How to Set Boundaries with Employees in 3 Simple Steps
A struggling employee who is continually allowed to not meet performance standards can have detrimental effects on the practice as a whole. This situation can:
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- Cause all other employees to sink. They feel frustrated or unappreciated, or they start to perform more carelessly because somebody else is getting away with it.
- Hinder a positive office culture. Teamwork, camaraderie and productivity all can take a hit.
- Affect the practice’s bottom line. Ultimately, inefficient or poor-quality work impacts the whole practice: income, loyalty, and retention.
- Reflect poorly upon you as a practice manager.
So, what can you do about it?
You can say these things to an employee who’s not pulling their weight.
Set Boundaries With Employees Step 1: First, clearly define the situation for the person.
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- This is what happened: You came in at 9:15 am three times this week.
- This is what needs to happen instead: You need to arrive before 9 am every day.
- This has repercussions: If you don’t make this change, it is going to affect your ability to stay in this position.
Set Boundaries With Employees Step 2: Ask questions so they can be part of the solution.
- What can you do to ensure this doesn’t happen again?
- What do I need to do for you to make sure you’re successful?
- Is there something I’m missing? What do you not have that you need?
- What do you think will happen if this continues?
Set Boundaries With Employees Step 3: Document poor performance officially in a performance evaluation.
While on-the-spot and weekly feedback is helpful, ongoing poor performance needs to be officially documented with bi-annual (at the minimum) performance evaluations so an employee can be removed from their position if it continues.
Take Control Of Your Team
Do you want to start implementing performance reviews, but don’t know where to start? We can help! Here’s how to implement performance evaluations.