Taking Disciplinary Action On Your Staff

Having the job of managing multiple employees is a tough one. You have to focus on keeping everyone in check and helping them to work together but it can be difficult when you have an employee that lashes out or someone that needs to have disciplinary action inflicted upon them. Having to discipline your employees may not be your favorite thing but it is a necessary step that you need to take in order to remind your employees that you are the boss and any type of rebellion against company policies will not be tolerated. How can you take disciplinary action on your staff? Is there a procedure for it? Here are some tips that will help to make it a little easier on you to take the right course of action on your employees.

Know The Facts
Before you call the employee in for a meeting where you are going to accuse them of certain things, you need to make sure that you have your facts straight. Talk to the other individuals that are involved or the individuals that saw the incident when it happened. This can help you to gather enough information you need to talk to your employee and find out what happened. It is also important to have some documents that have recorded the situation as this will give you support when you are meeting with the employee. You want to give them a chance to explain their case but it also helps to have yourself prepared for whatever may occur in your discussion with the employee.

Bring In Multiple Sources
When an employee tries to lie, you might consider a backup plan. Call in other people that can witness the incident that occurred and will be able to get the truth out of the guilty employee. Talking to multiple people is best as you don't want to get biased opinions. As you are speaking to the employee, you can call in another person to back-up all the facts that you have stated and shown to the employee. Plus it always gives you a witness when you are taking any type of disciplinary action.

Have An HR Representative Present
In order to cross your T's and dot your I's you always need to have a witness to the meeting. You should have an HR representative present to record the information that is discussed and to back-up statements that are said. A lot of time people that are laid off will become revengeful against the company and they could try and make-up false claims against the company. When you have a witness and record the conversation, it will aid in protecting you as much as possible.

Approach The Situation Gently
The individual being called in likely knows why they are being called in. You should focus on being very sensitive to the situation and do not be hostile as you speak to them. Some of the ways in which you can help to break the tension include the following:
- Thank them for the years of hard work they have put in
- Compliment them on projects or things they have done that are beneficial
Once you make it a less hostile environment, you can bring up your concern over the situation that occurred. Give the employee a chance to look over the facts and testimonies you have and let them explain. It could be a misunderstanding or it could be grounds for termination.

Always Use The Policy
If the time comes to fire a person, always refer to your company policies. During the meeting with the person you should pull it out and talk to them about the policy and what they have deliberately disobeyed with the policy. Show them their initial hiring documents where they signed off on the company policies for disciplinary action and termination grounds. This helps them to remember that they did agree to the outcome of the situation they put themselves into.