Performance management - download the Tough Love report in PDF form

UK employers waste more than £30m a year on under-performing staff, according to exclusive research by Personnel Today and HR consultancy Chiumento.

The Tough Love survey of 800 HR professionals reveals that 96% of respondents have issues with poor performance, with 29% admitting that it is a major problem.

On average, 16% of staff in the organisations surveyed were rated as poor. When calculated using the respondents' average wage of £22,000 and the average company size of 9,000 staff, this equates to a waste of £32m across the UK. The public sector is the main offender in not dealing with poor performance – 63% of respondents claim under-performing staff are not tackled as it is accepted as part of the culture.

Worryingly, 82% of respondents had reviewed their performance management procedures in the past two years, but were still wasting money on staff who were not up to scratch.

Two-thirds of respondents placed the blame on line managers, who spend an average of 1.6 days a month tackling poor performance, rising to more than two days in the health and retail sectors.

The survey reveals that one of the most common ways of dealing with under-performing staff in organisations is to 'manage them out'.

This approach is most common in the IT sector, where 54% of survey respondents managed out poor performers. The health and education sectors also took an extreme view of poor performance, with just under half choosing to get rid of problem staff.

To view and download the full report click here