Dealing With Performance Criticisms
Overview
From time to time most large employers launch initiatives to drive up performance, with threats to dismiss alleged under-performers. We’re dealing with just such an initiative in Lloyds Bank at the moment. In my experience employees tend to take these announcements at face value – after all who isn’t in favour of their colleagues doing a fair share of the work! – but a more cautious approach is required.
Most Europe-based management academics would teach their students to ask searching questions about what top management of companies are up to when these initiatives are launched and will want to look for evidence that performance offensives actually produce measurable improvements in performance. Looking beneath the razzmatazz they will also look to identify corresponding ‘disbenefits’ such as the time wasted meeting arbitrary targets on the number of people on performance plans at any stage.
Like most people at work, very senior executives are to some extent playing a part in a drama and they have audiences they need to satisfy including: stock market analysts; shareholders; boards of directors and of the course the people who dish out knighthoods! So motives are not always as they may appear.
Members Should Take Any Criticism Seriously.
It is never sensible to ignore any criticism of your performance, no matter how low key a comment may appear to be. If you adopt a relaxed approach when someone thought it important enough to express criticism you should not be surprised if, sooner or later, push comes to shove and your job is at risk.
Defeating phoney criticisms is likely to be more about perspiration than inspiration.
We have built a process that is capable of managing a very large number of cases simultaneously but we need to be able to operate a disciplined approach to what usually are complex cases.
If you see a problem coming please email us at Performance@workaffinity.co.uk. All we need is your membership number (if you know it) or enough details for us to identify you (name and D.O.B should do).
We will then email you a link to a very detailed online form that will give us the facts we need to structure your case. Completing the form will take some time but no performance criticisms were ever beaten by a relaxed approach or inaction.
Once we are prepared we will then discuss how best to proceed.
Keep A Work Diary
Keeping a daily work diary, boring though it may be, is going to be a big part of helping us help you. You need to record:
- Any unreasonableness in setting your objectives, targets, expectations.
- Any material breaches of your employer’s own policies in your performance management.
- Any praise you receive.
- Any criticism or lack of criticism.
- Any failure to provide guidance where requested or required.
- Any other absence of managerial support.
- Any failure to provide training.
- Any staff shortages or issues that have affected your personal performance.
- Any other resource failures that have had knock-on effects on your personal performance.
- Any system changes that have had an adverse effect.
- The effects of changes of manager.
- The impact of Illness and disabilities on your performance.
- Anything else that you might want to rely on to defend yourself if you are criticised.
Give Us A ‘Heads Up’
Coming to us when you are well on the way to dismissal is not very helpful.. to say the least.
We want to hear from you when you get the first whiff of criticism; that will give us the best possible opportunity to help shape events rather than scurrying to catch up.
There may well not be much to do initially and we would expect to be able to help you arrest most cases, but we do want to be aware at the outset.
The Law
Without getting into too much law (if you are a lawyer outside the employment field as a number of members are and want to know more about this please email me) members need to understand that Employment Tribunals are not permitted to substitute their judgement for the reasonable judgement of an employer in dismissal cases.
The operative word here is reasonable, so when a Claimant (the employee) submits a claim for unfair dismissal there needs to be a properly joined up case that shows the employer to have been unreasonable. The law is not necessarily on the side of employees.
That said, in our experience Employment Judges tend to be able to identify unreasonableness with unerring accuracy provided cases are properly put together and based on fact not assertion. Half-baked rubbish does not last long in the Employment Tribunal.
This is why we need a great deal of detail. Without that detail we will not pursue claims.
Our Guidance
I’ve referred before in newsletters to the old adage that a lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client.
Fundamental to the successful prosecution of any cases is to follow our guidance and not start dealing with performance issues yourself without advice.
Our case files are littered with examples of members who set off confidently, ignoring the need for advice (or even ignoring the advice they were given) and who found themselves dismissed. The best analogy here is the world of data recovery in IT. Much data recovery tends to resemble throwing a lifebelt to a drowning man – when it would have been much better if he had not fallen in in the first place!
Election of Chairman
Under the Union’s constitution an election for the post of Chairman has to be carried out every five years.
The existing Chairman, Neilson Smith has been nominated unanimously by the Union’s General Council and is standing for election for a further term.
Other members may stand for election provided they:
- Are Active Members of the Union (meaning that they are not retired and pay the appropriate working subscription rate) with a minimum of 5 years membership.
- Have been proposed and seconded in their nominations for candidacy by at least 100 members of the Union entitled to vote in the election.
Nomination forms can be obtained by contacting:
Ms. Claire Rulton
Addison Account and Training Ltd
Ayton House
33 Wootton Road
Kempston Rural
Beds
MK43 9BH
Tel: 07903 007624 or 01234 851225
The period for nominations will close at 12:00 p.m. on Friday 31st October 2025.
Nominations forms received after that date will be invalid.