Performance Meeting

If work performance is genuinely unsatisfactory, that can ultimately justify dismissal. However, an employer should ordinarily put the employee on notice of the concerns, explain what standard is required, provide an appropriate opportunity to improve, and deal with the employee fairly before ongoing employment is put in jeopardy.

That is why early representation can matter. A vague complaint can become a moving target; an unrealistic Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) can set an employee up to fail; and a performance concern can be wrongly dressed up as misconduct or even “serious misconduct”. We help identify what the employer is actually saying and keep the process tied to evidence, the real job and achievable expectations.

What you should expect at a formal performance meeting

Where a meeting may lead to a warning or dismissal, you should ordinarily expect:

1. Reasonable notice of the meeting.
2. Particulars of the concerns and examples in advance rather than broad statements that performance is “not good enough”.
3. Relevant information relied on by the employer, such as KPIs, quality reports, complaints, targets or previous reviews.
4. The possible outcomes to be made clear. If a warning or termination is genuinely being considered, the employee should know that.
5. A reasonable opportunity to respond before a decision is made.
6. Representation or support where the process is formal and an adverse outcome is being considered.

Performance is not the same as misconduct

Employers sometimes confuse poor performance with disciplinary misconduct. They are different concepts. Performance management is ordinarily concerned with whether the employee can meet the required standard and what support or opportunity to improve is appropriate. Misconduct is concerned with behaviour.

Poor performance does not become serious misconduct merely because the employer is frustrated with it. If the actual allegation is deliberate refusal, dishonesty or another behavioural issue, the employer should identify that properly and run the appropriate process.

Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs)

A PIP should be a genuine improvement process, not an elaborate dismissal notice. It should tell the employee what needs to improve, what standard is expected, how the standard will be measured, what support is available, how progress will be reviewed, and what may happen if adequate improvement is not achieved.

We look closely at:

• Whether the targets reflect the employee's actual job description.
• Whether the targets are measurable rather than subjective.
• Whether comparable employees are expected to meet the same standard.
• Whether the timeframe is realistic for the type of work.
• Whether promised training, resources, staffing or management support are actually provided.
• Whether new allegations or old historical issues are added halfway through the process.
• Whether review meetings genuinely assess progress or simply build a paper trail toward dismissal.

Warnings and the opportunity to improve

There is no universal statutory formula requiring exactly three warnings. But in performance management a graduated warning process will often be appropriate because the purpose is to make the performance gap clear and give the employee a fair chance, with support, to reach the required standard.

A warning should be clear about what is wrong, what improvement is required, how long the employee has to improve, and what consequence may follow if the required improvement does not occur. Old or unrelated warnings should not simply be piled together to create a dismissal case.

Common performance-process warning signs

• The employer suddenly says performance has been poor for months despite positive reviews.
• The standards are not in the job description and were never previously communicated.
• Targets change once you start meeting them.
• Only your errors are counted while comparable mistakes by others are ignored.
• The employer refuses to provide the data supposedly proving poor performance.
• Workload, understaffing, inadequate systems or contradictory instructions are ignored.
• The employer refuses reasonable support or training.
• The manager speaks as though dismissal is inevitable before the PIP has run its course.

Health, stress and other relevant circumstances

If health, stress, workload, workplace conflict or lack of resources is materially affecting performance, that context should not simply be ignored. It does not automatically stop a reasonable performance process, but it may affect what support is appropriate, what timeframe is reasonable and how the employer should assess the employee's progress.

If you want to keep your job

Tell us that at the start. Where you are motivated to stay employed, the objective is not to manufacture a settlement exit. We can work on an hourly-rate basis to help protect the employment relationship: clarify the standard, correct factual errors, secure reasonable support, prepare for meetings, document improvement and prevent an unfair acceleration toward dismissal.

If the relationship has broken down

Sometimes the more practical outcome is an agreed exit rather than months of hostile performance management. An exit package can address money, notice, holiday pay, reference wording, confidentiality and the practical terms of leaving. We can assess that option without requiring you to resign first.

If performance management ends in dismissal

If the employer ultimately terminates employment, we assess both the substantive performance case and the process used. Where there are strong grounds, we may then offer to challenge the dismissal on a No Win No Fee basis. The fact that we were involved before dismissal can also mean the evidential record is much cleaner.

Frequently asked questions

Does my employer have to put me on a PIP before dismissal?

Not every performance case requires an identical PIP, but an employee should ordinarily understand the concerns and have a fair, reasonable opportunity to improve before dismissal for poor performance.

Can poor performance be serious misconduct?

Poor capability and misconduct are different. Deliberate behaviour can create misconduct issues, but simply failing to reach a performance standard does not become serious misconduct because the employer calls it that.

Can I challenge unrealistic targets while still cooperating?

Yes. A useful response identifies why a target is unreasonable, the evidence supporting that position, and what a realistic measurable standard would be. Simply refusing to participate is usually less helpful.

General information only — performance cases turn on the role, standards, history, support and actual process followed.