Performance Management: Dealing With The Difficult Employee

Even with good hiring and strong leadership, every supervisor eventually faces an employee with what this session calls Toxic Attitude Syndrome. Poor attitude, attendance or work quality can take a lot of time, energy and emotion. This 60-minute performance management webinar gives managers insight and tools for dealing with difficult employees.

You'll learn how to set clear expectations from the start, why progressive discipline policies and probationary periods can backfire, how employment at will and just cause work, and how to investigate and document problems objectively. The session also covers coaching, performance improvement plans, SMART goals, disciplinary meetings and preparing for termination.

• Set clear performance expectations from day one
• Explain the risks of progressive discipline policies and probationary periods
• Apply employment at will and just cause concepts correctly
• Conduct disciplinary investigations and document behavior objectively
• Use a simple system to coach employees and overcome common supervisor barriers
• Build performance improvement plans with SMART goals
• Prepare for and run disciplinary meetings and terminations

• Starting off right by creating clear expectations
• How poor performance affects organizational performance and the work environment
• How progressive discipline policies can hurt you
• Why probationary periods may be a bad idea
• What employment at will is and when you can use it
• Key concepts of just cause
• Steps for conducting disciplinary investigations
• Holding employees accountable for sustained change
• A simple system for deciding how to coach employees
• Dealing with difficult people
• 11 barriers supervisors face in managing behavior
• Documenting Toxic Attitude Syndrome objectively
• Preparing for termination
• Preparing for and conducting a disciplinary meeting
• Performance improvement plans, with a sample form
• Setting SMART goals for employee performance

57% of employees have seen abusive or intimidating behavior at work, and nearly everyone works with someone who isn't pulling their weight. Left alone, poor performance drags down the whole work environment.

This session helps managers and supervisors responsible for corrective action, HR professionals and aspiring leaders hold employees accountable for lasting change and improve their organizations with a clear, prepared approach.

• Managers and Supervisors who have responsibility for corrective Action
• Human Resources Professionals
• People who aspire to Leadership and Supervisory positions

Bob Verchota, SPHR, is the President and owner of RPVerchota & Associates, a human resources and management practices consulting firm. He has over 30 years of human resources and operational leadership experience. His most recent corporate assignments include serving as VP Support Services, VP of Ancillary Services and Human Resources, and VP Human Resources. Focus areas include organization change and employee development, talent acquisition, risk management, compensation and benefits, labor and employee relations, performance improvement, and other operational issues. 

Academic pursuits include an undergraduate degree in Business Administration, graduate degree in Healthcare Administration (MHA), and doctoral work in Organization Development EdD (abd). He has taught at the technical, baccalaureate, and masters levels in several colleges and universities.