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Across the UK, Valentine's Day at work means flowers, love poems and, of course, chocolates from friends and lovers. But that's where the sweet treatment ends.
Personnel Today's Tough Love survey, carried out in association with HR consultancy Chiumento, shows just how badly organisations handle under-performers.
On average, respondents reported that 16% of the workers they employed could be classed as poor performers. Assuming an average wage of £22,000, with the average company size of those surveyed at 9,000 employees, this would add up to nearly £32m in wasted wages per year.
The overwhelming conclusion of this is that current performance management approaches – which encompass anything from annual appraisals to informal lunches with key staff – just aren't delivering the goods. So what's wrong with performance management, and how can managers get tough on workers who don't make the grade?
One HR professional aiming to get to grips with performance management is Mark Platt. As change manager for Coors Brewers – the UK division of the global brewing giant – he is introducing the organisation's worldwide performance management system, which aims to bring benefits for employer and employees alike.
It's a slow process. The main UK production base at the former Bass Brewery in Burton on Trent is unionised and some of the 1,000 production workers are suspicious of the company's motives. However, Platt says the programme is part of "a global change programme designed to create a world-class workforce across the company".
Coors is in it for the long haul. "If you start talking to people, you shouldn't be surprised the first few times if they are distrustful and wonder why you are doing it," explains Platt. "Results are only going to come over time."
The issues at Coors are shared by an overwhelming majority of organisations, according to the research – some 96% of respondents reported performance management to be a problem, with 29% seeing it as a majo
