Poor performance

Possible arguments include:

• Have adequate and clear instructions been given by management?

• Was the member warned about their performance at the time?

• Has the member been given time to improve?

• Has s/he been offered support and training?

• Are there any workplace issues that prevent the member getting on with the job, for example, the actions of others, faulty, unreliable or inaccessible systems or unrealistic workloads?

• Is the member being bullied or discriminated against?

• Is there a pattern of (not necessarily conscious) discrimination against particular groups of workers? For example, are young workers or black workers more likely to be given formal performance warnings? Public sector employers owe a specific duty to promote equality and must keep statistical data that you may be able to use to demonstrate this.

• Is there evidence of good performance from the recent past e.g. past appraisals, or positive customer feedback?

• Is there evidence that this is a temporary fall in performance level because of, for example, personal difficulties?

• Can you point to any inter-personal difficulties at work, for example, line manager conflict?

• Is there any relevant management failure, for example, to set or communicate deadlines?

• Is there evidence of inconsistent treatment of other workers?

• Is the member being unfairly made an example of, to “send a message” to other workers?

• Is the manager making general criticisms of performance? If so, ask for specific examples.

• Can you suggest that any mistakes had only minor (or no) practical consequences?

• It is generally best to try to cooperate by remaining positive and accepting fair criticism, demonstrate willingness to accept feedback, train and improve.