My low performing employee wants a rise

Dear Caroline,
Recently one of my managers came to my office requesting for a salary rise. Although the points he raised were valid such as the increased cost of  living due to the pandemic, his work leaves a lot to be desired. We have discussed his performance before and we both agreed that he should get it to a decent level that merits salary increment. How do I make it clear that he is not where he should be without upsetting him?   
Tina

Hello Tina,
It can be challenging managing employees’ when their expectations of what salary they would like or feel they deserve are not being met. This is especially difficult when the organisation can’t afford to increase their pay, or if you don’t feel that they deserve the rise that they so eagerly desire.

After an employee requests a rise, it is important to take the time to consider their request and the reasons they believe they should have a pay increase. Your organisation should already have in place a certain level of increased salary over time to compensate for cost-of-living inflation.

Although the pandemic may have further increased cost-of-living for the employee in question, this will be true of many employees. It would therefore be unfair to increase his pay for just that reason. If there are other reasons that they believe they should have a rise, evaluate these to determine whether you believe they are justified.

However, if you do not think that they deserve the pay increase, it is important to make this clear to them. Is there anything that the employee can do to earn that increase, or will he have to accept that it’s simply not going to happen?

It sounds like the issue is that his performance does not meet the standard that would be required for a pay increase. If you have discussed this before but he is asking again for a rise without having sufficiently improved his performance, it may be that your expectations of him are not clear.

You should meet with him to discuss his progress and to explain that you are still not seeing a level of performance that merits a salary increment. Then set specific goals. Go through with him the areas that he is weak in and create measurable targets for him to strive towards.

In the meantime, it may be worth considering other, non-financial means of motivation such as increased recognition in areas that he is doing well in or training opportunities. Such methods of motivation should help increase both his job satisfaction and his performance.

Caroline Mboijana,
Managing Director, The Leadership Team (U) 

[email protected]