As a business, you need to hold your employees accountable for their actions. Distinguishing between poor performance and behavioral issues can be challenging, though. Take, for example, an employee who never completes their work on time. Are they being insubordinate in their refusal to meet deadlines? Or are they overburdened and simply need help organizing and prioritizing their work? The answer could dictate how you approach the issue in a way that supports your employee, corrects the problem at hand and shields you and your business from allegations of unfair treatment.
This is why it’s a good idea for your business to utilize a progressive discipline structure. Here, you increase the severity of accountability based on each instance of wrongdoing all while giving your employee the tools needed to become a better worker. Of course, if something egregious happens, then you’ll be justified in jumping straight to something like suspension or termination. But otherwise following the progressive discipline structure ensures that your employees are put on notice as to what problematic issues exist and gives your employees time to correct work deficiencies.
The progressive discipline structure
The justification behind a progressive discipline structure sounds good, but what does it actually look like in practice? Here are commonly utilized steps in a progressive discipline structure:
- Verbal warning: For something like a first-time policy violation, a verbal warning should suffice. Here, you simply put the employee on notice of the issue and advise them of how to correct it. Document when the verbal warning was given, being sure to specify when the conversation occurred, the justification for the warning and direction that was given to correct the issue.
- Written warning: If your employee fails to remedy the problem at hand, then you’ll be justified in progressing to a written warning. This warning should clearly detail the policies and practices that have been violated, how they were violated and action steps that must be followed to correct the problem. A written warning should also specify what additional disciplinary steps will be taken if the issue isn’t resolved. Ensure that your employee understands what the document is saying before signing off on it, even if they don’t agree with it.
- Suspension: If verbal and written warnings still aren’t leading to improved performance or corrected behavioral issues, then suspension could be the next step in your progressive discipline. This suspension can be without pay, which impresses upon your employee the importance of their wrongdoing. Again, be sure to clearly document the reasoning supporting the suspension and what is expected of your employee moving forward. At this point, it’s probably a good idea to advise your employee that this is the last step before termination.
- Termination: When everything else has failed to bring your employee in line with your expectations, then termination can be effectuated. By this point, you’ve created a strong record of your attempts to assist your employee in correcting whatever issue is in play, which will decrease the risks of liability stemming from allegations of discrimination, retaliation and wrongful termination. Remember, if your employee does something egregious, then you can jump straight to this step. Otherwise, it’s a good idea to try to follow progressive discipline as much as possible.
Develop a discipline structure that protects your business
You have to be able to hold your employees accountable to ensure that their work meets your standards. But you have to implement discipline in a consistent fashion across all employees to avoid allegations of wrongdoing. That’s why now is a good time to think through your existing disciplinary practices and what you can do to strengthen them. Hopefully then you can rest easy knowing that you’ve done what you can to enhance performance and protect your business interests.
