Employee performance has long been under the spotlight, as many businesses strive to reach the profitability that they require. Given that people are without a doubt the single most important asset that any organization has at its disposal, it is vital that they perform well. Even businesses that have the luxury of providing the best products and services need their employees to perform at optimum levels.
Sadly a great many employers have to put up with sub-standard work from their employees — which, when it goes unnoticed, can amount to vast amounts of lost revenue.
This blog post will uncover some of the ways to spot a poor performer, plus some suggestions on how these issues can be “nipped in the bud.”
Late Arrivals
The odd five minutes here and there is possibly acceptable for some organizations — after all, most businesses will rely on an element of give and take. However, when a person is consistently late or leaving for home early, it can have a real impact on their productivity. It doesn’t take a genius to work out that ten minutes per day over the course of a month can easily add up to nearly half a day in lost productivity. It’s one thing if all their work is fully completed, but is that really always the case?
An easy way around this is to install some kind of a check-in system. Some businesses that have lots of employees will find a clocking in card-type of system or a simple paper check-in log helps to eradicate lateness. This is especially the case when you start to deduct from people’s salaries or bonuses for late arrivals. Taking this a stage further, many employers will deduct half an hour of pay for late employees, even when they are just a minute or two late. Over a period of time, the message nearly always hits home.
Of course some companies might prefer not to go to these kinds of lengths. This is fine, just as long as there is some kind of system in place to monitor or ensure proper attendance and timekeeping — again depending on your company culture and whether or not this has been a persistent problem with your employees.
The same logic can be used for any other organized breaks, such as lunch time or coffee breaks. It can be surprising just how much more work can be gained by simply letting people know that you are monitoring them.
Kings and Queens of Social Media
The majority of people will use social media to some extent or another. A sign of a poor performer is that they spend just as much time or sometimes more maintaining their Facebook account as they do working. Of course, when this is allowed to happen, it is likely to be very bad for profitability. In many respects, it almost becomes contagious with nearly everyone in the workplace deciding to “down tools.”
To counteract this, it is possible to install some relatively inexpensive blocking software. This will prevent users from visiting prohibited websites from office computers. Unfortunately, this doesn’t prevent them from accessing social media from their smartphones and other devices. Therefore, it’s often recommended to have a company policy on Internet use in place such that you can then deal with these activities when they come up.
Mystery Shopping
Most of the time, when the boss walks around their business the employees will be keen to demonstrate that they are working hard. However, it is the times when you are not around that you want to be confident that your people are being productive. One surefire way of checking on this is to employ the services of a “mystery shopper.” The good news here is that your existing team won’t be able to tell them apart from regular customers or other trusted employees just walking about for example. This can be carried out for the majority of businesses, whether they operate in a face-to-face or telephone environment.
Asking for Doctor’s Notes
As we have already established, ten minutes each day can soon add up to vast amounts of lost productivity. Imagine if that situation was multiplied and transformed into one or two days every few weeks — for many businesses this can easily be the case.
When people are off sick, some businesses ask for documentation to confirm their absence, thus helping to ensure they weren’t just skipping off. While everyone can fall ill now and again, some businesses implement this policy after they see patterns in absences, just to make sure. Ultimately, epidemic levels of absenteeism can easily result if the situation is not checked.
The Proof Is in the Pudding
Depending on how bad you feel things are with the productivity of your workforce, you might want to consider some kind of CCTV system. This can be a surefire way of catching the people who enjoy their almost slow-motion days.
Some bosses will resort to cameras that are hidden; the information gained often being used to signal the end of the career for the workers who are underperforming. Other businesses favor something that people can see, in the hope that they will perform better knowing that there is a camera on them. Generally speaking though, if a worker is actually underperforming to this degree, they’re probably not in the right position in the first place. Have a look at our recent article on how to tell if you’ve made a bad hire for some common indicators and strategies you can use to help improve the situation.
GPS Tracking for Deliveries
Employees who regularly volunteer for work related errands might not be as productive as you would wish. When a delivery task that should really only take a couple of hours turns into an all-day event, something might not be quite right. Sadly, a great many slackers will use this to their advantage, completing personal chores while they should be attending to company business. This can range from a simple visit to their bank, or in some of the more extreme cases, an hour or two at their local gym — either way, they are taking advantage of you.
In these cases, you could consider installing a GPS tracker on the company vehicle. This way, you will gain a clear understanding of the exact location of your people at all times.
Review Their Output Levels
Most businesses will be able to check on the productivity of each worker. This is especially important when tight deadlines are to be met. Failing to ensure that the entire team is producing will very often lead to unsatisfactory results.
If several people are performing a similar task, then it will be quite easy to analyze who is working well and who isn’t. Of course you should also consider that they are people, as opposed to robots, and there will always be more efficient workers; however, this can be a great way of singling out the slackers or those who might be better suited to a different position.
The Wrap-Up: Be Vigilant
Poor employee performance, when left unchecked, can spread like wildfire in any business. It is as if you are sending out the message that this type of behavior is perfectly acceptable. It’s up to you as a business owner to lay down the standards that you expect and then to ensure that they are measured and enforced if necessary.
Failing to be vigilant in this key area will almost certainly result in you having to pick up the slack for the poor performance of others. This will hurt your business directly in terms of lost profitability and also indirectly by stealing away much of your valuable time.
[contentblock id=18]
