How to manage for best performance

For most employers – and farmers are no exception – dealing smoothly with an underperforming employee is the hardest part of managing staff.

Whether you are a small employer or an industry giant, good processes and communication always deliver the best results.

The first step to managing an underperforming employee is to raise your concerns clearly and directly with the employee.

During these conversations you should explain the problem, make your expectations clear, and explain the consequences of failing to meet those expectations.

You should remember that the employee is not the problem, the problem is the employee’s performance. Work with the employee to help them improve.

Think about whether the employee has the tools and training they need to meet your expectations. You should also stop to consider whether your expectations are reasonable.

You have an obligation to raise concerns as they arise. ‘‘Saving up’’ concerns and presenting a massive list of problems to your employee is a breach of the statutory duty of good faith.

The next step, if training, coaching and informal discussions about performance don’t result in the required improvement, is formal performance management.

This will involve putting a performance improvement plan in place.

The plan should set out the improvement that you require, how that improvement will be measured, and when you expect the employee to achieve that improvement.

You will need to meet with the employee and consider their feedback about the plan before it is implemented. The employee is entitled to a support person or representative at that meeting.

Once the plan is in place, you will need to monitor the employee’s performance over the review period and regularly meet with the employee to discuss their progress.

In most cases the employee will either shape up and the performance issues will be resolved, or they will decide it’s too hard and ship out.

Otherwise, if the required improvement is not achieved by the end of the review period, and you’ve followed a fair and reasonable process, disciplinary action may be appropriate.

Depending on the circumstances, this could include terminating the employee’s employment.

Next week, my colleague Diana Koorts will be writing about terminating employment.

❚ Lawyers and legal executives from Auld Brewer Mazengarb & McEwen write about legal topics affecting farmers. The content of this article is necessarily general and readers should seek specific advice and not rely solely on what is written here. For further information, please contact Auld Brewer Mazengarb & McEwen. This column was prepared by Sean Maskill who can be contacted by emailing sean.maskill@abmm.co.nz. Notes from the farm walk at Dairy Trust Taranaki’s Gibson farm at Hawera for the seven days ending April 11 are:

Growth Rate: 50 kilograms dry matter/hectare/day. Previous

9-year average is 29kg DM/ha/day. April 2017 was 46kg DM/ha/day.

Average Pasture Cover: 2255kg DM/ha.

Rainfall: 87.9 millimetres last seven days. Total for April is

87.9mm. 38-year average for April is 99mm. April 2017 was 239mm.

Soil Temperature: 15.1 degrees Celsius last 7 days. Range was

11.7-16.3C. 38-year average for April is 12.9C. April 2017 was 13.6C.

Current Situation: Wild weather this week has seen the ground temperature plummet 4.6C.