If I was put into a situation like the one you proposed, I would take the underperforming employee and meet with them to discuss their performance with them in an attempt to discover if there is a reason they are underperforming. After the meeting, I would intentionally assign that employee tasks in the area they are struggling with and pair them with another employee that has been known to perform well in that area in order to get them to work together so that the underperforming employee can obtain tricks and tips that can make the task easier for them as they gain some more experience in general to improve upon that area. Afterwards, I would take time to observe how they perform independently on that area and depending on how they perform, determine if any further actions need to be taken.

In my opinion,  people within the project team are the executor for the work and their performance could affect the output of the whole project directly. A successful project manager should have excellent  people management skills. If some team members are found under-performing, the project manager should talk with them first and try to figure out the reason. Sometimes these underperforming employees might need extra help. In this situation, the project manager should assign the extra training for them. Also, the project manager might rearrange the work to improve the efficiency of the whole team. 

When there's an underperforming employee, it's essential to get a clear understanding of why the employee is not performing up to standards. If I were in this position, I would meet with the employee to try to understand their reasoning. In most cases, I would have the employee be retrained on their responsibilities and provide the resources to ensure that the employee is well-equipped to fulfill their role. If the employee is experiencing personal issues that are interfering with their performance, I would try to be empathetic towards the employee while still enforcing the responsibilities.

An underperforming employee leads to decreased productivity, diminished work quality, and a decline in collaboration/morale. If the reason an employee is underperforming is because they lack the specific skills required then it is important to provide adequate training or to group these employees with senior employees to help build their technical abilities. An employee could also be underperforming if expectations are vague, in which case it is important to meet one-on-one with the individual to establish standards and to set these expectations. When an employee is dissatisfied with the lack of variety in their work, is not a good fit for the work culture, is stressed by the environment, or dealing with personal issues then it is important to recognize there is a problem, hold a meeting to determine the exact cause, develop an action plan together, and follow up on them, provide feedback/motivation, and track their progress. If performance does not improve then the most two common solutions are reassignment or termination.

If I myself was one such underperforming employee one of the things that I would like to help me improve is to be given specific direction to work on. Giving vague ideas and motivational speeches are not a good way to help improve ones work, exactly outlying the pain points and having a written out plan would be the most beneficial way of helping someone perform better. Along with this, a bi-weekly check-in without external pressure and a accepting environment is probably the bet way to foster growth and train such employees. 

Isolating the reasons as to why the employee is underperforming should be the first step for any manger or supervisor. Afterwards, a 1:1 conversation should be had discussing future goals of the employee and how they plan to improve or correct their current work output. The conversation should not be stressful rather an area where constructive criticism and open mindedness is encouraged. Additionally, possibly moving the employee into a different area or onto a separate set of tasks may help invigorate their energy or better align with their skill sets. A discussion about where they feel the best fit should provide more information on what steps to take next.

I feel the first step would be to determine why an employee is underperforming. Do they lack skills or are they unhappy in the work environment? If this employee shows they are willing to learn and grow, one on one training time followed up by meetings to track growth can really be beneficial. On the flip side, if this type of work is making them unhappy, they should look for a new job. There should be some cutoff time, maybe a few weeks but no more than a month, before they are fired. In order for someone to change, they have to want to change. No amount of external support can help in the long run.

Posted by: @wonbum-sohn

In order not to undermine employee motivation, companies need to manage underperforming employees.

However, I think there is a limit to fire low-performing employees every time.

How does the companies usually manage and train underperforming employees?

I did not know this was an issue since one would assume that the employee is motivated to do the job because of the benefits or the money. However, I am the manager and see that the employee is not doing well at the beginning; I would have an initial talk to see what is going on and why they are not performing to my standards. If the employee states they do not know what to do in some situations, I will bring the employee to the work field and go through the process to see if they fully understand each step in the project. This is one-way managers can stop firing undermine employees and help them succeed in their assignments. The manager should also ask some general questions before giving them a demo to see if they are entirely determined for the company and project. Sometimes, the employee is not interested in the project, and in this case, one can either switch which area of the project they work in or move them to another project. 

I would make sure to have weekly one-on-one sessions with them to constantly give feedback, but also with all the other employees to not make them feel singled out. I would discuss their performance and suggest multiple ways to better improve their performance. It can be providing them with more training or assigning a work mentor for them. It also helps to establish long-term goals for the employee within the company. It is very important to show that management cares about each individual employee. I wouldn’t fire any underperforming employees unless they have proven multiple times that they are incapable of completing their job’s responsibilities. Even then, I would try to find a better suitable job for them within the company. 

It is important for underperforming employees to have strong managers who are able to identify the source of the problem leading to low motivation. They should be able to connect with the employee and provide solutions on how areas of weaknesses can be strengthened whether that be through additional training, more assistance through physical presence, or if there may be external/personal problems that they need to be sensitive of at this time.

It is important for underperforming employees to have strong managers who are able to identify the source of the problem leading to low motivation. They should be able to connect with the employee and provide solutions on how areas of weaknesses can be strengthened whether that be through additional training, more assistance through physical presence, or if there may be external/personal problems that they need to be sensitive of at this time.

I believe company training needs to be of the highest quality. Training new employees is essential, it lays out the fundamentals and standard of the job being given to the worker. I believe an apprentice like role or close supervision is necessary to learn essentials of the work. I do not think people being hired for work are underqualified or not capable, but management in the first weeks of work is crucial to get the most out of the newly hired worker. Firing them should be last resort. 

I have not been in a situation like this one, but if I was a manager of the team, I agree with many of the posts above; I would first sit down with them and have a 1:1 meeting and discern what is going on in their lives to make them underperform. If it was a personal problem I would do as much as possible to point them in the direction needed to get help. If it was due to confusion on the job, I would ensure that they went back for proper training to make sure that they were confident in what they needed to do. If they were not being challenged enough, I would work to make sure they were to the level they needed to be to be engaged. It would be important to me to try and solve the problem of their underperformance, however, if I was unsuccessful, I would let them go. This is because as we learned in this class, having someone like this on the team will drag the team down. I think by the third talk about their underperformance I would ask for them to be transferred. 

How many meetings would you have before you asked someone to leave your team?

In my opinion, low performance is because of one of a few things including lack of motivation, a toxic work environment, or just the person likes being a pencil pusher and doing whatever for the money. In any case, as many have suggested I think it's best that a performance evaluation meeting is done so that this person is aware of their lack of efforts to give them the benefit of the doubt. Something might be going on but the meeting hopefully would put some sense into them. If not that's when you'd have them work on something with a team, specifically with members who've proven they go above and beyond and moreso are likable amongst the rest of the team. If he/she cannot perform then clearly it's neither work nor the environment and it's probably time to move on to keep a healthy and successful workplace.