicating expectations and performance problems; 2) providing an opportunity to improve; and 3) taking action. This booklet is organized accordingly into three steps. At the end of each section, you will find a checklist as well as answers to commonly asked questions. In the appendix, you will find samples of documents that can be used throughout this process. Dealing with performance problems is a real challenge for any supervisor. Experienced supervisors often say it is one of the toughest parts of their jobs. Nevertheless, it is a key supervisory responsibility, and failure to address poor performance can have a greater impact than you may appreciate. Some of the reasons supervisors often give for not addressing poor performance include: dealing with poor performance can be time consuming; if action is taken against an employee, it will lower morale among other employees and create a less productive work environment; telling employees that they are not performing satisfactorily is unpleasant and requires special human relations skills; the procedural steps involved in addressing poor performance are complex and highly technical; if a formal performance-based action is taken, it is likely to be appealed and ultimately overturned; and upper management will not support the action taken to address poor performance. The focus of this booklet is to help supervisors address and resolve poor performance. The best way for supervisors to handle poor performance issues is to take action to avoid performance problems before they occur.