POOR PERFORMANCE POLICY
Performance Improvement Procedure
It is in everybody’s interest for employees to perform well at their jobs and the Company aims to ensure that you are given the support needed to ensure that you can do so. Where there are issues with performance then you should receive feedback from your manager setting out any concerns. Discussions should take place about how that performance can be improved. This procedure is designed to be used when such informal discussions do not lead to your performance improving to an acceptable level.
Where your poor performance is believed to be the result of deliberate neglect, or where serious errors have been made to the detriment of the Company then it may be more appropriate to use the procedures in the Disciplinary Policy. Which procedure to use shall be at the discretion of the Company.
The Company also reserves the right not to follow this procedure in full for employees who are within their first two years of employment with the Company.
The Right to be Accompanied
You are entitled to be accompanied at any formal meeting held under this procedure by a fellow employee or trade union official of your choice. The Company will provide any chosen companions with appropriate paid time off to allow them to attend the meeting. It is, however, up to you to arrange for a companion to attend the meeting.
If your chosen companion cannot attend on the day scheduled for the meeting then the Company will agree a new date. This will usually be within 5 working days of the date originally scheduled. If your companion is not available within that timescale then you may need to find someone else to take their place.
The Companion’s role is to advise you during the meeting and make representations on your behalf. However, both you and your companion are required to cooperate in ensuring a fair and efficient meeting. The companion is not entitled to answer questions on your behalf.
Stage One
Your nursery manager will inform you of the nature of the problem and the Managing Director will confirm this in writing. You will be invited to a formal performance management hearing to discuss the issues raised by the manager’s concerns. The invitation will set out the respects in which the nursery manager believes that your performance still falls short of an acceptable standard. The hearing will be conducted by your nursery manager or the Managing Director and will consider any representations you may make about your performance, whether it needs to be improved, and if so, what steps can be taken to help you reach the appropriate level.
Following discussion of the problem, the manager may choose to take no further action; to refer the matter for investigation under the Disciplinary Policy (if it appears the issues are linked to conduct rather than performance) or to issue a written warning and Performance Improvement Plan which will remain current for a period of 12 months.
Performance Improvement Plan
A Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) is a series of measures designed to help improve your performance. Each measure will ideally be agreed with you, though the Company reserves the right to insist on any aspect of the PIP in the absence of such agreement.
Each PIP will be tailored to the particular situation, and will be based on the Company’s Professional Development Plan document, and will contain the following elements:
Timescale: the overall timescale in which the necessary improvement must be achieved will be set out, together with the timescale for reaching individual milestones where appropriate.
Targets: The PIP will specify the particular areas in which improvement is needed and set out how and on what criteria your performance will be assessed. Where appropriate, specific targets will be set which will need to be achieved either by the end of the plan or at identifiable stages within it.
Measures: The PIP will specify what measures will be taken by the Company to support you in improving their performance. Such measures may include training, additional supervision, the reallocation of other duties, or the provision of additional support from colleagues.
Feedback: As part of the PIP you will be given regular feedback from your nursery manager indicating the extent to which you are on track to deliver the improvements set out in the plan
If at any stage the Company feels that the PIP is not progressing in a satisfactory way, a further meeting may be held with you to discuss the issue. As a result of such a meeting the Company may amend or extend any part of the plan.
Review
At the end of the PIP your performance will be reviewed. If satisfactory progress has been made you will be notified of this fact in writing. If the manager feels that progress has been insufficient then they may decide to extend and/or amend the PIP to such extent as seems appropriate. Alternatively, the manager may refer the matter to a meeting under Stage Two of this procedure.
Following the successful completion of a PIP your performance will continue to be monitored. If at any stage during the lifetime of the first written warning your performance again starts to fall short of an acceptable standard, your nursery manager may decide to institute stage two of this procedure.
Stage Two
If a PIP has not led to sufficient improvement in your performance, you will be invited to attend a formal performance management hearing. The invitation will set out the respects in which your nursery manager believes that your performance still falls short of an acceptable standard.
The hearing will be conducted by a member of the senior management team.
At the hearing, you will be given an opportunity to respond to any criticism of your performance and to make representations about any aspect of the way in which the process has been managed.
If the hearing concludes that reasonable steps have been taken which should have allowed you to perform to an acceptable standard but that these measures have not worked then a formal final warning may be issued. The warning will explain the nature of the improvement which is required in your performance and state that the improvement must be immediate and sustained. It will also explain that if this improvement does not take place then you may be dismissed. Where it is appropriate, the warning may be accompanied by an extended or revised PIP.
The warning will remain current for a period of 12 months, after which time it will cease to have effect.
Stage Three
If you have been issued with a warning under Stage Two which remains current, and the appropriate manager believes that your performance is still not acceptable then the matter may be referred to a further performance management hearing.
You will be informed in writing of the grounds of which the hearing is being convened and in particular will be told of the respects in which your performance continues to fall below an acceptable standard.
The hearing will be conducted by an appropriate manager.
At the meeting you will be able to respond to any criticisms made of your performance and make representations about how the situation should be treated.
The manager conducting the meeting may take such action as is judged appropriate up to and including a decision to dismiss you.
Any dismissal under this procedure will be with notice or payment in lieu of notice and the decision to dismiss together with the reasons for dismissal will be set out in writing and sent to you.
Appeals
You may appeal against any decision taken under this procedure. The appeal should be submitted in writing stating your full grounds of appeal within one week of the decision being communicated. An appeal hearing will then be convened to consider the matter. Any PIP that is in force, together with any measures or objectives included within it, will continue in place during the appeal process.
The outcome of the appeal will be confirmed to you in writing explaining the grounds of which the decision was reached. The outcome of the appeal will be final.
Redeployment
There may be circumstances in which it becomes clear that you would be better suited to a different role within the Company, or the same role at a different nursery. However, any offer to redeploy you will be entirely at the Company’s discretion and will only be made when the Company is confident that you will be able to perform well in the redeployed role and where there is a suitable available vacancy.
Redeployment may be offered as an alternative to dismissal where the Company is satisfied that you should no longer be allowed to continue to work in your current role. While you are free to refuse any offer of redeployment, the only alternative available in these circumstances will usually be dismissal.