Dominic is the CEO of Lawpath, dedicating his days to making legal easier, faster and more accessible to businesses. Dominic is a recognised thought-leader in Australian legal disruption, and was recognised as a winner of the Australian Legal Innovation Index and recently a winner of the LexisNexis 40 Under 40 (APAC).
Performance management is an ongoing process where managers work together with your employees in setting and achieving objectives. Part of managing performance is keeping an open and well-managed feedback loop to develop employees and ensure their effectiveness. Having a well-conceived performance management policy, as such, is vital to ensuring to start off strongly towards promoting a high-performing culture in your business.
What should you consider including in your Performance Management Policy?
Performance management process
You should step out the process clearly from the very start so there is no confusion between management and employees. This includes the parties involved in the process, and the expectations and obligations of the parties.
Unsatisfactory performance
Handling unsatisfactory performance can be a sensitive issue and has potential for conflict. To minimise disputes, you should step out the process of dealing with employees where performance is unsatisfactory. This includes the issues that should be addressed in the meetings, the implementation of an improvement plan, and at what point would an employee be given a final warning.
Disciplinary action
If the employee fails to improve their performance, rules must be set around how that will be dealt with. The scope of disciplinary action available should cover all degrees of unsatisfactory performance, ranging from an extra review meeting to termination. Further, the principles of managing unsatisfactory performance should be stepped out. For example, the policy can include the parties’ right to an unbiased assessment, and a right to a fair and thorough investigation
Contact person
It is important to include a person whom the employee(s) can contact if they have a query about the policy, or think they are being treated in contravention of the policy. This person can be the HR manager or a member of the management team.
If you do not have a Performance Management Policy, you can create one with LawPath in under 10 minutes.
Unsure about what you should include in your Performance Management Policy? Contact a LawPath Consultant on 1800 LAWPATH.
