10 Steps to an Effective Employee Counseling Experience

Technology has changed the workplace, and yet with all its advantages, managers still need to be prepared to handle face-to-face interactions with employees. One such time this has to happen involves employee counseling. Most managers or supervisors I know would prefer to not ever have to confront employees about poor or unsatisfactory performance issues. 

In my previous HRTools.com Insight, “Don’t Let Employee Performance Go from Bad to Worse,” I explained why procrastinating, or worse yet, completely avoiding the employee counseling process, makes matters worse for everyone. 

When employers and their managers, or supervisors, seek my guidance about what employee counseling steps to take, or wonder what mistakes they should avoid making, here is what I usually tell them: 

1. Resist overlooking the problem by thinking that things will get better.
2. Sit down with the employee and talk to him or her face-to-face.
   • Avoid making generalizations or brief statements about the problem behavior such as, “You are always late to work.”
   • Instead, state the specifics such as “On this date, you came in to work at 8:15 a.m., and you are supposed to be here by 8 a.m.” Then, continue to list all the specifics related to the stated issue. 
   • An employee needs to know exactly what is expected and what it is that he/she is not doing because oftentimes the employee is unaware that he/she is doing anything wrong.
3. Treat all employees consistently and fairly. I’ve seen it happen where some managers treat one group of employees differently than they do another group of employees. For instance, they might “overly” counsel one group; and then come across as friendlier to another group. They may even go so far as to overlook some problem behaviors that prompted counseling for another group of employees. It cannot be stressed enough to treat all employees in an unbiased and consistent manner. Such an approach is not only considered a human resources best practice, but it also helps avoid potential legal ramifications.
4. Maintain a firm and respectful tone—and one that is neither too harsh nor too lenient. This is a very important point. You want to maintain a level of professionalism and make sure your verbiage and tone are in concert with the offense(s). Focus on the behaviors and always treat the employee with dignity, as you never want anyone to feel as though he/she is not valued as a person. Keep in mind the following:
   • If you perceive that the counseling session might escalate to a difficult level, it’s usually best to have another manager present.
   • If you see that the employee is reacting in an overly emotional and unprofessional manner, it’s usually best to postpone the discussion for another time when the conversation can be held calmly.
5. Stay on topic and don’t lose control of the conversation, especially if it’s someone with whom you haven’t developed the best rapport. Sometimes, the employee who is being counseled can be very strong-willed, and, if not careful, the manager can end up allowing the employee to take over the conversation. Instead, the manager needs to maintain control by sticking to the topic and not allowing the conversation to go off into ‘bunny trails.’
6. Make sure you document what was said during the conversation with the employee. You will also want to date and sign it, although usually at this point it isn’t necessary to give documentation copies to the employee. 
7. Ask another manager to review the documentation if you want a second opinion.
8. Place any documentation materials in the employee’s file for the record.
9. Provide follow-up written counseling information to the employee if and when needed.
10. Follow up with the employee, and in a timely fashion, to find out if there have been any improvements made. It’s really poor form to check on the employee six months later. Instead, you will want to keep a close eye on his or her progress, and you will want to have regular follow-up conversations. After these follow-up conversations, you will want to add this information to the documentation, which you are adding to the employee’s file.                                                                                                           

As a final thought, it’s always helpful to put yourself in the employee’s shoes. He/She may be frightened and react defensively. This is not the time to browbeat or berate the employee into submission. Counseling sessions are intended to serve the purpose of helping the employee improve his or her performance. You want the employee to know that you care about him/her, as well.

Most managers or supervisors I know would prefer to not ever have to confront employees about poor or unsatisfactory performance issues.