A warehouse worker started at my company about 2 months ago. His role is pick/pack and he is very slow (benchmarked to other employees). I have introduced KPIs but he is consistently not meeting them. Aside from this, he is a great culture fit and has other great qualities (initiative, independence, desire to learn, etc). He is just SO slow in his role even after trying multiple techniques to get him to improve efficiency. I’m often in on weekends to catch up his work. He is always actively working (not on his phone, not chatting) but for some reason just can’t pick up the pace. How do I politely tell him that he needs to hurry up and meet KPIs? He seems to work at one pace no matter how swamped we are with holiday orders. He is somewhat fragile and emotional so I worry that being blunt will result in hostile feelings.
Do I just let him go?
I’ve dealt with this.
He’s been given KPIs? Has employee acknowledged they move slow and will improve? If yes? Have they improved? If no, do they understand this? Or is there always an excuse.
Some people have only one gear, and it’s slow. Now whether they’re the excuse type or the working on it type, if they understand they aren’t meeting expectations, they’ve gotta go. End of story. It won’t change. Out of 100+ employees over some years, I’ve had maybe 10-15 in this category. 0 improved ever.