Every manager reaches a point where one employee is consuming a disproportionate amount of time, energy, and organizational goodwill. The employee may be producing acceptable work but creating friction with colleagues. They may be missing expectations despite multiple conversations. They may be resistant to feedback in ways that are affecting team morale.
How you handle this situation matters — for the employee in question, for the team watching, and for the legal protection of your business.
Before escalating, make sure the employee has been given clear, specific, documented expectations. "We need better communication" is not a standard someone can be held to. "Response to internal emails within 24 hours during business days" is. If clear expectations have not been set and documented, that is the first step — not a performance improvement plan.
Every performance-related conversation should be documented in writing and shared with the employee. This does not need to be a formal warning letter. It can be a brief email summary of what was discussed and what was agreed. The documentation creates a record that the conversation happened and establishes that expectations were communicated.
A PIP is appropriate when informal coaching has not resulted in change and you need to give the employee a structured, time-bound opportunity to meet expectations with clear consequences. A well-written PIP specifies the performance gap, the expected standard, the timeline for improvement, the support the company is providing, and the consequence if improvement does not occur.
One person who consistently violates norms — arriving late, responding dismissively to feedback, creating conflict — signals to everyone else that the standards are not real. Taking visible (if not detailed) action on performance issues reinforces that the standards apply equally to everyone.
Letting difficult situations linger is a management decision. It just doesn't feel like one. Every week a performance problem goes unaddressed is a week the behavior is being implicitly permitted.
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