Managing performance

Managing your staff's performance is a way of linking their job plans and performance to the goals of your business.  Performance management is an ongoing process where staff and supervisors have opportunities to:

• talk about the goals of the job and the business, and how they relate
• talk about the staff member's performance
• set goals in key areas
• identify ways of performing more effectively
• develop a plan for the staff member's ongoing development.

Performance management is generally used to:

• maximise the performance of staff, a team or business
• recognise and reward good performance
• manage underperforming staff or teams. 

Employers have a right to monitor and manage the performance of their staff in a fair and reasonable way.

However, if you focus on a personal situation rather than performance, this may be discrimination.  For example, focusing on a staff member's health or marital status rather than a performance problem, may be discriminatory.

What can an employer do?

• Raise issues relating to poor or unsatisfactory performance.
• Talk to staff about time off that may be affecting their work.
• Monitor staff work output and productivity.
• Include positive feedback.
• Set reasonable deadlines.
• Take disciplinary action in cases of misconduct.

What shouldn't an employer do?

• Focus on personal situations such as health, marital status or caring responsibilities when managing performance.
• Set requirements that may discriminate. 
• Use irrelevant personal characteristics as a reason to discipline staff.