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.
Ever since Adam and Eve were put in the garden employees have pushed the rules. Therefore, if they notice that nothing happens to an employee that calls in sick all the time they will quickly understand that it is ok when rules are broken. So if you do nothing there is a good chance that your production rate will fall dramatically.
One of the very first and most important things you must do before ever considering issuing a written warning letter to an employee is to inform your staff of your workplace rules. The very best way to accomplish this is to create an employee handbook that covers each one of those rules and what the consequence are if they are not followed. These rules should include topics like attendance, misconduct, sexual harassment, discrimination, insubordination, stealing, fighting, etc.
One very important factor after you have produced an employee handbook is to make sure that everyone signs for their own copy of it. If you do a quick search online you will learn that you can get a simple template for an employee handbook for a little under fifty dollars. On the other hand if you really want to get something with all the bells and whistles you can spend much more.
Another very important aspect of any employee discipline program is to make sure that you are treating everyone the same. More law suits are filed over companies that treat one employee differently than another when violating the exact same policy. You may try to justify your actions by stating that one employee is a better performer than another one, but the bottom line is if they violate your policy then treat them the same. Selective enforcement will get you in big trouble.
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.
Ever since Adam and Eve were put in the garden employees have pushed the rules. Therefore, if they notice that nothing happens to an employee that calls in sick all the time they will quickly understand that it is ok when rules are broken. So if you do nothing there is a good chance that your production rate will fall dramatically.
One of the very first and most important things you must do before ever considering issuing a written warning letter to an employee is to inform your staff of your workplace rules. The very best way to accomplish this is to create an employee handbook that covers each one of those rules and what the consequence are if they are not followed. These rules should include topics like attendance, misconduct, sexual harassment, discrimination, insubordination, stealing, fighting, etc.
One very important factor after you have produced an employee handbook is to make sure that everyone signs for their own copy of it. If you do a quick search online you will learn that you can get a simple template for an employee handbook for a little under fifty dollars. On the other hand if you really want to get something with all the bells and whistles you can spend much more.
Another very important aspect of any employee discipline program is to make sure that you are treating everyone the same. More law suits are filed over companies that treat one employee differently than another when violating the exact same policy. You may try to justify your actions by stating that one employee is a better performer than another one, but the bottom line is if they violate your policy then treat them the same. Selective enforcement will get you in big trouble.
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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