How to… Successfully Use a ‘Performance Improvement Plan’ With Underperformers

To the chagrin of many employers, the chances of being deemed to have fairly dismissed an employee on the grounds of competence or performance are slim. For example, in 2005 the Irish Business and Employers’ Confederation warned its members that dismissal on the grounds of competence ‘is a difficult area to establish’ and ‘usually involves protracted observation and possible fluctuations’.

Recent research undertaken at the Dublin Institute of Technology seems to confirm this warning. From a representative sample of almost 400 dismissals contested before third parties over the 2008-14 period, in just over 5 per cent of cases was performance, performance management or performance appraisal