You have an underperforming employee – what next?

Performance management, including addressing issues with underperforming employees, has always been one of the central areas of improvement in the workplace, both in-office and remote. Employers may be surprised to discover that some of their workers constantly or occasionally underperform in their roles. In fact, underperforming employees account for up to 20% of the current workforce, with an average underperformance rate of 4% across companies.

In this article, we’ll help you understand your underperforming team members, uncover the reasons behind their poor performance, and provide actionable tips on managing and empowering these employees to propel them forward or even release their hidden powers.

Signs of an underperforming employee

So, what are the signs of an underperforming worker in the workplace?

An underperforming employee is a worker who has the potential but doesn’t meet the key performance indicators (KPIs) or established requirements and lags behind without reaching the standard level.

Here are the most noticeable traits and behavioral patterns of underperforming employees:

• They fail to complete tasks on time or rush at the last minute
• They are unproductive, frequently lose track of time, and need constant reminders
• They rarely suggest new ideas or take proactive steps
• They submit work with errors and get it sent for revisions
• They may arrive late and leave early without justification, call in sick, or take unplanned leaves, showing high absence rates
• They are either emotionally checked out and fatigued or, on the contrary, annoyed or outraged

Due to high-intensity emotional states like annoyance or rage, underperforming employees may act as “destructors” and toxic elements in the company culture. Such workers frequently get involved in workplace disagreements or conflicts.

What are the root causes of employee underperformance?

Let’s find out what the most common reasons for underperformance are. They can be internal (driven by personal factors) and external (driven by outside factors).

Internal reasons for employee underperformance:

• Workplace distractions
• Disengagement and lack of motivation
• Detachment from other team members
• Insufficient skills or knowledge
• Health or family concerns

External reasons for employee underperformance:

• Poor onboarding
• Unclear work purpose and expectations
• Ineffective leadership, communication, and teamwork
• Unrealistic workload
• Remote work challenges

Now, let’s find out how you can spot what exactly causes underperformance among your employees. 

How to tell what’s causing employee underperformance in your office

1. Ask

Different employees may have different reasons for performing poorly in their job roles.

For example:

One of the Reddit users confessed: “I underperformed at work due to depression.”

Your underperforming employees can similarly point to the “culprit” of their weak output. How about asking them individually during a one-on-one meeting?

For example, whenever they notice work efficiency issues, Antino Labs’ managers arrange one-on-one meetings with those who experience difficulties or setbacks in task execution. Together, they dig out the root causes and discuss how they can improve performance.

2. Monitor

Keep a sharp eye on your team’s productivity to identify and squash the cause of poor performance before it becomes a gigantic problem.

DeskTime equips you with everything you need: an employee time tracker and a productivity monitoring tool to automatically audit your workers’ output and follow up with personalized reports on their performance.

Moreover, with the DeskTime Screenshots feature, you can find out whether your employees waste time at work or struggle with tasks. For example, you notice a problematic worker who underperforms, leaving the whole team in trouble. You can turn this feature on and check where those hours disappear.

How to deal with underperforming employees

1. Engage them from day one

What if you notice underperformers among your newly hired employees?

To avoid this, you must think proactively about workforce management and plan your onboarding process thoroughly in advance. You don’t want to neglect this step—77% of new workers believe that access to information without asking for help increases productivity and empowers them.

You may organize training workshops for new hires and provide them with all the necessary data, materials, and tools to improve their engagement and maximize their effectiveness from day one. For example, Brain Station 23 has a special Freshers Day to onboard, engage, and train the team’s newcomers.

Leading a remote-first team, Reyansh Mestry, Head of Marketing at TopSource Worldwide, believes social platforms are “the go-to channels for engaging new employees,” and social interactions prevent them from feeling like outsiders. He shares:

“We interact with new hires from day one via social media, LinkedIn in particular, to make them feel more valued and team-bonded. Even simple welcoming phrases like ‘welcome aboard’ or ‘so lucky to have you’ can make a huge difference, demonstrating sincere care and appreciation and encouraging them to release their fullest potential from the first days.”

2. Let them see two pictures: broad and narrow

Drawing clear prospects within a broad and narrow scope is another way to revive your underperforming employees and increase your team’s productivity overall.

The broad picture

A study in a startup company proved that having a strategic corporate vision significantly boosts employee performance.

“You can’t expect to have a high-performing team if your workers don’t understand the ‘why’ behind your business. The following questions will constantly torment them: What is this all for? What’s the purpose?” remarks Chris Aubeeluck, Head of Sales and Marketing at Osbornes Law. To avoid that in their company, Osbornes’ solicitors regularly gather for a Strategy Away Day to discuss business goals and strategic vision for the upcoming months.

The narrow picture

“It’s pointless… Why should I do this task?” is another possible question in your employee’s mind. A lack of clear goals deprives your employees of purpose and, therefore, causes them to underperform in their roles.

Let’s see how to switch from purposeless to purposeful tasks. If you use task management software, add an objective when assigning tasks. Let’s say you manage a marketing team and assign one of the team members to set up email A/B tests. In DeskTime, you can indicate the task’s objective in the “Description” section: “The goal is to improve our email open rates by 15%.”

3. Find out how to motivate your employees

Only 22% of workers agree that their managers help motivate them. This means four in five employees on your team might be unmotivated at work, which can be the reason for their underperformance.

That’s why you must find out what improves their productivity and gives them the boost to perform at their best. Then, you can use it repeatedly to motivate your workforce and keep their performance level high.

Out of all driving forces, recognition is a universal motivator that spurs most employees to bring their A-game. Recognize and appreciate your workers’ efforts with the following incentives:

• Personalized encouragement notes
• Financial bonuses
• Gift cards or vouchers
• Extra break time
• Social media spotlights
• Milestone celebrations
• Awards, etc.

For example, the Riseup Labs team members receive a monetary reward, a Performance Appreciation Bonus, for their exceptional work.

4. Invest in learning and development (L&D)

Six out of ten employees (59%) claim that training boosts their overall performance at work, and 74% are eager to gain new knowledge and skills even outside work hours. So, it’s no wonder that companies have been slowly but steadily increasing their budgets for training expenditures. Compare these numbers from Training’s Industry Report: $87.6 billion in 2018 vs. 101.8 billion in 2023.

For example, Jeffrey Zhou, CEO and Founder of Fig Loans, claims that the best way to empower underperforming employees is to set a yearly L&D budget for upskilling. He explains, “An employee development fund will give opportunities to learn and grow in a way that directly impacts their job competencies and fuels their progress in the current role.”

In addition to a general L&D budget, Jeffrey Zhou suggests creating an individual development plan to help an underperforming employee succeed.

5. Encourage team bonding

The stronger the bonds between your team members are, the better they will perform together and individually. When these connections are deep and powerful, employees are more likely to play to each other’s strengths and help out when they see someone falling short of expectations.

Here are several team-building ideas you can try to bring your employees closer and boost their productivity at work:

For example, GrabOn holds an Annual Sports Week, The Dugout. It combines energetic indoor games and thrilling outdoor competitions.

Jesse Hanson, Content Manager at Online Solitaire & World of Card Games, recommends organizing problem-centered activities. “Pick those team-building activities that address employee underperformance issues best. While staying focused on the problem, you should prepare role-playing scenarios or exercises where underperforming employees would practice in areas they fail at.”

For example, if there are underperformers among your remote web developers, you can organize virtual team-building events like online coding games or hackathons to solve specific challenges. 

Turn your underperforming employees into top performers with DeskTime

Managing underperforming employees can be tricky but not impossible. With the strategies and tools from this guide, you should be able to find the right approach and succeed. 

DeskTime is one of the top solutions for performance-oriented teams. Register today, see how the tool works with the free trial, and unlock higher productivity levels in your team! 

This is a guest post by Emma Becker. Emma is a psychologist and professional counselor. She specializes in mindfulness-based interventions and stress management techniques. Her main goal is to guide people toward greater self-awareness and resilience.