Common employee performance problems and how to deal with them

You may expect only the best of your employees but you have to remember that they are human beings and not robot slaves. They are susceptible to slip-ups, mistakes, and even bouts of laziness.

Despite that, you should be attentive and guide employees that you know are capable of so much more.

Always remember, staying on the right side of the Employment act should be a priority, and with that in mind, foster better performance levels without disrespecting your employees' rights.

Here are three common performance issues and how you can deal with them.

Unmotivated

There are several reasons why an employee may feel unmotivated at work. The employee may have had a long break from work and is finding it difficult to get back into the groove. The employee may not enjoy the work or may feel that he/she is not fit for the job/wanted at work. Just as there are many reasons for lack of motivation among employees, there are also many ways you can deal with a lack of motivation. You can encourage employees to spread praise amongst their peers, foster good teamwork, break up the monotony by providing creative, fun ways for employees to challenge themselves, and much more.

Unclear about their tasks

At times, your employees may feel uncertainty about their job/task entails. This can be due not to them but to the way the company establishes strong internal communication. It can also be due to the inability to set clear expectations and standards or reinforce how important those expectations and standards are. It can be fairly simple to deal with the problem. Establish stronger internal communications. You could do this through the help of communication applications. With this done, you can go on to clarify exactly what is expected of employees and how they have to go about achieving it. Let them know what good performance looks like and don't keep it to yourself.

No one performs well because good performers are thrown more work

Nobody likes being overworked, right? If your company is the kind that rewards good performance by throwing the employee more work, you may be staring at the reason why nobody in your company wants to be a top performer. If it feels as though good performance results in punishment, you may be shooting yourself in the foot by taking top performers for granted. Steer clear of excuses and listen to employees that perform. If you do decide to load them with more responsibilities, make sure that they understand that they have become more valuable and treat them as such. Incentives and opportunities to better themselves through company-sponsored training can be used to make them feel that they are being recognised/rewarded instead of being punished with more work. You can also suggest ways that they can make their work a little less difficult by offering them specialised tools that are specifically for the higher-level tasks that they will be dealing with.

A smarter HR system for a smarter business: Carbonate helps you keep track of attendance and leaves in your company, and keeps you connected to your staff with its built-in broadcasting and promotion messaging tool. Its employee profiles and HR leave management system meet MOM 2016 Employment Act Amendment requirements.
Click here to find out more.