Disciplining employees can be one of the hardest aspects of managing people. Certainly, it can be an uncomfortable and unpleasant task. And it must be handled carefully to avoid landing yourself in legal trouble.

But the alternative option – playing each situation by ear and only coaching employees in response to incidents as they arise – amounts to simply hoping that the employee in question listens to you and improves. You could also expose yourself unnecessarily to risk.

Critical benefits of a progressive discipline policy

1. It lets employees know what’s expected of them, without ambiguity.

At a high level, the policy spells out expectations for behavior and performance.

Then it explains the consequences for failing to meet these expectations – or, on the flip side, helps employees understand what they need to do to succeed and thrive in your workplace.

Because the policy is visible to all employees, it places everyone on the same page and on equal footing.

2. It’s a guide for your day-to-day interactions with employees – and vice versa.

3. It provides a pathway to end a relationship with a problem employee while maintaining fairness and objectivity.

If you decide that an employee should be terminated, you need to do it the right way:

• With evidence that the employee’s behavior or performance wasn’t up to well-documented standards

• That the employee didn’t make improvements despite being given ample opportunity to do so

4. It mitigates risks and gives you a crucial defense if an employee challenges their termination.

If an employee files a discrimination complaint against you or says that you were otherwise unfair, you have this policy to fall back on.

By clarifying expectations and standards, a progressive discipline policy is a win-win for both employers and employees.

While coaching is important to overall employee development, it doesn’t provide the same risk mitigation and employer defense as a well implemented progressive discipline policy.

So how do you go about creating a progressive discipline policy? 

Three core elements of a progressive discipline policy

Every discipline policy has three core elements:

1. Definitions of the types of behaviors that are unacceptable, along with a list of examples that usually fall within these categories:

   1. Poor work performance

   2. Poor behavior

   3. Violation of company rules or policies

   4. Explanation of the consequences for those behaviors, and the process by which the consequences will escalate to termination

   5. Resource for questions, issues or concerns (usually a human resources contact)

Four steps in the progressive discipline process

These are the four basic, essential steps to the disciplinary process, along with an optional pre-step:

Optional pre-step: informal coaching

Coaching employees is an initial step that’s typically outside the discipline process. It’s simply an early opportunity between a manager and employee to discuss where that employee isn’t measuring up from the outset.

You might consider taking this step:

• When you first implement your progressive discipline policy, for a finite period of time while everyone adjusts to new rules

• For new hires, for a finite period of time while they acclimate to their new position and workplace

At this stage, you’re giving an employee the benefit of the doubt when you notice something wrong.

This conversation is more educational for both parties. Offer help and ask what you can do. Find out whether any external factors exist that may negatively impact an employee’s behavior or performance, and explore how these can be resolved...

Source: How To Create A Progressive Discipline Policy - Insperity