Issuing a written warning letter to any employee can be a very difficult thing to do; however, it can be very necessary in certain situations to insure the workforce remains productive and positive. Whether you agree or not, every employee is watching to see what you will do when there is a bad apple in the group. If you do nothing it will destroy the morale of your staff.
Employees from the beginning of time will push the rules if allowed to. This means that if they see that you will do nothing when an employee shows up late, or worse is insubordinate, it sends a strong message that anything goes. Sooner, versus later, productivity will drop and chaos will set in, if you stand by and do nothing.
Before ever producing a written warning letter for anyone on your staff it is very crucial that you take the time to produce and inform everyone of what your rules are so that there is no questions about them. One of the most effective ways to do this is to produce an employee handbook that details all your policies and the penalties if they are violated. Suggested policies could be misconduct, attendance, disrespectful behavior, tardiness, stealing, etc.
After producing your employee handbook it is just as important to insure everyone gets their personal copy of it and then signs for it. You will also be encouraged to learn that you can obtain some very good employee handbook programs online for under $50. However, if you are so inclined you can spend a lot more money if you are looking for something more complicated with all the frills.
Making sure that you are treating everyone the same is crucial to the success of any disciplinary program. Law suits after law suits are filed against those employers that take action against one employee but not against someone else for violating the same rule. It will do them no good to try and convince others that one employee is performing better than another, because at the end of the day we need to treat everyone equally. Selectively enforcing the rules will cost you.
It is important to only state the facts when putting together the actual written warning letter. Using words like "I feel" are emotional and should not be used. The actual written warning should have within it the following; the specific violation, all the details surrounding it, whether the employee has received prior disciplinary action, what is necessary for them to improve, and finally what will be the results of them violating another company policy.
One consideration you should make as you put your disciplinary program together is to begin with the least severe type of discipline, and then if someone continues to violate your policies progress to more severe punishments. Of course there will be those times that you will immediately have to terminate someone, for instance like fighting. When you are designing your employee handbook it is a good time to think about those choices. You should be just fine provided you insure that you are treating your entire staff fairly and consistently.
Employees from the beginning of time will push the rules if allowed to. This means that if they see that you will do nothing when an employee shows up late, or worse is insubordinate, it sends a strong message that anything goes. Sooner, versus later, productivity will drop and chaos will set in, if you stand by and do nothing.
Before ever producing a written warning letter for anyone on your staff it is very crucial that you take the time to produce and inform everyone of what your rules are so that there is no questions about them. One of the most effective ways to do this is to produce an employee handbook that details all your policies and the penalties if they are violated. Suggested policies could be misconduct, attendance, disrespectful behavior, tardiness, stealing, etc.
After producing your employee handbook it is just as important to insure everyone gets their personal copy of it and then signs for it. You will also be encouraged to learn that you can obtain some very good employee handbook programs online for under $50. However, if you are so inclined you can spend a lot more money if you are looking for something more complicated with all the frills.
Making sure that you are treating everyone the same is crucial to the success of any disciplinary program. Law suits after law suits are filed against those employers that take action against one employee but not against someone else for violating the same rule. It will do them no good to try and convince others that one employee is performing better than another, because at the end of the day we need to treat everyone equally. Selectively enforcing the rules will cost you.
It is important to only state the facts when putting together the actual written warning letter. Using words like "I feel" are emotional and should not be used. The actual written warning should have within it the following; the specific violation, all the details surrounding it, whether the employee has received prior disciplinary action, what is necessary for them to improve, and finally what will be the results of them violating another company policy.
One consideration you should make as you put your disciplinary program together is to begin with the least severe type of discipline, and then if someone continues to violate your policies progress to more severe punishments. Of course there will be those times that you will immediately have to terminate someone, for instance like fighting. When you are designing your employee handbook it is a good time to think about those choices. You should be just fine provided you insure that you are treating your entire staff fairly and consistently.
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