How to have a hard conversation with an employee
- Overall review score, percent
- 76
- Competency score, percent of scale
- 76
- Ratings to fill in
- 9
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How to have a hard conversation with an employee: prepare it from the record so it is about an instance and not an impression, hold it privately and within days, say the behavior and its effect in two sentences, then stop and listen, write down what the employee says, agree what changes and by when, and file the note. That shape is the fairness, and the note is the proof of it. The review template on this site records what was agreed and scores the follow-up, free and without an account; HeadcountDesk Pro keeps the note against the employee.
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From the record
The instance, the date, the result, the standard it missed. From the reviews and the file; not from a colleague's report or a feeling.
Two sentences, then silence
The behavior and its effect, plainly, then the employee's account, in their words, into the note. Most hard conversations go wrong in the third sentence, which is the one that should not be said.
The change and the date
What each side does differently and when it is reviewed. The free review template on this site records the goals agreed and scores the follow-up against them.
The note, filed
Date, what was said, what was agreed. Filed the same day. From the vendors' own pricing pages: Homebase lists Essentials at $24 per location per month billed annually or $30 monthly, with a free Basic plan for one location of up to ten employees; BambooHR lists Core at $10 and Pro at $17 per employee per month; Deputy lists Core at $6.50 per user per month. HeadcountDesk Pro is $24 a month per location.
How to have a hard conversation with an employee: common questions
Should someone else be present?
For a disciplinary step, a witness is usual; for a performance conversation, privacy usually works better. Write the note either way.
How long should it take?
Fifteen minutes is enough when it is prepared; an hour is a sign it was not.
Is the review template free?
Yes, with no account. Pro keeps the note.
Will it do what you need for How to have a hard conversation with an employee?
Tell us what your business needs and we will tell you straight whether HeadcountDesk Pro does it today, whether it is coming, or whether you are better off with something else. A person reads these and replies.