Retail surgery: Store staff are unenthusiastic about a new performance management scheme. How can I enforce the policy?

A performance management scheme provides a framework for store managers to set, manage and review the performance of staff. The focus should be on identifying underperformance and providing support to encourage improvement.

Weightmans associate Laura Kearsley, who works in the law firm’s employment team, advises you try the softly-softly approach first. “You need to sell the benefits to your workforce. A good idea for making the scheme easier to promote is to include an element that also picks out your over-performers and congratulates or rewards them.”

She suggests tackling staff worries about the scheme head-on: “They need to be informed that the aim is not to ‘get rid’ of underperformers, but to tackle skill shortages andpromote opportunities for training and development.”

Kearsley adds that managers will also need to be convinced that this is a useful tool for improving store performance and dealing with poor performers, rather than a form-filling exercise. Where store managers are set objectives related to bonus or additional pay, adherence to the scheme can be added to the criteria as an extra incentive.

If store managers still fail to implement the scheme, this should be addressed through an informal meeting. “At the meeting the line manager should make it clear to the store manager what the purpose of the scheme is and allow them the opportunity to explain why they have not participated in it.

“It should be made clear to the store manager that, if they do not participate in the scheme, then formal disciplinary action may be taken against them.”