GUIDANCE MANUAL
Performance MANAGEMENT
Introduction to the Chapter
Performance Management looks at the documentation supplied to employees on occasions of sickness and absence due to holiday, maternity leave and parental leave. This section also covers documentation and suggested procedures relating to poor performance, disciplinary, dismissal, grievance, and redundancy situations.
The second section of this chapter offers practical guidance regarding Performance Development Reviews including preparation, conducting and post review activities.
Sickness Declaration Form (Return to Work after sickness Interview)
If an employee is sick and unable to attend work, he/she should telephone their manager within one hour of their normal start time, and in any case before 9.15am. If the employee is unable to call personally due to the nature of their illness, a spouse or partner should make the call. You should make it clear however that it is not permitted for someone else to make the call each day unless the nature of illness is voice related.
For each subsequent day’s absence, the same procedure applies for a period of up to seven consecutive days absence from work, giving an indication of the likely return to work date. Following seven consecutive day’s absence from work, a Doctors note must be forwarded to the line manager as soon as it is issued. This should then be passed to payroll for appropriate payment to be calculated, and then filed in the employees’ personnel file.
A post sickness interview should be held with all employees after absence, and the Sickness Declaration Form completed in full as soon as the employee returns to work. Employees refrain from taking the ‘odd’ day off if they have to discuss absence with their manager.
If full sick pay is discretionary, it is important that you are fair and able to justify your decision to pay in full or issue SSP. Each employee absence should be taken on its individual merit. Exact details of the company’s sick pay can be found in the Staff Handbook to avoid any possible confusion.
The Sickness Declaration Form should then be forwarded to payroll for processing and then stored in the individuals personnel file.
At the same time as you present the employee with the letter of consent, give them a copy of this access to medical records information which will explain their rights in full.
Absence and Sickness
Listed below is the statement regarding Absence, which appears in the Staff Handbook, an explanation of SSP, and how it is calculated.
IMPORTANT
It should be noted that any period of unauthorised Absence
is a breach of Contract
Every employee must seek prior permission from their line manager or the Dealer Principal before leaving the premises during normal workinghours.
SSP Payments for Sickness
A Sick Pay Policy based upon Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) is paid to the employee by the company on behalf of the State and is subject to PAYE, Tax, and National Insurance Contributions. SSP is not paid for the first 3 days of absence and therefore payment for this period will be at the discretion of the Dealer Principal.
Entitlement to SSP depends on:
1)The number of days of sickness – SSP is paid at a daily rate, which depends on the number of qualifying days in a week. Qualifying days are usually the days of the week you work, but other days may be agreed. The first 3 qualifying days in a period are waiting days and are not paid for
2)Your normal weekly earnings – SSP is earnings related. SSP is paid directly to you through the payroll on behalf of the Department of Social Security for a maximum of 28 weeks of sickness. This will be indicated on your payslip.
3)Proper notification to the company of your absence through sickness
4)Proper provision of medical certificates; this is Company Sickness Declaration for the first seven days of illness and Doctor’s certificate thereafter.
Because of the rules relating to SSP, it is important that all certificates indicate the actual days of sickness, even if there are days that would not usually have been worked i.e. weekends. Further information on SSP can be found in a booklet available from the local Benefits Agency.
Company Sick Pay & SSP
Full sick pay is totally dependent upon the company’s individual policy. Payments for sickness are calculated on basic pay only
No benefit payments will be made (or additional holidays granted) for sickness during annual holiday periods. Each case of absenteeism will be considered on its merit. Absenteeism, which appears to be unreasonable or unwarranted, will not be accepted and may lead to disciplinary action being taken against the employee.
Prolonged Absence – Employee consent form & letter to Doctor to obtain a full
medical report
The company should monitor all absenteeism from work to detect as early as possible if a pattern is emerging from any individual employees. If you detect that an employee is having an unreasonable amount of time off sick including numerous ‘odd’ days off, you should discuss this with the individual and consider a verbal warning against future occurrences. We recommend you seek guidance from the legal advice line before taking any action.
When an employee has been absent from work for a period of six weeks or more (dependant upon the companies individual policy), the company will write to obtain written consent to contact the employees’ doctor to ascertain the nature of illness, expected length of absence and an indication as to whether the employee is able to continue in the same capacity of work. Further action may then be taken if deemed appropriate and the company may seek a second opinion from an independent doctor or specialist. The company pays the standard BMA fee for medical examinations and any additional costs from an independent examination.
Each cased of long-term sickness should be looked at on its own merit, and in all cases of long-term sickness you should seek expert guidance on the best course of action to take. You will find the employee consent form and the letter to the employees Doctor in the Performance Management section of the Toolkit
Holiday Requests (Holiday Request Form)
In order to assist you in forward planning for staff holidays, whilst maintaining productivity, it is important to operate a fair system for holiday leave. A ‘first come first served’ system does not always work as there are some employees who are limited to school holidays, spouse or partners holidays etc. To avoid problems with holiday requests, it is advisable to have a documented policy detailing how holidays should be planned. The Holiday Request Form allows you to agree with your staff the dates of their absence giving you ample time to ensure adequate cover is achieved.
Staff should give you at least four weeks notice of their desired holiday dates, and it is your decision if these dates are to be granted. If the dates clash with another employee, or you know you have a particularly busy schedule at that time, then you should consider asking the employee to re-schedule their holiday, remember; employees should not book any flights etc until they receive full authorisation from you. It is advised that you keep a wall chart for holidays; it will enable you to see at a glance how many people are absent from work during any period of time.
The Holiday Request Form lists the date the request was made length of holiday required, and how many days remain of the holiday allocation. The request is only valid with the signature of the employee and the authorising signature of the manager.
The Holiday Request Form can be stored in the personnel file with only one form used throughout the year to enable a cumulative total to be maintained.
Pregnancy and Maternity
In the event that a member of your team informs you they are pregnant, you should advise the employee of the correct procedure regarding time off for antenatal visits, what payments they are entitled to, and when they need to forward necessary paperwork from their Doctor. You will find some useful information in the Maternity Policy from the Toolkit, alternatively contact your local benefits office or access the DTI’s web site on for further guidance.
Employees’ are entitled to take time off for antenatal and doctors appointments within work time and are paid at the basic rate of pay for these visits. You may wish to request that, wherever possible, appointments be made either early in the morning or late in the afternoon to avoid too much disruption to the particular department and you may insist that the employee returns to work unless the appointment is after 5.00 pm.
We strongly advise you to consider undertaking a risk assessment for health & safety purposes especially if the employee is in a position where she may be exposed to any chemicals or paints etc or where you feel that the working environment may pose a risk to the health of the mother or the unborn child.
Parental Leave (Parental Leave Request Form)
This form is identical in layout to the Holiday Request Form, and monitors the amount of leave being taken under this statutory provision. The employee must give you at least 21 days notice of their intention to take leave. It is permitted to ask the employee to re-schedule their planned time off if coincides with a particularly busy time however you may not postpone for longer than six months, to avoid any issues arising it may be a good idea to state in a company policy when leave is not permitted.
Employees must have one year’s continuous service with the company before any parental leave is due, and only one week is permitted at any one time with a maximum of four weeks in any year. The exception to this is parents of children with disabilities where individual days may be taken. Parental leave is, at present, unpaid. Parental Leave is per child, i.e. parents of twins will receive double the thirteen weeks and so on. If you are in any doubt over parental leave, call the legal advice line for further clarification. Consult the relevant passage in the Staff Handbook for more details on entitlements.
Changes in Terms and Conditions of Employment Form
In the event that an employee is promoted, receives an increase in salary, or has any amendment made to their original Terms and Conditions of Employment, a ‘Changes in Terms and Conditions of Employment’ form should be completed and returned to payroll for the necessary changes to be made to the individuals salary. This form also acts as an ‘addendum’ to the original Contract of Employment and will ensure up to date information is stored relating to the employee. This form should be filed securely in the individuals Personnel File.
The Changes in Terms and Conditions Form should contain full details of the new position or title, a clear instruction as to whether the alteration constitutes a change in notice period or requires a new Job Description and set of Key Result Areas. It is imperative that the signatures of both the line manager and the Dealer Principal are obtained for authorisation of the changes. If the change is, for example, promotion to a management position or to a completely different post, a new contract and job description should be issued. You should also consider a 4-week induction to ensure the employee fully understands their new role.
Employee Resignations
When a member of your staff resigns you should request their intention to leave the company in writing, which should then be filed in the individuals personnel file. The required length of notice will be stated in their Contract of Employment. In most cases the notice period is worked in full and may be extended to enable an appropriate replacement to be recruited and inducted. There are however occasions where it may not be appropriate for the employee to serve their notice, in which case the line manager and Dealer Principal should discuss and agree the options with the employee.
The alternatives may be to pay in lieu of notice, or put the employee on ‘garden leave’ which means that the employee is serving their notice at home with no contact with customers or suppliers until the notice period ends. Employees may ask if they can finish before their notice period ends, as quite often they are eager to start their new job. If this is convenient, then all outstanding monies can be calculated and forwarded up to the date agreed to terminate the contract.
Should an employee fail to arrive for work following their resignation being received, you should point out to the employee that by doing this they are in breach of their contract and may face the risk of this breach being detailed in any future reference requests received on their behalf.
Staff Leaver Form – (balance of monies due upon termination of employment)
This form should be completed directly following the exit interview. The information must be accurate as it determines the final balance of outstanding monies due to the employee and any monies owed to the company. Calculate holiday entitlement to determine whether the employee has taken over the average entitlement on the date of their leaving. If this is the case, they will pay the company the equivalent in money. If on the other hand the employee has not taken their entitlement to date, the company will pay them. This form should then be passed to payroll for a final payment to be made and to enable a P45 to be raised.
Leavers Checklist
When you have an employee leave the business, it can be difficult to remember everything that you need to do before the final leaving date. You will have to calculate all outstanding monies owed, and also remember to collect all keys and other company property which the employee currently has in their possession. The leavers checklist is a simple form which prompts you to do everything thoroughly before the leaving date.
Accident/Incident Report Form
In the event of an accident in a company owned or customer owned vehicle or where an incident occurs regarding an employee, customer or visitor, you should document the details as thoroughly and specifically as you can for future reference. This form allows you to enter exact details of the accident/incident and the signatures of the employee and their line manager must be obtained after a meeting has taken place to discuss the matter fully. This form should be stored in the individuals personnel file.
Business & Private Mileage Log
It is the individual employees duty to record all mileage made in company vehicles in order for the accountant/payroll to calculate and forward to the Inland Revenue for tax coding purposes (P11D). It is also the responsibility of each employee to advise the Inland Revenue personally of the make, model and use of company vehicles to avoid any unpaid tax situations at the end of the tax year. The Mileage Log should be completed by all employees who drive a company vehicle at the end of each week so accurate information is maintained at all times.
Disciplinary and Grievance
(a)Explanation of Disciplinary
The process between employer and employee where an impartial interview is held giving the employee the opportunity to account for his/her actions following either a breach of company policy or procedure, or where performance is consistently below standard. The action taken against the employee is determined by the severity of the offence, and is only decided following an appropriate adjournment time from the disciplinary meeting. In all cases (other than gross misconduct) any action taken should be seen to remedy the situation rather than to punish.
(b)Disciplinary Procedure
(c)
(Disciplinary Interview Summary)
(Verbal Warning Record sheet)
The main purpose of the disciplinary process is to encourage improvement from an employee whose standard of work or conduct is unsatisfactory. In the event that satisfactory improvements do not occur or the misconduct is repeated, further action may be taken which complies with both the company’s Disciplinary and Grievance Procedure, and current employment legislation. It is advised that you give the employee at least 48 hours notice of the disciplinary meeting (call the legal advice line for further guidance), and a letter should be sent to the employee advising them of the meeting time and location, their rights regarding accompaniment at the meeting, stating the reason the meeting is being held, i.e. performance or conduct.
When a difficulty arises, it is important to deal with it promptly and professionally, having gathered all of the relevant facts to decide whether to commence with a disciplinary course of action, or whether counselling or a formal performance review would be more suitable. We strongly advise that you seek expert legal guidance before you take action or have any meetings or conversations with the employee as each situation is different and needs careful handling. The Dealer Principal should be kept informed at all times.