The days of straightforward performance management are over. Now there’s stress leave and psychosocial hazard to consider.
Most firms have seen it – the staff member whose work isn’t up to scratch is put on performance management, then immediately goes on extended stress leave.
It’s lose/lose/lose. The performance improvement process stops, the work isn’t done, and most importantly the relationship sours as the staff member feels targeted. So a situation that started in an unwelcome place seems to worsen by the minute.
This predicament is growing in frequency and complexity. The staff member is often seen as capitalising on the situation and ‘playing the stress card’ as an act of revenge. But who wouldn’t be stressed when put on performance management? It makes us question ourselves, doubt our ability, feel targeted, and frankly, hate the boss.
Management, meanwhile, often feels they’ve done everything they can and is ready to terminate before the staff member is even aware. Therefore what’s seen as the last conversation by management is seen as the first by the staff member. Tricky is an understatement.
Now there’s the added complication of new legislation giving employers the responsibility not to cause psychosocial harm to their staff. Little wonder they don’t know what to do.
It’s not just the staff member in question, either. The whole team is likely to be affected. As well as the judgement levelled at both sides of the equation, there’s the issue of workload. It’s likely that the problem started with work stress and now there’s one fewer to do it. The others have to pick up the slack and the ripple effect is significant.
Everyone is affected – the staff member and their family, management, the team, clients, the bottom line. Who’s winning here? Nobody. And generally, nobody knows what to do either.
This has been such a common problem with our clients that we’ve decided to run a free panel discussion in Melbourne at 11.30 on November 17 at Clarence House, 456 Lonsdale St.
I’ll be covering the people management angle and will be joined by Addisons Partner Brigid Clark for the legal angle, plus Co-founder of EAP provider Connected Minds, Stephanie Louise, for the psychological angle.
Register here to join us in person or online.
We’ll analyse the causes, effects, and potential solutions. Feel free to bring your own situation or experience and ask questions of our experts.
It’s a problem worth solving.
