High-quality employee performance is the main objective for any manager since this affects the performance of the business as a whole. Employee performance is thus something that should be taken seriously by management and this is the reason why the human resource department should have adequate personnel to ensure that supervision of employees is carried out regularly to determine the root cause of a problem when it arises. It is highly recommended that employers check employee performance regularly. The essay intends to address the problem of declining employee performance due to problems at home and a manager’s response to it.
Employee performance is the main factor that affects the performance of a business. However, it is not always guaranteed that employees will perform correctly. Consequently, poor performances at work by employees can take various forms and one of these is bad quality work produced by an employee due to home-related problems. The first thing that an employer should note is that poor concentration on the employee’s part will result in poor quality work and the task that the employee is responsible for doing will suffer negatively. This proves to be a serious problem in the long run because this indirectly affects the performance of the company.
An employee might exhibit slacking because of stress they are experiencing at home. Once a manager considers that the problem results from disturbances at home, he might need to evaluate the duration that the employee has been having problems with performance. This will help the manager to assess the situation and decide whether the employee requires more time to handle and resolve the problem.
If the employee notices that it is an ongoing problem, then it would be advisable to establish the way forward in finding a solution to the problem. Sometimes employees might not recognize that their problems are influencing their performance at work and it might come as a surprise to the manager that the employee is not aware of their declining performance. Therefore, an employer should make it known to the employee that there are negative results from their works.
I must address the problem comprehensively so that there would be no second talks about the same issue. The earlier the problem is addressed the better and bringing the attention of the employee to the importance of the problem will make it clear to them that immediate change is required. In such a case where problems at home are the main reasons why the employee’s performance is declining, advising the employee to deal with the problem soon would be a good approach. If the problem seems to be more difficult, then I might see it better to give the employee some time off so that they can resolve the problems.
What I should always have in mind is, ignoring declining employee performance hoping that there is a way the problem will be solved without intervention is not a good management strategy. Considerable observation must be carried out and once I notice that there is the continued repetition of the same problem, the best approach is to solve it since it might continue to be a long-term problem if not addressed soon.
It is common knowledge that it is not always an employee who would give 100% but once the poor performance is identified then it is best to address the problem as soon as it is detected. Another strategy that I would use is to make it clear that I want a solution to the problem arrived at rather than making it seem as though I am issuing a warning or I am admonishing the employee.
While addressing the problem, I should do it in such a way that effective results are obtained and this approach will ensure that the morale of the employee is not thwarted. One strategy for addressing the problem is to ensure that it is done in private. Talking about the issue in the presence of other employees would not make the employee comfortable and this might hinder the effectiveness of the message I want to put across since the personal problems at home are not best discussed in the presence of other employees.
While talking to the employee, it is best to address the issue of personal problems at home rather than bringing up a whole load of issues since they would confuse the employee and they would not understand which issue I want to be addressed and acted upon effectively. As a manager, I have realized that being direct with employees is the best approach to dealing with employee-related problems.
Once I have talked to the employee about the personal problem, I should give them duration for them to acknowledge the message. This would give the employee time to make a thought-out response. This would help us both to reach an agreement about how the problem can be solved. If the employee considers it necessary that some time off would be effective, then permitting them to be out of work would be fine as long as on return, the problems at home would be solved and their performance would be back to normal.