Our Employment Law Team has extensive experience advising both employers and employees on all aspects of performance management.
Understanding Performance Management
Performance management is a continuous process that involves setting expectations, monitoring progress, providing feedback and developing employee capabilities. Effective performance management aligns individual performance with organisational goals and ensures legal compliance.
Performance Management is widely used to assess how employees are carrying out their roles, with the ultimate aim of contributing to the overall goals of the business or organisation.
The idea being that if all staff are performing to the standard required of their roles, the organisation is more likely to succeed.
About Performance Management
Performance management may have both positive or negative connotations depending on the intention behind its use. From a positive perspective, businesses and organisations may use performance management to encourage employees to ‘raise the bar’ – perhaps by improving the efficiency, processes, speed, knowledge and quality of the work they do.
From a less positive standpoint, managers may use a strategy of placing enormous indirect pressure on individual employees with a view to forcing them to make the decision to leave. By managing performance in a way that is deliberately intended to make an employee feel undervalued and ineffective in their role, some employers believe that workers can be ‘managed out’, but they themselves will remain within the law. But by doing so, the employer may be in breach of employment law having carried out an act of constructive dismissal.
Legal Considerations in Performance Management
In Ireland, employers must adhere to fair procedures when managing performance issues. This includes:
Providing clear performance expectations and regular feedback
Implementing Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs) with specific goals and timelines
Allowing employees the right to representation during formal meetings
Documenting all steps taken during the performance management process
Failure to follow fair procedures can lead to claims of unfair dismissal or constructive dismissal.
Performance Management Programme: What It Is and Why It Matters
A Performance Management Programme is a structured framework used by organisations to monitor, assess and enhance employee performance over time. It includes setting clear objectives, providing regular feedback, addressing underperformance and recognising achievement — all aligned with the organisation’s goals and culture.
When implemented correctly, a performance management programme can deliver measurable benefits across your business:
Improve staff motivation by recognising and rewarding strong performance
Ensure employees are aligned with organisational objectives
Maintain and raise performance standards and service quality
Promote professional development and upskilling
Increase employee engagement and retention
Identify and address poor performance in a fair and constructive way
Successfully delivering such a programme requires not only expertise in employment law, but also an understanding of human behaviour. At Lavelle Partners, we help organisations implement performance strategies that are not just legally sound — but also psychologically informed and tailored to promote long-term team confidence and high performance.
Our Expertise in Performance Management
Our Employment Team are highly experienced in advising both employers and employees in regard to performance management matters and constructive dismissals. We have developed an enviable reputation for providing legal excellence and empathetic support for our valued clients.
We understand the emotional impact of uncertainty in relation to unfair performance management and constructive dismissal and will handle your case with the utmost empathy and determination to defend your rights.
Multi-Disciplinary Support for Performance Management
Performance management issues don’t exist in a vacuum — they often intersect with wider business, legal and compliance concerns. At Lavelle Partners, our full-service structure means we provide clients with strategic support that extends beyond employment law, by drawing on the expertise of related practice areas:
Corporate & Commercial – Supporting employers in implementing performance processes during business transitions, such as mergers, acquisitions and restructures, where changes in management or culture may impact employee performance.
Litigation & Dispute Resolution – Advising on and defending disputes arising from performance-related dismissals, employee grievances or alleged breaches of fair procedures under employment legislation.
Data Protection & Privacy – Ensuring your organisation’s performance review systems and employee data-handling processes are compliant with GDPR and other privacy obligations — particularly when tracking productivity or behavioural data.
This integrated approach allows us to provide employers and employees with comprehensive, pragmatic advice when navigating the complexities of performance-related issues in the workplace.
Our Partnership with Talbot Pierce
Lavelle Partners work with Talbot Pierce Consulting to provide a seamless service in respect of Human Resource Management.
Talbot Pierce are a team of specialist HR professionals who work with us on a range of matters including advice on and delivery of conflict/dispute resolution solutions, best-practice HR strategies, policies and procedures.
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