Public Courses
Managing Misconduct & Poor Performance: Practical Strategies for Real Workplace Challenges
Managing Misconduct & Poor Performance: Practical Strategies for Real Workplace Challenges
This public course will provide HR and IR practitioners with a comprehensive and practical foundation in Malaysian employment law and industrial relations principles – empowering them to apply legal knowledge confidently in their daily work and manage workplace issues within legal boundaries.
Course objective
By the end of this course, participants will be able to:
- Spot and address misconduct early before it escalates.
- Apply Malaysian labour laws confidently to protect your organization.
- Differentiate misconduct vs. poor performance and manage each with the right process.
- Design and execute PIPs that drive measurable improvement.
- Avoid common pitfalls that lead to legal exposure or employee disengagement.
MODULES
1. Understanding Workplace Misconduct
- What counts as misconduct: behavioural breaches vs performance gaps
- Minor vs major misconduct: practical examples
- Core principles: intent, reasonableness, proportionality
- Early detection and preventive HR practices
2. Legal Framework & Employer Obligations
- Key provisions of the Employment Act 1955 & Industrial Relations Act 1967
- Section 14(1) dismissals: due inquiry and procedural fairness
- What makes a dismissal “fair” in the eyes of the courts
- Documentation standards that protect the employer
3. Investigating Misconduct
- How to conduct a proper investigation step-by-step
- Collecting evidence: documents, witnesses, digital records
- Rules of natural justice: what HR must observe
- Conducting a Domestic Inquiry: structure, roles, and doʼs & donʼts
4. Managing Poor Performance
- How to identify true performance issues (vs attitude or misconduct)
- Framing the problem: setting clear performance expectations
- Handling difficult conversations with underperformers
- Case studies: Common employer mistakes and how to avoid them
5. Performance Improvement Plans (PIP) that Work
- Key components of an effective PIP
- Setting measurable performance targets
- Monitoring progress and providing feedback
- When a PIP fails: options and next steps
6. Actionable Tools & Templates
- Sample warning letters (misconduct & performance)
- PIP templates and monitoring sheets
- Investigation checklists
- Documentation guidelines for defensible HR decisions
7. Practical Case Studies & Group Exercises
- Real Malaysian case law simplified
- Simulated misconduct investigation
- PIP design workshop
- “You Decide”: participants evaluate employer actions
8. Closing Session: Putting It All Together
- Integrating misconduct and performance management into HR practice
- Ensuring consistency across managers
- Final Q&A and problem-solving clinic
Managing Misconduct & Poor Performance: Practical Strategies for Real Workplace Challenges
This program equips managers and HR professionals with hands-on strategies to tackle misconduct and poor performance head-on. Learn how to navigate legal frameworks, investigate issues effectively, and implement performance improvement plans (PIP) that work. Expect real-world case studies, proven principles, and actionable tools – not theory.
Simplify Your Industrial Relations and
Employment Law Operations
Fill this form and our experts will reach out to you.