Based on the provided process data, we can identify several root causes for the performance issues in the declaration approval workflow. Here are the key factors to consider:

1. **Approval Rejections**: A significant number of declarations are being rejected at various stages (e.g., by Supervisors, Administration, Budget Owner, Pre-Approver, and Employee themselves). These rejections likely cause bottlenecks and delays in the process. The reasons for these rejections should be analyzed to understand if they are due to errors in the declarations, lack of information, or stringent approval criteria.

2. **Frequency of Rejections**: Certain roles (e.g., Supervisors) have a higher frequency of rejecting declarations, which indicates that they might be applying strict standards or there could be underlying issues with the declarations being submitted.

3. **Multiple Rejections**: There are instances where declarations go through multiple rejection cycles before either being approved by the same person or escalated to a different approver. This suggests that the approval process is not straightforward and may require additional clarification or correction by the submitter, which can lead to delays.

4. **Approval Patterns**: Some employees seem to have a smooth approval process (e.g., frequency = 10, performance = 2054847.800), while others experience significant issues (e.g., performance = 71336.875). Understanding why there is such variability among employees could reveal process-related issues or differences in how declarations are prepared and submitted.

5. **Lack of Pre-Approval**: There are cases where declarations are submitted multiple times without being pre-approved (e.g., "DECLARATION SUBMITTED by EMPLOYEE -> DECLARATION REJECTED by PRE_APPROVER -> DECLARATION REJECTED by EMPLOYEE"). This could indicate a need for a more robust pre-submission review process to catch errors before they reach the main approval workflow.

6. **Absence of Key Roles**: In some instances, the absence of a key role (e.g., "MISSING: Supervisor Approval") can cause delays or even prevent the declaration from moving forward. This suggests that role coverage is critical and that there may be a need to ensure all necessary approvers are available.

7. **Process Complexity**: The complexity of the process, as indicated by the number of steps and potential for rejection, could be contributing to delays. Streamlining the process or automating certain aspects where possible could improve efficiency.

8. **Training and Guidelines**: There might be a lack of consistent training or clear guidelines for approvers, leading to inconsistent decision-making. Standardizing training and providing clear criteria for approval decisions could help reduce the variability in performance.

9. **Data Validation**: Implementing data validation checks before submission could catch errors early and prevent unnecessary rejections and rework.

10. **Communication Between Parties**: There may be a lack of effective communication between the parties involved, leading to unclear submissions or misunderstandings that result in rejections. Improving communication channels and clarifying expectations could help.

To address these issues, consider the following actions:

- Conduct a root cause analysis for each type of rejection to understand why they are occurring.
- Analyze the variability in performance between employees and investigates whether it's due to process understanding, document preparation quality, or other factors.
- Implement a robust pre-submission review process to minimize errors reaching the main workflow.
- Standardize training and approval criteria to ensure consistency across all approvers.
- Consider automating parts of the process where feasible to reduce manual effort and errors.
- Review the effectiveness of communication channels between different roles in the process and improve as necessary.
- Monitor and analyze performance metrics regularly to identify trends and address issues proactively.