The Impact of Retaining Low Performers: Why Letting Go Can Preserve Productivity and Company Culture

As business owners and entrepreneurs, we often face difficult decisions, and one of the most challenging is dealing with low-performing employees. It's natural to feel hesitant about letting someone go, especially if it’s a friend or family member, but the truth is, keeping an underperforming employee can be detrimental to your business in various ways, and by not making this tough choice to remove a low performer can essentially decrease productivity and healthy company culture.

One of the most apparent reasons to address low performers is the impact they have on overall productivity. When one or more team members consistently fails to meet expectations or falls behind, is a complainer, or negatively impacts on healthy working environments, it can create a ripple effect across the entire workforce causing team morale to suffer and poor productivity. Like the saying, ‘a rotten apple spoils the whole bunch’. By removing low performers, you send a clear message to the rest of the team about the standard you expect from your employees to operate at its highest level and that you value their contributions and prioritise a healthy work environment.

Did you know if you or your team sat next to a high performer you and your team will outperform by 15%? And if you sit by a low performer you will/it will decrease your productivity by 30%!?

So every B player you bring on is not only decreasing productivity, but it's the energy transfer around?the?whole?team.*

Therefore retaining a low-performing employee not only affects their own productivity but also hinders the growth potential of your business. By holding onto someone who is not meeting expectations, you miss out on the opportunity to hire a more qualified, motivated individual who can deliver and contribute to the company's success.

“The only thing worse than training your employees and having them leave is not training them and having them stay.”?Henry Ford

This means maintaining a positive company culture is vital for employee satisfaction and engagement. A low-performing employee can disrupt the harmony and morale within the team. Other team members may become frustrated by the perceived lack of accountability and fairness. Therefore to avoid resentment and a decline in overall team spirit by terminating a low-performing employee view it as creating an opportunity for growth and improvement. It will allow you to assess the reasons behind their underperformance and identify other employees similar or affected, how to better identify and nurture this in the future, and potentially hire a more suitable replacement.

While letting go of an employee is undoubtedly a challenging task, it is a necessary one to safeguard the productivity and company culture of your business. But if it’s not for you there is the potential for a cheaper alternative to boost productivity without firing a low performer. You could simply move people around in the company, relocate them, have them work from home, or provide a new job role and responsibility. Although it seems onerous, especially now with the redundancy exodus, is to just let the low performer go!

Remember, making difficult decisions today can lead to you having long-term success and a stronger, more resilient company and team.

Do you have any thoughts, tips and experiences you can share about letting go of low performers?

#hiring #redundancies #productivity #companyculture