What can you do if your employee does not meet your expectations?

If your employee does not meet your expectations, you have the following options:

• Retraining
• An improvement process
• Another position
• Dismissal with consent
• Dismissal without consent
• Not extending a temporary contract

For some of these options, you must try other options first. For example, when offering another position or dismissal.

Retraining

Does your employee lack certain skills or knowledge? Further training can be a solution. Sometimes you can get subsidies for this. Always check the regulations for retraining and further training.

Retraining can also be part of an improvement process. For instance, your employee contacts many new customers but does not make sales. So you offer them sales training and agree in an improvement plan that the employee will use the training to make a certain number of sales.

Improvement programme

Is your employee doing their job incorrectly, but they do have good qualities? Give them the chance to improve. An improvement process is mandatory. If you do not start an improvement process, a subdistrict court may reject an eventual dismissal request. This is how to get started:

1. Draw up a SMART (Specific, Measurable, Acceptable, Realistic, and Time-bound) improvement plan.
2. Give your employee enough time (think 3-4 months).
3. Offer guidance or coaching.
4. Carry out interim assessments and record reports of these in a file.
5. Also set out all agreements, topics discussed, progress, and feedback in the file.
6. Does the situation not improve? Then investigate whether your employee can do something else within your business.

Include the actions you or your employee takes as part of a personal development plan and evaluate afterwards whether performance is improving.

Another position

Is there no chance of improvement, and is your employee really not suitable for the job? Investigate whether your employee is suitable for another job, possibly with additional training. You must offer a suitable position. That is a job in the same field, the same level, the same working conditions, and the same location. You may want to have an employment lawyer check whether it is suitable. Your employee may refuse a reasonable offer. If they do refuse, you may request dismissal.

Dismissal with consent

Is the employee not suitable for their current position and do you not have a suitable other position? Then dismissal by mutual consent is possible. This means your employee agrees to be dismissed, often in exchange for a transition payment. In this case, you do not need a dossier. You both sign a settlement agreement.

Dismissal without consent

The final option is no contract extension or dismissal without consent. In both cases, this is only allowed after you have discussed their failure to meet expectations with the person several times and recorded this in a dossier. Also, the person must have been given the chance to improve. Note that illness, working conditions, or lack of training are not grounds for dismissal. If an employee has a permanent contract, you may not dismiss them without permission from the Employee Insurance Agency (UWV) or the subdistrict court.

Temporary contract

If your employee has a temporary contract, you do not have to extend the contract, and you can end their employment on the end date of the contract.