Fair Performance Conversations When Health Is a Factor

Supporting someone through menopause doesn’t mean lowering the bar. It means managing performance fairly, and that starts with knowing the difference between what you’ve seen and what you’ve assumed.

Get that wrong, and you can lose a strong performer and create legal risk for your organization in the same conversation.

The principle: observations, not assumptions

Before any performance conversation, write down what you’ve seen. Specific, observable and tied to the work.

Observation: “The last two client reports went out after the deadline, and one had errors in the figures.”

Assumption: “She’s not as sharp as she used to be.” “She’s probably winding down toward retirement.” “It must be her age.”

Only observations belong in the conversation and in your notes. Assumptions about someone’s health, age or future plans don’t, even when you mean well. They’re unfair to her, and depending on the facts, they can bring laws like Title VII, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act into play.

Ask before you conclude

Once you have the observations, the first conversation should be a question, not a verdict.

“I’ve noticed the last couple of reports came in late, which isn’t like you. Is anything affecting your work right now?”

That one sentence does a lot. It’s specific. It recognizes her track record. And it gives her the chance to tell you something, or not. If she does, see what to say when someone opens up to you.

Support and expectations can coexist. Being clear about the standard is part of being fair. So is applying it the same way you would for anyone else.

The test of consistency

Here’s a check every manager can run before a performance conversation: would I handle this the same way for a colleague in his 30s with the same results?

If the answer is no, stop and rethink it before you say a word or write anything down.

Why leaders should care

A manager who documents a “decline” without ever asking a supportive question creates two problems at once: a strong performer who feels written off, and a file your counsel won’t want to defend.

Most of the time, a woman whose performance dipped during a hard stretch gets back to her standard with some support and a manager who didn’t give up on her. That’s a strong performer kept and a replacement cost avoided.

This is one principle. Doing it well also takes knowing how to document, when to bring in HR and how to keep it confidential, and your managers need to practice it before the conversation counts. That’s what manager training is for.

So the question for leaders is this: when health and performance meet, do your managers know how to keep it fair?

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Sources

1. US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, “Laws Enforced by EEOC”; US Department of Labor, “Family and Medical Leave Act.”

This article provides general information. It is not legal, HR, benefits, or medical advice.