Performance Improvement Plan
The performance improvement plan document can be helpful tool to use when trying to improve your employee’s performance. Putting this together is simple and the results of it can be highly effective. Here is a plan to put a performance improvement plan together for your employees. Also, the performance improvement plan (PIP) doesn’t have to just be for an employee that isn’t doing well. A performance development plan, follows the same rules and can be an effective tool for developing your staff in specific targeted areas of their job.
Here are some steps in putting together a performance improvement plan:
1. Statement of Unacceptable Performance (or Job Responsibility needing improvement): Identify the critical elements under which the employee’s performance is unsatisfactory and specific examples of the behavior or actions you are going to try to correct.
2. Performance Improvement Plan Timeframe: Identify the specific period of time the employee is being given an opportunity to demonstrate acceptable performance. This should be a measurable time period for seeing improvement in the job deficiencies.
3. Description of Acceptable Level of Performance: State the improvements that are expected. Again, this should be measurable and something that can be not subjective to opinions. A task that needs to be delivered or a behavior that needs to change.
4. Statement of Assistance: State what you, as the supervisor will do to improve the stated performance issue. You play a big part in the success of the employee changing the behavior or completing the assignment on time. Give the employee assurance that you will do everything that is stated in the plan to provide them assistance while they are being measured. You want them to be successful.
5. Consequences of failing to improve to an Acceptable Level: State that if the employee’s performance does not improve , there job could terminated or could result in a written warning. Depending on the severity of the issue you are having this could also be the section where you explain that if they do not improve their are consequences.
Do your part in the performance improvement plan, here are the managers responsibilities during the time period that the performance improvement plan is being watched or measured.
Implement closer supervision – be sure to keep up with the employee during the period that they are being monitored.
Provide on-the-job training, peer coaching, task demonstration, etc. If the employee has issues or needs coaching make yourself or a senior level team member available to help them.
Provide frequent feedback – catch them doing things right, and monitor for where they might be going wrong with the performance improvement plans set goals.
Having to put together a performance improvement plan is not the most pleasant thing to have to do, but it can be useful to swing an employee back into action with MEASURABLE results.
