hello everyone and welcome to this webinar my name is Ray McCall and today in this session I'm presenting a an overview of developing a performance Improvement plan now this uh topic directly aligns with uh units related to Performance development or Performance Management in our suite of Human Resources programs whether that be certificate IV uh diploma or Advanced diploma of Human Resources management each of those relevant programs have a unit related to Performance development and Performance Management uh into which as I say this particular topic uh actually fits um I've also just recently facilitated the a session on developing a professional development plan and what's quite different in terms of focus both of these webinars correlate in terms of the types of plans that you would use use in a performance developmental Performance Management situation as is the case with these webinars they're designed to provide insights into subject matter areas uh relating to your program and to certainly assist we're relevant in the the completion of relevant assessment tasks so that said as I always comment at this time uh my goal and hope is also that they'll provide the appropriate insights that you can add to your professional toolkit from an HR Business Partnership perspective in this regard so with that said an overview of where we're going in this particular webinar I'm wanting to start out by providing a general overview of the concept of what we're talking about when we're referring to a performance Improvement plan minor deviation then but I'm wanting to introduce it in light of some recent um Court decisions federal court of Australia and also the fair Work Commission uh associated with performance Improvement plans and I'm wanting to examine the concept of reasonable management action as it appears in the fair work act and how it's been variously interpreted by the courts and Commission in respect of performance Improvement planning and and in doing that um highlighting certainly practical tips to ensure that what you're doing is best practice that it is uh fair and reasonable and won't land you in court on an adverse action claim then uh stepping through the key steps associated with performance Improvement planning and then ending with a review of a sample performance Improvement plan format and the format that I've chosen in this instance is the one recommended by the fair work Ombudsman and is available and obviously being a template provided by the fair work Ombudsman is certainly considered within the the realm of best practice from the point of view of managing underperformance as it were before I go on to discussing the subject matter relevant to this particular webinar I just also like to flag a number of other uh three in this instance as you see on the screen existing webinar recordings that will provide additional uh information around relevant subject matter area the first one listed entitled understanding Performance Management and Performance Management Systems is very much a a Capstone style webinar which provides a general overview of the nature and scope of Performance Management and performance development from an organizational perspective so in terms of being able to get a feel for the gamut of of what the the function the HR function relates to and therefore into which area this particular subject matter developing a performance Improvement plan or pip as it's a commonly referred to uh it actually fits given the performance Improvement plan as the name suggests is about improving a person's capability you may be involved in as part of it undertaking a training needs analysis for the relevant team member or employee and also deciding on some Learning and Development or training interventions or Solutions and in that regard I refer you to the two other existing webinar recording links the first one training Learning and Development what's the difference again getting an understanding across those three uh broad conceptual areas and then the Practical focused one the latter one they're listed in on the screen undertaking a training needs analysis so again additional resources available to you to assist from the point of view of broadening the scope of your understanding in this relevant subject matter area but with that said let's now move to to the purpose of this webinar and start talking about the idea of the performance Improvement plan and we tend to associate the concept of a pip in terms of disciplinary procedures or managing underperformance as it were but if we step back and and discuss what we're talking about we're talking about the document or the tools that identifies an issue so it sets out what is a performance issue in in respect of a team member and what they need to do to actually prove uh improve uh the the discrepant um Gap the performance Gap as it were the second bullet point there is saying it's a tool to give an employee with performance deficiencies so the Gap that I talked about the opportunity to succeed and all the while providing very clear expectations for an improvement outcome with details of what will be the consequences if the required performance expectations are not actually met so overall it's it's a document that helps employees understand um their skills and the skills requirements of job roles it identifies the gaps the gaps from that Performance Point of View and sets the very clear expectations in terms of the performance with a strategy to Aid the development of the requisite skills or to address the requisite Gap as I say typically used when an employee is failing to meet John job expectations and for that reason then it's not a one-size-fits-all approach in terms of developing a performance Improvement plan each performance Improvement plan is unique to the needs of each employee and the circumstances that is designed to address and for that reason it's collaboratively developed certainly directly between the manager supervisor and the employee themselves and often in collaboration or partnership from a business point of view with the relevant HR department and HR practitioners or specialists in in this regards so then moving on what should a uh an effective performance Improvement plan look like or what should it be actually doing and if we go through the ideas represented on the screen there um it's first and foremost documenting existing performance concerns so an issue has been identified it's been analyzed it's been assessed and the nature and scope of the issue is is clearly delineated so if it's something that's documenting and addressing a performance concern with a team member like I said it's typically collaboratively or encouraged to be collaboratively developed so therefore it's encouraging constructive dialogue not only from the point of view of its uh uh constructive uh Rapport between the team member and the um manager or supervisor team leader whoever's in that um uh line of responsibility but constructive in the sense of what designing it to improve the performance to improve the capability of the team member it's not from a penalty point of view or penalizing perspective it's to afford appropriate opportunity to allow the person to grow and to be able to successfully equip themselves of the role that they're in so again taking it from a very constructive perspective it needs to offer solutions to the identified issues it's not just sufficient to acknowledge that there's a problem or a gap or a deficiency in terms of performance but an effective performance Improvement plan will actually detail agreed interventions and I use the word interventions or solutions that will enable the issue to be addressed so it's Solutions oriented it's action oriented it's constructive in nature and it's dealing with an identified um and and have thoroughly analyzed performance issue it's designed as a support tool it's an enabling tool it's enabling an employee who is underperforming or underachieving in terms of their roles providing that support with with clear actionable steps so things that uh agreed between the parties that will be done with constant monitoring and review to ensure that those steps are in fact all fulfilled so it's a support tool so you're getting the the feel now that whilst we tend to associate performance Improvement plans with uh the sphere of discipline or underperformance but it is very much a positive constructive proactive tool to address the relevant concerns rather than a tick the Box um step in a process to terminate an employee you're going into the design deployment monitoring and review of a performance Improvement plan with the Improvement element clearly emphasized that an effective plan will essentially provide the employee with a very clear understanding and not only the understanding the road map as we said in the previous point the actionable steps so it's a clear road map on how to improve their performance with the ultimate goal of not turn terminating an employee but rather retaining the employee and thereby fostering a positive work culture and minimizing staff turnover um as as in the Contemporary environment the Contemporary labor market certainly a tight labor market from the talent point of view the last thing that an organization can afford to do is lose capable Talent so anything that you're doing uh to reduce turnover and increase retention is is desirable in this regard and and appropriately couched by performance Improvement plan will achieve that outcome and essentially in line with the solution and the intervention it's outlining additional training that the employee needs may need um even further to improve their work performance so some key takeaways there that for Effectiveness it needs to be Improvement focused very clear guidelines in terms of how to achieve the desired outcome with the appropriate support and and constructive mindset surrounding its design and implementation so from flipping that around if we look at some of the things that performance Improvement plan is not designed to do or be as it were and I've already flagged one and it's probably the the critical one is that it should never be used as a tick to box exercise on the uh journey to terminate an employee as it were so that you're going with the mindset of okay I need to show appropriate due diligence was Trot out of performance Improvement of plan so then I can tick the box and say that there were commissioned did everything that I could feasibly do and therefore justifies the the termination so again it needs to be uh genuine in terms of providing and affording the Improvement opportunity to enable um a success of the team member when there's personality misalignment so again from the point of view of you're the manager and you just don't get on with the team member Pips aren't designed to solve personal issues between employees and managers for example Pips need to be um designed and deployed at the very first instance when a performance issue is first flagged so you're not leaving an issue for a substantial period of time totally unaddressed because by doing that your behaviors uh is uh actually can be interpreted as condoning the underperformance as it were and again you're not using performance Improvement plans in cases of serious misconduct as it were so there are some limitations from a conception point of view in terms of the whys and wherefores of using an improvement plan but as I say if we stay Resolute with the idea that it's a document that is designed to set very clear expectations of what the performance standards are where the Gap is what interventions and supports are going to be provided over what time frame with what monitoring and review to ensure the performance Improvement and the overall address or elimination of the the underpinning performance issue and again mindful that it is a one-size fits one approach you're truly zeroing in on what the performance issue is with the particular worker um with whom you're developing a performance Improvement plan I said at the outset that um it's it's quite topical from a legal point of view and I just want to flag at this stage and it does relate to the use of performance Improvement plans the concept of reasonable management action um within the fair work Act Ive of reasonable management action takes in respect of Performance Management or disciplinary processes and it refers to those processes that are carried out fairly transparently and justly and again um in terms of familiarizing with if we talk about unlawful dismissal making sure that it's not unjust harsh or unreasonable employer you have the right to take appropriate management action and make appropriate management decisions in the eyes of the fair work act you have the right to make necessary decisions to respond to poor performance you have the right to take disciplinary action if necessary to effectively direct and control the way work is carried out and to give fear and constructive feedback on an employees or team members performance that said what weather management action is actually deemed reasonable depends on and this is what comes out of the various decisions one the circumstances that led to and created the need for the management action who the manner in which the management action is taken and three the consequences that followed the management action so in terms of talking about this concept of reasonable management action a decision excuse me back from 2018 and and it's one that's flagged on the screen there a decision in the case of Blagojevich and AGL Macquarie and Sears Sears is the supervisor at AGL Macquarie the company this was a case where the employee blakevich uh was an asset engineer and he sought an order through the uh their Work Commission to stop AGL Macquarie and the supervisor Sears from alleged bullying so the tying in with bullying and the correlation between um a pip a performance Improvement plan and whether or not uh in its implementation or design and deployment it constituted bullying so there are Provisions um in respect of bullying under Section 789 FD of the fair work act or part 64 B workers bullied at work um and that section actually provides that a worker is bullied at work if an individual or group of individuals repeatedly behaves unreasonably towards the worker and that behavior creates the risk to health and safety however there is supervisor subsection 2 says that that does not apply to reasonable management action carried out in a reasonable manner so if I give you some background on this particular situation the the applicant um he was placed on a pip which focused on his uh essential uh or alleged sorry underperformance in addressing electrical and control issues in the plant which he was expected to manage this included issues with meeting deadlines and revised deadlines Financial inaccuracies and failure to exert pressure on staff so as to ensure deadlines were met prior to this um the the team member had demonstrated what was considered to be an outstanding work ethic and a high-level technical capabilities and received distinctly positive performance reviews in the years before they were placed on a pip a performance Improvement plan what um the climate the the applicant blogovic contended or claimed was this as a result of the alleged bullying by the company by the company and the supervisor in imposing a pitbull name and then revising a pip the risk to his health and safety um became manifest and that was manifested in the form of depression and anxiety he'd been absent from work from October 2017 and has still not returned to work in April 28 when this went to court as it were so there was a link or a claim the person was claiming um that the the PIP constituted bullying and um it was outside reasonable management action that said in terms of the the fair Work Commission it identified that the relevant issues here were whether the decision to introduce the performance Improvement plan pip or to revise it lacked any evident and intelligible justification so it's saying one of the key issues was whether or not the usage of a pip did not have any justification and whether the introduction and implementation of the various versions of the the performance Improvement plan um was carried out in a reasonable manner so what did the court find ultimately the court uh awarded in favor of the employer AGL Macquarie and Sears it's saying it said that in relation to the company and the employer being the the company and the team member the supervisor being aware of the depression and the anxiety that the the team member suffered as a result of the performance Improvement plan the commission was still not satisfied that the continued imposition of the PIP was unreasonable so the commission turned around and said it was still reasonable management action in the circumstances the commission pointed to a number of actions of um AGL that went to the reasonableness of the action they took in designing and implementing a pip a performance Improvement plan and and as I talk you through these think about it what it means to you as a practitioner so the court is saying that these things constitute what what contributed to them ruling that it was a reasonable management action that the organization made inquiries to ascertain whether there are any suitable alternative roles available for the the team member the complainant Blagojevich they made arrangements for the initial pip to be independently reviewed to ensure the objectives were reasonable and achievable so these are things that the the company um on behalf of or in conjunction with the civilizer had done acting slowly throughout the performance improvement process to ensure the applicant understood the requirements of the plan referring the team member to the company's return to work coordinator once it became apparent that their mental health was suffering this involved the return to work coordinator speaking to the treating doctor to obtain information and receiving a treating doctor questionnaire it included removing an area of concern from the plan when it became apparent the plan in this case being the PIP removing an area of concern from the prep would pip when it became apparent that another employee was responsible for the task and also approving the applicant's request for an extended period of annual leave so again going back to the root of what I was saying before one size fits one and mitigating actions undertaken on by the employer went to the um the the basis of what the commission agreed was reasonable management action in the circumstances despite the fact of the resulting depression and anxiety that the employee suffered as a result of um the the claimed being put in place so what the the fair work commissioner ended up saying and explaining in terms of this whole reasonable management action surrounding development and implementation of performance Improvement plans so that management actions do not need to be perfect or ideal to be considered reasonable so that that threshold is not one of perfection a course of action may still be reasonable action even if particular steps are not and I mentioned before that once they found out that another employee was responsible for a certain task the PIP was revised and amended to be considered reasonable the action must be lawful and not be irrational absurd or ridiculous any unreasonableness must arise from the actual management action in question rather than the employee's perception of it so again it's not what the employee perceives of it but it's what actual managers actually do in terms of the design and development and deployment of a pip and consideration may be given as to whether the management action involved a significant departure from policies and procedures established in the organization and if so whether the departure was reasonable in the circumstances so ultimately in terms of the key takeaway from this particular decision is that once the employee claimed or or influenced to the commission to recognize that there was Associated depression and anxiety resulting from being placed on a pit that it was still reasonable management action undertaken by AGL Macquarie so the case ultimately demonstrates that employers should not avoid undertaking Performance Management in the form of um putting people on a pip even where an employee perceives or disputes the necessity to do so so again flag that in your mind in terms of um uh focusing on the idea of reasonable management action and what you need to do as an employer to defend against the claims of adverse action I'll just quickly flag another case a separate case that that actually uh the federal court federal circuit court of Australia ruled in favor of the employee in this case and it's a case of a claimant by the name of pezamenti who um uh claimed against their employer which was royalty Rotary International um and they were an executive um a senior manager in this organization and um ultimately they were awarded a payout in the sum of 205 000 just a little bit above two hundred and five thousand dollars who who successfully bought a successful adverse action claim just a quick snapshot of the background he had been a manager at Rotary International for over 10 years he was dismissed in 2017 full Edge before performance and he subsequently um commenced the adverse actions proceedings against rotary back in uh October 2016 prior to his dismissal he was placed on the performance Improvement plan for a period of four months he made a formal bullying harassment complaint against his supervisor who'd placed him on the PIP um the complaint alleged that the PIP was not being properly implemented and it was for sham it was just a cover-up a tick to box exercise to terminate his employment a series of discussions regarding the performance Improvement plan including one where the supervisor uh said to him that you don't need to go to the extent of putting in a bullying a complaint against him he was then told that there was still one item of the performance Improvement plan that was still outstanding March 2017 fast forward so just over 10 12 days later he completed the the final requirement of the PIP and later provided the supervisor a document identifying the outcomes identifying the achievements against each of the deliverables of the PIP however the supervisor found that he'd failed to meet the deliverables of the performance Improvement plan and then suspended him it's at that stage in early April the pessimenti the complainant commence proceedings to restrain rotary from actually dismissing him um and following the commencements of those proceedings the supervisor and the HR Director went through and then did a review of leave records and their email account and issued him with a show course letter um so calls why his employment shouldn't be terminated for reasons of inaccuracy in his leave records reaching confidence in an email and failing to meet the standards expected of a performance Improvement plan when a person fail to attend the show calls meetings the company rotary terminated his employment so it was then with the adverse action claim um alleging that rotary took a adverse action against him because he made a bullying complaint against his supervisor um ultimately as I'd indicated the outset the the court were awarded in favor of the employee claiming that in terms of the PIP the goal posts of the PIP themselves changed um it was as if president was from that point when they changed the goal post set up to fail and it had an air of artificiality to it as referred to by the presiding judge so in terms of um this particular decision some tips or employers when you're developing and implementing a performance Improvement plan to consider to avoid the likes of these adverse action claims so the tips that the the court highlighted were arranging face-to-face meetings with the employee that you propose to put on a performance Improvement plan and offer them the assistance of a support person as you would be familiar with with any disciplinary or counseling activities that you're engaging in explain the issues that you have with the employees performance or conduct formulate a set of definitive objectives that the employee needs to achieve over a specified period of time ask for the employee's input on the objective make sure to only set objectives for the employee that are achievable within the period of the performance Improvement plan so dimension of realistic finalizing the PIP making sure that the parties sign a copy of any minutes or summaries of the meetings and keep records on files regularly monitor employee progress over the nominated period provide the employee with appropriate supporters required throughout the assessment period or the duration of the PIP meet again with the employee at the end of designated assessment periods and determine whether the performance or conduct goals and objectives have been achieved um and if any decision is made with respect to the employee and the PIP limit the number of individuals making that decision as it could mean all decision makers will be required to give evidence in possible legal proceedings which is something that the motor case fell down on because people who are involved in the decision-making weren't available to to provide appropriate evidence so again from a very practical point of view as you listen to me talking through these cases I'm just wanting to accentuate the key takeaways for you as someone in a management or an HR role Who's involved in developing a performance Improvement plan that you're needing to to to be fair transparent just and reasonable in all your actions and those guidelines you can get better and and take away from these various court and commission decision owners so with that said we've got the idea of what a performance Improvement plan is talked about what constitutes Effectiveness indicated things uh that a performance plan should not be doing and then addressed the concept of reasonable management action as it relates to Performance Improvement plans so if you haven't already availed yourself and again I keep coming back and referring to resources of the fieldwork Ombudsman there is the managing underperformance best practice guide and from performance Improvement planning point of view this fits within the recommended Suite of actions to be undertaken in terms of addressing underperformance as it were so if we look through the the checklist and in a moment we'll come back and walk through the fair work ombudsman's template best practice performance Improvement plan template but it's all critically contingent around identifying clearly identifying the performance issues so this involves uh assessing all of the the the circumstances um and and then analyzing and assessing it what is the nature of the problem how serious is the problem how long has it existed what's the gap between What's um expected and what's being delivered at this time you're determining if a pip a performance Improvement plan is actually needed can the performance issue be resolved you'll be asking yourself will the outcome be positive and constructive going back to those flagged points in terms of what constitutes an effective uh performance Improvement plan so with that uh done you're then meeting the employee again offering appropriate support to them but making sure that there is the appropriate meeting to clearly describe the problem and refer to specific examples explaining the impact on the business explaining the outcomes that you want from the initial meeting giving the employee absolutely an opportunity to respond and give you their view of the situation procedural fairness natural Justice is critical in these stages and that's another existing webinar that I'd refer you to a separate recording link around what constitutes and how to ensure employment of practices of natural Justice and procedural fairness so the the hearing rule the right to be heard the right to be excuse me have a situation adjudicated as it were without bias based on all of the evidence so in terms of the the meeting giving the employee the opportunity to respond and listening and asking questions to understand their response to the problem and why the underperformance potentially is occurring and it's at this stage then that in the event that um the performance Improvement plan is a viable option that you're collaboratively developing drafting the performance Improvement plan which involves not only documenting the solution the intervention that's going to be put in place the support mechanisms the time frames the monitoring and review methodology that will ensure that it all stays on track and the the overarching goal from the performance point of view is ultimately achieved and from there with implementation over the defined period I referred to the assessment period a moment ago when I was talking from the law case point of view you're engaging in constant monitoring and reviews you're scheduling regular check-ins to ensure that it's on track and able to be achieved and fulfilled with the desired outcomes within the specific or the specified deadlines or time frame so it's not a set and forget it's a collaborative uh development of the document with appropriate um Solutions and interventions appropriately supported and resourced within a realistic feasible time frame constantly monitored and reviewed uh and then follow-up meetings with agreement in terms of fulfillment of the objectives so with that said let's then cast our I over the form recommended as the template or proposed as the template by the fair work ombudsman and this is downloadable from the fair work Ombudsman website um in the repository with all of the tools and and resources one part of which is actual templates if they work Ombudsman articulates in terms of documenting is what you see here and this is a multi-page document and and depending on the nature and scope of performance Improvement needs and objectives um it will certainly reflect in terms of length and content of information each of those individual performance Improvement objectives so up front the details who's it for so again clearly specifying who is the subject of the performance Improvement plan what's their position in level in terms of uh the the role the wage classification who are they reporting to what's the manager's name what's the manager's position the date of the plan so again making sure that everything is clearly documented and specifically documented and when it says date of The Plan full date making sure that from a legal point of view because again this potentially uh has legal consequences or will be used in in a court of law that all of the relevant detail needs to be in place what's the period of the plan before again I use that expression assessment period what's the duration when's it going to start when's it going to end is it starting the same day as the date of the plan or is it you know the employer going on leave for two weeks and then coming back and a start date in two weeks time again be specific don't just assume everything collaboratively agree negotiate and agree but specifying winds are going to start when's it going to end again mindful that what you're going to achieve within that period is feasible and it's flagged there you're typically looking at a six to eight week period so these are short-term documents these are not your 12-month professional development plans these are short-term interventions to address identified under performance issues you're then flagging interim review dates and final review date so firstly interim check-in what dates are we having check-ins how many check-ins are we going to have over the period are we going to be doing weekly check-ins and if they're weekly we specify the date on which each of those reviews will take place again one size fits one all of the relevant details are Incorporated so that it is black and white it is reasonable to everyone and anyone including a third party if you're referring it to a third party for objective analysis they can say that yep you've done due diligence in making sure that everything is transparent what then is the final review date what is the end date um aligned review date are we doing it before the end date and it's typically recommended that you're doing it in the lead up to the end date not leaving it till the 12th hour on the last day itself so the snapshot in terms of who it's for who's the supervising Authority what's at State what's the duration when is it going to be reviewed with what frequency and when is the final review going to take place from there zeroing in on the performance Improvement objective and as I said at the outsets you're needing to take each performance Improvement objective separately in one of the cases that I referred to earlier we talked about four individual Improvement objectives in that case all of the content of what I'm about to talk through would be repeated four times each separately for each specified objective you're not clustering everything together clamping it all together you're distinguishing differentiating and making very clear what the issues are and what each and what the objective is for each of the relevant issues so again you're providing a description as it says at the bottom there under the performance objective review you're writing in the objective so what is the outcome what what's this plan designed to do when you're writing objectives you're writing them in smart specific measurable achievable realistic and time-bound manner as I always say whenever I mentioned smart we tend to all agree that yeah we know what it is it's thrown around very cliched but the challenge of actually writing uh robust smart objectives is much more difficult than people give credit for so you're clearly articulating that objective in smart format and you're then describing the area in which the employee's performance needs to improve so you're providing a clear description of what the performance Improvement relates to so you'll clearly identifying um not only what the area is but what the The Benchmark is for acceptability within the workplace always think about it from the point of view of that third party independent adjudicator looking at your pip and being able to make sense of it and saying that it's reasonable it's fair uh in all the circumstances having defined the objective and described the performance Improvement area you'll then specifying the required outcomes so what do you what will be the tangible deliverables what at the end of the review period will be the observed behaviors for example what what will we see the employee doing or being able to do to demonstrate the positive outcome the positive result from engaging in this performance Improvement plan in terms of required outcomes and as it says here on the screen describe what the employee needs to do to improve their performance to the required standards the required outcomes should be specific measurable and realistic in most cases the required outcomes should be described as a measurement of quality quantity or timeliness so what will they be able to do what will we see what behavioral pattern uh it will be evidenced how are we going to do it so if that's the outcome we've got the objective with a description of the performance area we've got the specific outcomes within the duration of the plan what strategies are we going to put in place to enable the employee to meet the required um outcomes so here you're talking about all of um the the the tools the techniques the methodologies the approaches that need to be implemented in terms of the intervention or the solution with what support so outside of the strategies these are the things that we're directly going to do with and for you as the team member what support is management of the organization going to provide the the team member to meet the required outcomes so what additional activities what additional resources are going to be put towards fulfillment of uh activities within this performance Improvement plan so you'll see here some examples your manager will provide you with Professor training on the order software so it's not the the focus strategy it's not the focus intervention but you're going to get some refresher training around a particular subject matter area you're going to have weekly um progress feedback meetings that's a form of support So needing to very clearly articulate what additional support will be provided outside of the actual intervention or strategy associated with the solution to ensure that optimal success is achieved so again let's go back with to articulated the objective we've specified the required outcomes we've indicated what the strategies for achieving that are what are the interventions what support is going to be provided now the last two rows of information for each objective are what you now see on the screen responsibility and consequences so who's going to be doing what so here in responsibilities you're clearly distinguishing between all of the parties who are involved in the implementation and the ultimate progress and finalization of the performance Improvement plan so here employee the manager and any other relevant parties and like I said when I was going through the decision uh from the the legal case minimizing the number of parties actually involved in the performance Improvement plan is a recommended practical tip so who's going to be involved and what are they actually responsible for so it's non-negotiable it's clear to anyone as to who was responsible for doing what for the duration of this particular plan and then the ultimate section are con specifications of consequences here as prompted describe the consequences if the employee does not meet the required outcomes by the final review date so here in the example it's saying if without reasonable excuse you don't achieve you'll be given a final written warning so again specifications from a disciplinary procedure for example or it could be that if don't meet by the final review date um that that you will renew revise or renew the tip for a further extended period off again you need to be very clear again from those I ideas of being if fair and transparent no artificiality about the document at all so now for each performance Improvement objective we've defined in a smart manner the objective we've specified the required outcomes uh under fulfillment of that objective we've identified the strategies or the interventions the solutions that are going to be implemented we've specified what support including resources that are going to be provided to enable the employee to fulfill their obligations under the performance Improvement plan we've clearly articulated the responsibilities of all of the stakeholders involved within the delivery of the performance Improvement plan mindful that it's best to limit the number of people involved and clearly highlighted or indicated what will be the consequences of failing to meet the required outcomes within the assessment period or within the defined duration of the plan those are the key elements and then if you cast your eyes to the bottom of the form this is where we then go into repetition the if there are two three four multiple objectives under a performance Improvement plan we separately Identify and discuss and describe those according to all those categories of information successively at the end of all of that signing off managers signing it employees signing it again the key stakeholders associated with the performance Improvement plan any other stakeholders roles and and sign off details would then need to be added for example if it is human resources you would put the human resource manager signature name and date or department head the department of head title incumbent's name and the date but it's not ending there there are provisions for ongoing assessments so corresponding to what you've got as interim and final review sessions you've got opportunities respectively for the manager and the employee to assist so as an an adjunct two prior to and as a result of uh the interim review meetings and the final review meetings you see here the employee has the opportunity to articulate how they believe they've performed against each of the objectives with additional comments and signed off with a response by the manager responding to the same criteria how is the employee performed what's the outcome any other additional comments so uh again a very detailed document that will stand up uh to anyone reviewing it and recognizing that it clearly specifies all required information and with that said that then brings to an end today's webinar um yes we could go into a lot more detail in certain aspects but unfortunately we're limited for time and with that said I will give you some reference to some additional reading resources that can certainly enhance and supplement your understanding and familiarity around the subject matter of performance Improvement plans but for the purpose of of this webinar we started out by looking at what a performance Improvement plan is what it is and what it's not and what are the characteristics of an effective performance Improvement plan I then introduced elements under the fair work act and Decisions by the federal circuit court of Australia and the fair Work Commission highlighting how pipsal performance Improvement plans can get caught up in adverse action claims and where under the fair work act particularly where there's claims of bullying associated with the imposition of a person that a performance Improvement plan the concept of reasonable management action what it involves and how it stands up and what the the takeaways are for a manager from a practical point of view I then looked through in conjunction with the managing underperformance best practice guide from the fair work Ombudsman key steps associated with the performance Improvement planning process and then spent the latter part of the session talking you through the key components of the sample Fair work Ombudsman performance Improvement plan template as I mentioned a moment ago I leave you with a suite of additional readings that uh again are available on a dip into Power basis for you firstly on this screen you'll see a suite of six uh additional sources around performance Improvement plans and planning at a general level so uh uh tying in with the legal cases the first one there is an article about when is the pit bullying or adverse action so giving you some more insights in that regard what does a good performance Improvement plan look like how being able to write a pip that really works creating a pip and how to establish so again some some skills there some technical skill related insights in terms of constructing a food for purpose performance Improvement plan and in the final slide here I'll leave you with a suite of an additional five sets of resources this time templates and tools um templates and guides guides to assist in um the completing the the templates provided as well as uh checklist Queensland government performance Improvement chair plan checklist which is quite an effective tool to have to guide you through the performance Improvement planning process and then a whole Suite from the Australian Industry Group of tools and templates associated with Performance Management so again uh additional resources at your disposal in conjunction with the various existing webinar recording links that I flagged that will certainly all contribute to the ongoing development of your Knowledge and Skills in this area as I always say at this time if there are questions arising from this particular session please don't hesitate to reach out to me by email I'm contactable on my email account at ray.mccallmcco L at lettraining.com or alternatively you can connect with me via our office the lit training office Sydney based telephone number zero two nine six double three three nine two nine alternatively if I don't happen to be your trainer and assessor and you're wanting to reach them again connect through that sydney-based telephone number or alternatively through their personalized email address or alternatively there is always our Administration and student support team available to assist you in not only connecting you with your trainer and assessor but being able to assist with any issues you may be having or or in associated with setting up a time for a conduct of a required role play as part of a practical project so with that I bring to an end this webinar I trust as I always do that it has been as insightful um and it provides you practical tips um if and when you're required to develop a performance Improvement plan for and with a team member until we next meet uh in another webinar session stay safe with my best wishes for your continued success bye for now