Does your setting have a capability policy and procedure?, this policy is about managing a staff members performance and ensuring he/she is doing their job right.
Some hints and tips on following capability policies and procedures.
Make notes
As soon as you start talking to a member of staff about their performance make notes, as these are highly important if you need to use them later on and also file these away in the appropriate place as this is a piece of evidence.
If you decide to dismiss an employer based on their capability it is paramount that you have carried out a fair process. It is up to managers to ensure that their are necessary steps put in place to minimise the risk of poor performance for example are employees given adequate and regular supervisions, do appraisals highlight any areas for concern, if so how are this monitored. Is training regular accessed to improve practice and how often do managers do observations on their team as this is great way to identify staffs weakness and strengths.
It is important to think about how Disability Discrimination may feature in capability for example some one may inform you that there’s a health reason for their poor performance issues. If this happens refer to your HR department or if using a legal representative then contact them for more advice
Capability procedures
If you decide on carrying out a capability proceedings make sure you carry them through as this will highlight to others that you are dealing with staff who are under performing.If you use a legal representatives eg acas or Federations for Small Business contact these or refer to them as they will give you advice on how to deal with these issues in the correct way.
Start by having a talk with your staff member about their performance you can make this a supervision meeting. Ask them open ended questions to establish what the problems are. It may be worth them explaining what their role and responsibilities are this will determine whether they fully understand it. Ask them if they need any further training or coaching and if there are any factors impacting on their performance.
At the end of this meeting discuss and agree an action plan, ensure that both of you agree and set a date tor review. Depending on the staff members position in the room you may have to speak to the head of room to make them aware of the action points
If the poor performance continues then there are necessary routes to follow first being a more formal meeting, this should be done formally by way of letter. The employee is entitled to representation in the same way she would at any other formal meeting with management. This meeting will constitute to the formal capability procedure, this will be a more formal approach where as the previous meeting was less formal more of a discussion, however the more formal meeting will have the action plan to refer to.
At the end of the meeting it will be identified what the poor performance is, what improvements should be made, timescale. It should be made clear what the consequences are of failing to achieve the action plan.
If the poor performance carries on it can lead to potential dismissal. (refer to acas or your legal representative for advice for potential dismissal)
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