Coaching or formal disciplinary ?
J is an OK employee, they do their job, are liked by most people and run the social side of things well but they are a poor timekeeper and recently this has got worse. Do you................................ a] issue a warning b] take them aside and tell them they need to start coming in on time or you will issue a warning c] take aside and ask if there is a reason they are coming in late, if there is a genuine reason work with them on it and change their hours on a temporary basis if appropriate - if not revert to b] d] issue a letter of concern listing the times they have been late and clearly stating that this is unacceptable and unless there is a clear and sustained improvement over the next 3 months you will issue a warning e] not worry about it, they get the job done and are usually only 10 mins or so late- it’s not worth bothering about Add the willingness of the manager to start or have a ‘difficult conversation’ and the willingness of the employee to improve and you have a lot of variables. Traditionally companies large and small have used progressive discipline to deal with under performance or poor behaviours, that is a series of warnings eventually leading to dismissal. However, the world of work is changing and so are the people in it. Although traditional disciplinary measures have widespread support with HR and legal professionals there are other ways to deal with undesirable behaviours and violations of the rules. The key is to think about what outcome you want, disciplinary action should not be about ‘punishment’ it should be about getting the person back on track, sometimes coaching or an improvement plan is a better option. I am a great fan of the ‘letter of concern’ as it stops short of disciplinary action but gives you freedom to discuss and agree a way forward without sanctions and is often more likely to get the employee on side. Generally, people do not come into work thinking ‘today I am going to make loads of mistakes, be rude to my colleagues and forget to post that important parcel’. Most people want to do a good job. Progressive discipline policies, if properly drafted, can be very effective tools for managing employee behaviour in the workplace and are the discipline policy of choice for most employers. The primary benefit of progressive discipline policies is that they provide an employee with a second or third chance to change their inappropriate behaviour to conform to the company's standards of conduct, With progressive discipline, employees know that they and their colleagues are held to certain standards and know the repercussions. Giving people as many chances as the person down the corridor boosts confidence in the organisation as a fair and equitable place to work. On the flip side it is time consuming, needs strict adherence, a consistent approach and good documentation. Managers may want more flexibility so will ‘work around the system’ leading to lack of consistency and comments about unfairness and favourites, or maybe they approach a disciplinary saying ‘HR told me to do this’. Training managers and helping them understand how progressive discipline can be a useful tool is really important for consistency and fairness. Progressive discipline can lead to employees getting hacked off because they feel they are being ‘told off’, some employees may play a game by behaving until the sanction has passed then reverting to poor behaviour. This can create adversarial relationships which suck up time and energy needlessly. However, non-compliance or poor performance can also be viewed as an opportunity to coach employees to be better whilst maintaining healthy working relationships. Using personal improvement plans or letters of concern ensure the employee is given the opportunity to participate in the conversation and agree the behaviours that are needed, making them more likely to sign up to show they are committed. So going back to J – it is unlikely they are going to say they think it is OK to turn up late and when asked will probably commit to being on time for the next week. month, quarter. PIPs [ Personal Improvement Plans] can where appropriate require immediate improvement and actions and weekly coaching / monitoring means there is a clear record of behaviours in a less confrontational environment. PIP processes should be clear about the the support and guidance the organisation needs to offer and it’s important that this does not solely focus on how to help the employee solve ‘their’ problems, there will inevitably be behaviours or situations from the organisational side that are making the issues worse and these should be tackled in order to show the employee that there is a willingness to achieve a positive outcome.
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