Ouch. Why would you ignore inappropriate behavior for over a year?

Yet, we all can get incredibly busy and may like someone enough to ignore potentially damaging behavior, however, this seems to be a lose lose situation.

We have a employee who when she is good, she is exceptionally good; positive and a team player...when she is over reacting we have lost business.

She now works in the office away from the direct contact with customers. Her duties are more in line with her personality and it seems to be working out for everyone concerned.

The steps taken were to simply address the situation, offer work in the office, provide written guidelines that are signed by employee, and move forward with business at hand.

Thanks, FriendBee.

Yes, ideally, feedback is given soon after a manager discovers poor performance.

Unfortunately, research and my experience (and I'm guessing the majority of you all as well--speak up!) point to the opposite.

Do you think the type of work and size of business play into this significantly?

You have the sociologist in me curious:)

Not necessarily. Small and large businesses, profit and non, research and manufacturing, etc. struggle with the same issues around managing poor performance effectively.

Even if the manager in this case worked for very small company (say 50 people), unless his/her own supervisor is an active manager, it's still pretty easy to hide, even in a small company. Easy for the manager to hide--and can be easy for the poor performer to skate along.

There is no magic bullet/answer.

I'm hoping to hear from some others on steps they would take!

Well, one good thing about an entire year having passed is that it certainly is NOT a good idea to slam somebody right away either. Rule of thumb for me: Discipline without relationship = rebellion. If you do not have a relationship with this employee at this time, now is the time to be on hip pocket as much as possible with this individual. Joke and bond and then throw in the direct remarks, at first with light hearted punches. For example: "Step it up a notch, Cecil !" or "Wake up!" Talk to all your employees in this manner when things are not being done satisfactorily so that no one feels singled out.It's important to be clear and direct). Let them know that it's the action (or lack of it) not the person. It is imperative if you do not know this employee very well that you DO keep them on "hip pocket" for awhile and catch them consistently doing what it is that is not satisfactory. This has been proven in law enforcement. It is not the punishment that deters crime so much as it is the surety of being caught. Let them know that you know who they are and what they do. Competition among employees also helps job performance. Rewarding good behavior and work is a vitally necessary step, as well. Finally, if it has been a year, then it is time for an annual review and time to discuss ways of improving and moving passed the "entry level" stage and into the professional stage. Something like, "You have to be a professional to work for XYZ, and although that is tough, we accept no less, especially during a recession. Get to it!" In other words, make it clear what the expectations are and the areas that need improvement, and then encourage them. If they don't begin to improve after all that,it is time to start the counceling process.

Thanks, AnnaPavlova, for adding more thoughts.

Would be great to hear from others . . . feel free to post new discussions as well.

In my experience and what I do as a profession, I would first suggest that that the manager (a) determine the key accountabilities and behaviors for the employee's role (b) have communication to ensure that both employee and manager are on the same page with regards to expectations. By the way, it wouldn't be a bad idea for the manager to have this conversation with all of the employees to ensure that everyone has a clear understanding of their roles and what performance or stellar performance looks like in his/her eyes.

What we have found is that often there are unclear expectations of a role that can impact an individuals ability to perform to standards. Also, there may be some motivation issues related to the role the employee is in. For this, it is important for managers to have development conversations with each employee to determine their aspirations and expectations for today and tomorrow. A co-created development plan can go a long way as long as the manager is there to provide the necessary support that the employee needs.

Employee/manager relationships are co-created and as Anna mentioned, "Discipline without relationship = rebellion". Therefore, it is important that a manager not ignore an individual because they are a poor performer. Often managers will hope that the problem or person will simply go away so that they don't have to engage in a performance conversation. There are multiple aspects of having a productive conversation, all of which begin with ensuring that a relationships exists between the two individuals because like it or not, the relationship has been established from the moment we interact with one another. The quality of that relationship depends on BOTH individuals.