Employers should handle staff performance the right way

I read “Surbana’s labelling of sacked staff as poor performers ‘unacceptable’” (Feb 8) and recalled what happened to me in 2011, when I was handling customer service at the regional headquarters of a multinational company.

Throughout the year — in the quarterly reviews or other one-to-one discussions with my manager — I was not informed of my “poor” performance. At the year end, I was appraised as such.

This was also despite the fact that I had been in the company’s top two ratings in all the previous years. I even helped it to save millions of dollars in warranty costs in one country in 2009.

When I raised it with my manager’s superior, he said he agreed with the assessment and saw no need to verify what my manager had told him.

I escalated the matter to human resources at the global HQ. After their investigation, my rating was changed.

While good past performances are no guarantee that an employee will continue to perform well, a sudden drop in performance should trigger an investigation by management. This is how employees’ performances should be managed and measured.