The right way to deal with low performers

In every company, there are people who deliver a better or worse quality of work, who are more or less ambitious, who are more career-oriented than others. That is normal. But what happens when individuals are no longer acceptable to the company or the team due to their poor performance? Read our tips for dealing with low performers.
 

What is a low performer?

Low performers are commonly referred to as employees who consistently perform their work poorly or who are unable - or unwilling - to complete certain subtasks. The causes of low performance can vary greatly. This makes it all the more important to analyze each individual case in detail before you initiate (legal) consequences.
 

How to deal with low performers: Investigating causes and drawing the right conclusions

On the surface, everything is (seemingly) clear: an employee is frequently absent, customers complain, he makes a lot of mistakes, works in an emphatically slow and unmotivated manner, is unhelpful and shirks wherever he can. In short: their work performance is inadequate. This should initially be an alarm signal for the employer. After all, such a drop in performance rarely occurs without a trigger or concrete reason.

If the quality of work suddenly drops and performance is no longer sufficient to fulfill contractual obligations, the search for the reasons is a priority. These reasons are individual and can vary from employee to employee. This makes it all the more important to clarify the individual background. After all, you can only draw the right conclusions if the cause of the drop in performance is known.

Low performance usually has causes - and is not an expression of laziness

It should be clear: Very few employees jeopardize their job by underperforming because they would like to be rid of it - or because they are (suddenly) lazy. Possible reasons for poor performance are often

• overload (due to new or additional tasks),
• the working atmosphere (due to bullying in the team or pressure from superiors) or
• problems in the private sphere (due to a relationship or financial crisis).

As the employer, you should investigate these possible reasons.

Objective underperformance of low performers must be legally verifiable

In parallel, it is important to determine whether it is an objective underperformance or merely the subjective impression of a superior or team member. If neither the quantity nor the quality of the work performance is regulated in the employment contract, a rule of thumb applies to the work performance owed: According to this, employees must do what they are supposed to do - and do it as well as they can (Federal Labor Court, judgment of 11.12.2003, 2 AZR 667/02). Whether a shortfall in performance exists therefore depends on the work content specified by the employer and the employee's personal performance capacity. According to case law, an employee is not performing to the best of his or her ability if, for example, he or she consistently underperforms the average performance by more than a third.