How Long Should You Tolerate an Underperforming Employee?

The person who is not failing loudly

Most underperformance does not arrive as one obvious mistake. It shows up as someone who is pleasant in meetings and may well be trying hard, while the work around them slowly gets heavier.

So the manager adjusts. They check the work before it goes out, hand the important job to someone stronger and let a colleague fix the detail without being asked. A few weeks later the manager is frustrated, the team is tired and the employee is surprised, because nobody has clearly told them how serious it has become.

Tommy describes this as the point where underperformance stops being a people issue and becomes a leadership one.

Frustration at nine, process at two

By the time a manager is ready to act, the emotional case usually feels complete. They have lived through the late updates, the awkward client moments and the rescue jobs. The practical case is often far thinner, because the standard, the examples and the review dates were never set out.

That gap explains why so many managers feel stuck. Tommy also introduces the idea of performance debt and who quietly pays for it while the conversation keeps getting put off, from the stronger performer covering the extra work to the employee who ends up with a later, blunter conversation than they deserved.

Diagnose before you decide

Sometimes the person genuinely is underperforming. Sometimes the role was vague, the one-to-ones were patchy and the expectations only ever lived in the manager’s head. Before asking how to move someone on, it is worth asking whether the management around them has been clear enough to judge.

In this episode of Lead to Grow, you will get:

• Why patience without a process can turn into avoidance, and what it costs your team, your customers and you.
• The three moves Tommy would use to turn frustration into a fair, clear management process.
• When to have the conversation, and why it should come earlier than feels comfortable.
• How to work out whether you are dealing with clarity, capability or commitment.
• A simple set of questions to answer before you make the hard call.

Watch or listen using the YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts links above.

This episode covers the leadership problem that shows up long before the legal one. If a situation is formal, unsafe or heading towards termination, get advice that fits your facts and your jurisdiction.

About Lead to Grow

Lead to Grow explores the people principles behind business performance. Hosted by Tommy Sim, Managing Director of Inject HR, the podcast offers practical approaches to the conversations, decisions and people issues managers face at work.