employee issues

[Robert Anderson]

One employee is getting careless and has been making a lot of mistakes
lately. Another employee works hard but is not really moving forward in
terms of skill level and knowledge. Any suggestions on how to approach
these? Please don't say "fire them" as I do not think that is really what is
needed in these cases.

Thanks.

[John A. Weeks III]

Post by Robert Anderson
One employee is getting careless and has been making a lot of mistakes
lately. Another employee works hard but is not really moving forward in
terms of skill level and knowledge. Any suggestions on how to approach
these? Please don't say "fire them" as I do not think that is really what is
needed in these cases.

A threat of firing them would be motivation by fear. Your
options include finding other fear type motivators, or take
the opposite path and find some type stretch motivator.

An example of a fear type motivator would be a formal performance
improvement plan complete with putting the person on probation
and skipping the next review cycle.

An example of a positive motivator would be to put in some type
of bonus plan. Have the bonus tied to the persons performance
review. For example, lets say the maximum bonus is $1000 in a
quarter. Lets also say you rate people on a scale of 1 to 5
during the review. If a person rates a 2.5, they get 1/2 of the
maximum bonus, or $500. A person who gets a 4 would get 4/5 of
the maximum bonus, or $800. The motivation to do better is to
get the bigger bonus.

-john-