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.
Establishing and informing every one of your workplace rules is one of the very first and extremely important duties that must be accomplished before presenting a written warning letter to any staff member. Producing an employee handbook outlining all your policies and rules and what consequences will occur if they are not followed is one way to handle this. Just to mention a few of the policies that should be included are, tardiness, absenteeism, insubordination, misconduct, etc.
After producing your employee handbook it is just as important to insure everyone gets their personal copy of it and then signs for it. You will also be encouraged to learn that you can obtain some very good employee handbook programs online for under $50. However, if you are so inclined you can spend a lot more money if you are looking for something more complicated with all the frills.
Making sure that you are treating everyone the same is crucial to the success of any disciplinary program. Law suits after law suits are filed against those employers that take action against one employee but not against someone else for violating the same rule. It will do them no good to try and convince others that one employee is performing better than another, because at the end of the day we need to treat everyone equally. Selectively enforcing the rules will cost you.
Facts and facts only should be contained within the written warning letter itself. Never use words that refer to emotions like "I think" or "I believe." When finally sitting down and composing the written warning it should have the following elements; what rule they violated, specifically how they violated it, if they have been disciplined before, how they must improve, and then what will happen to them if they violate the policy again.
Beginning with the least amount of disciplinary action and progressing to penalties that are more severe, finally ending with termination is a suggested way handling your disciplinary program. There are some instances that will demand immediately terminating someone if they violate a policy, such as fighting or stealing. As you develop your employee handbook it is a good time to make sure you consider all your options. Then, provided you follow your own policies and insure that you are treating all employees consistently and fairly you should be just fine.
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.
Establishing and informing every one of your workplace rules is one of the very first and extremely important duties that must be accomplished before presenting a written warning letter to any staff member. Producing an employee handbook outlining all your policies and rules and what consequences will occur if they are not followed is one way to handle this. Just to mention a few of the policies that should be included are, tardiness, absenteeism, insubordination, misconduct, etc.
After producing your employee handbook it is just as important to insure everyone gets their personal copy of it and then signs for it. You will also be encouraged to learn that you can obtain some very good employee handbook programs online for under $50. However, if you are so inclined you can spend a lot more money if you are looking for something more complicated with all the frills.
Making sure that you are treating everyone the same is crucial to the success of any disciplinary program. Law suits after law suits are filed against those employers that take action against one employee but not against someone else for violating the same rule. It will do them no good to try and convince others that one employee is performing better than another, because at the end of the day we need to treat everyone equally. Selectively enforcing the rules will cost you.
Facts and facts only should be contained within the written warning letter itself. Never use words that refer to emotions like "I think" or "I believe." When finally sitting down and composing the written warning it should have the following elements; what rule they violated, specifically how they violated it, if they have been disciplined before, how they must improve, and then what will happen to them if they violate the policy again.
Beginning with the least amount of disciplinary action and progressing to penalties that are more severe, finally ending with termination is a suggested way handling your disciplinary program. There are some instances that will demand immediately terminating someone if they violate a policy, such as fighting or stealing. As you develop your employee handbook it is a good time to make sure you consider all your options. Then, provided you follow your own policies and insure that you are treating all employees consistently and fairly you should be just fine.
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Want to find out more about how to write a written warning letter, then visit Gregory Covey's site. You can also pick up a free employee discipline notice form to assist you in your disciplinary program.