Every business will inevitably have at least a few underperforming employees. But as much as that’s true, it doesn’t mean you should accept it. Instead – it falls to you to figure out how you can help them improve and raise their performance levels.

Want to know how to do that? Here are 5 tips that will help:

• Monitor and track employee performance levels

By using an employee monitoring program such as Controlio you can track employee performance levels. This will give you data so you can identify employees who are underperforming and pinpoint possible reasons why their performance is low.

If you want you can use Controlio to check if employees are distracted, not working sufficient hours, or even use its productivity score to see when it falls off. Keep in mind that this data will be useful even after you take the initiative to help underperforming employees as it will let you check whether they’ve made an improvement.

• Set clear expectations and goals

Make sure your employees are aware of exactly what you expect of them and what goals they need to hit. It is best the goals you set are clearly-defined, and quantifiable both you and your employees can track the progress that is being made.

• Meet with employees regularly

Arrange to have check-in meetings with underperforming employees on a regular basis. These meetings will give you the opportunity to talk about their progress, and make adjustments to your plans. It will also let them talk about any issues they may be facing, so you can find a solution together.

Generally it is best to conduct these meetings face-to-face, but if that isn’t possible you may want to try video conferencing or collaboration tools.

• Acknowledge and recognize employee achievements

Positive reinforcement can definitely help to motivate underperforming employees. Make it a point to acknowledge their progress, celebrate any small wins, and recognize their achievements. If you want you could even find a way to reward them if they make exceptional progress.

• Provide training and coaching

Sometimes employees may be underperforming because their skills simply aren’t up to scratch or need updating. If that is the case, you should try to provide them with training or coaching of some kind so that they are able to learn what they need.

Not only will this help to improve their performance levels, but employees are far more likely to feel valued if you invest in them.

By this point you should have a decent idea of some of the ways that you can help underperforming employees to improve themselves, and in doing so – improve the work they do. Although it will require you to invest time and resources, the fact is that it will help to improve your businesses bottom line.

At the end of the day if you notice any employees whose performance levels aren’t up to scratch – it is far better to work towards improving it than to penalize them for it instead.