Employee Job Performance Mentor Evaluation Poor Performing Employee's

When Americans receive a poor performance evaluation, they might be put on probation, as described in today's podcast, but many other things can happen too, depending on why the employee is not performing well.

If the employee's performance is below par because he or she does not know how to do the job well, he or she might get additional "training" (education to help one do one's job better). For example, an employee who needs to learn a new computer program might be sent to training so that he or she can work better or faster using that program.

Other poorly performing employees might be "assigned" (matched) to a "mentor," or a person who can provide guidance and support. The mentor is usually someone else in the company who is doing the same job or a similar job very well. The mentor provides "advice" (recommendations) on how to do the job better or how to improve productivity. The employee should feel comfortable asking the mentor for specific advice in improving his or her work.

If the employee simply isn't a good "match" (the right person) for the job, then he or she might be "reassigned" to a different job, meaning that he or she begins working in a different job for the same company. For example, if an employee is underperforming because he or she is not very good at speaking with customers, then he or she might be reassigned to a "back-office" job that doesn't require "interacting" (communicating) with the public. The same employee might also be "transferred" (moved) to a different "office" or "division" (department) within the same company, especially if the poor performance is caused by the employee's inability to "get along with" (work well with) another employee in that office.