Discipline Process
This is part of HR that no one likes to talk about and for sure not have to do it.
Discipline is meant to set clear communications that are precise and concise where the supervisor and the employee are understanding the same expectations being set. If you have a good discipline process in place then it helps to be consistent as much as possible which helps to reduce risk, reduce lawsuits and hopefully reduce EEOC charges.
The discipline process consist of coaching, verbals, writtens, improvement plans, terminations, suspensions, terminations. They do not have to be in these steps it all depends on the incident that occurred and the severity. The most important thing to remember is to be consistent, be fair, be prompt and immediate to address. You don’t want to lose your temper and terminate someone because you may not have all your documentation because they may have a case or a charge against you so please remember to put this all in place in advance as part of your business set up.
However, it is never too late to schedule your consultation with Straight Talk HR Solutions Best HR Consultant Texas has to offer to help you with setting up, creating templates, training on the discipline process or reviewing with you in advance of ALL terminations.
They may convince themselves that speaking up is not worth the trouble.
Managers may avoid difficult conversations because they fear conflict. Coworkers may witness concerning behavior but assume someone else will address it. Some may stop joining in discussions, avoid collaborating with certain coworkers, or begin looking for opportunities elsewhere.
In many cases, leaders are surprised by turnover because the issues affecting employee satisfaction were never formally reported. Silence has become part of the culture, too.
This is why workplace harassment training has become an essential part of current workforce management. Although it primarily exists to satisfy legal requirements or reduce liability, it helps employees understand expectations, recognize problematic behavior, and contribute to a respectable and accountable work environment.
Effective workplace harassment training also raises awareness of situations that might cause a hostile or uncomfortable work environment, even when there is no malicious intent.
Straight Talk HR Solutions is well worth it and more than pays for it self vs facing legal fines and fees, law suits, your time that it will take to gather and present.
The discipline process is very important to ensure that the supervisor is being clear in their expectations. Did they communicate effectively? Sometimes they say they do and they think they do but I have seen it where they do not always communicate effectively. They may say yes I told them that the next step is discipline and I asked him what exactly did you tell this employee; the manager shared that he told his employee to take the weekend and think about it because it was serious and he really needed to think whether he wanted to continue working here. Do you see how this is not telling the employee that the next time this happens you will receive a disciplinary action. I know the supervisor thought he did and I am sure it felt like it did but did he? No he did not.
It is very uncomfortable; that is why we role play with supervisors before the termination or disciplinary action, we write scripts for them in advance to avoid oversharing and overcommunicating in this instance and we ensure that they are as ready as they need to be. We can even serve as a witness during the discipline process.
It is important that you are as consistent as possible across the board and this will help you to avoid discrimination because you show a pattern of discipline for this incident each time it happens.
These are the things that most businesses don’t think of until it is right there and then don’t know what to do. You are not expected to be a subject matter expert in disciplining that is what you have Best HR Consultant Texas has to offer with Straight Talk HR Solutions to help you and meet you exactly where you are.
We are the experts and BEST HR Consultant Texas has to offer so we can guide you through the discipline process whether you are in the early stages or not, we can help.
Let’s start with SMART GOALS, provide your employee SMART GOALS so they know exactly what their expectations are. The first step is to provide coaching with your employee. It should hopefully be resolved at this time; but unfortunately, sometimes it isn’t. You may need to give a verbal warning and you want to document this each and every time and sometimes you may want witnesses when you give the warning. This may need to be escalated to a written warning and let’s hope that this works out from here and it doesn’t go any further but unfortunately that sometimes it continues and you may find yourself at a termination or a suspension. At this point, documentation is very important that you have and I would always run any termination by us; It is a lot cheaper and less expensive contacting us at Straight Talk HR Solutions and we can help resolve and let you know what our review finds if we recommend and support termination, if you are at risk or if you are good.
Any business is always at risk, but how much risk? You want to try and eliminate the risk as much as possible.
If you have one employee you are at risk from so many different angles. What happens if you do nothing and terminate someone? It depends on the individual, they could walk away and not do anything but it just takes 1 employee to file unemployment and you will lose if you have no documentation in place. The employee could file an EEOC charge, which takes a lot of time and prepping for the case and response, it could be a discrimination case that they file against you, it could be a retaliation risk that you have. It is too big of a risk to not get the help you need and peace of mind.
We offer discipline templates, a discipline process, discipline role play, discipline scripts and offer to review your recommendations in advance, audit risk, can be your HR and conduct disciplinary action. We are a one stop shop that offers all the discipline training and service you may need as a business owner.
Call us today at Straight Talk HR Solutions Best HR Consultant Texas has to offer to talk through where you are and what you need. We will help you sort it out and meet you exactly where you are. Need help with the discipline process for your business, let’s Schedule your FREE HR RISK ASSESSMENT with Straight Talk HR Solutions Best HR Consultant Texas has to offer.