There is little question that preparing and delivering a written warning letter is the most difficult thing to do as a leader. It's one of those duties we should never enjoy, but unfortunately we must perform it to keep productivity high. If we ignore the problem it will have a negative impact on your business.
When issuing employee discipline there are some basic rules you should follow. A big mistake, which could end in a possible law suit, is to wait until you just can't take another minute of someone's poor behavior and you finally blow up. Unfortunately, many new supervisor's subject themselves to this because they think the employee's behavior will get better.
The fact is that an employee's behavior rarely ever improves when that employee does not receive consequences for their negative actions. To compound the problem, if a supervisor chooses not to correct their poor behavior there is a big chance that other employees will take that as a green light to conduct themselves similarly. If you didn't think you had a problem before, now you really do.
Defining exactly what rule the employee has violated is your first task in producing and issuing a written warning letter. Next, is to make sure you are treating all employees the same, so if anyone else has violated the same rule what did you do? Treating everyone the same is very important so if you haven't taken action against one employee it is wise not to take action against someone else. In fact, this is the quickest way to be contacted by the EEOC for discrimination.
Although there are many types of behaviors that it goes without saying are wrong, such as, fighting and stealing, but there are many others that may not be. As an example, is it ok for an employee to call in sick as often as they want? Can an employee show up late any time they wish?
Producing an employee handbook is an outstanding method to cover these types of policies. By covering all your employment policies in your employee handbook and providing your staff with a copy, it acts as an excellent way of insuring your employees have been made fully aware of them. This is a must for your employee disciplinary program.
Before actually writing the written warning letter it is time to collect all the evidence that you can in order to show clearly that the staff member has violated your employment policy, and you have confirmed you have taken similar action on others. Just to show an example, we will say an employee has had three tardy periods within a ninety day time frame. Also we will say that our written attendance policy, which the employee signed for, states that any employee that incurs three or more tardy periods that are unexcused in a twelve month period may receive discipline.
This is a quick example of how your written warning letter could be structured. "This warning letter is being issued to you for having three tardy periods within a twelve month time frame. This is a violation of our written company policy that you signed for on July 23, 2011, when you received a copy of our employee handbook. Specifically, you were thirty-two minutes tardy on May 3, 2013; you were seventeen minutes tardy on June 24, 2013, and forty-four minutes tardy on July 17, 2013. In the event you violate our attendance policy, or any other employment policy, you may receive disciplinary action that could include possible dismissal.
A written warning letter can be this simple to prepare. The most important part to keep in mind is to only state the facts and not be long winded. Never include words that would indicate feelings like, "I hope." These tips should help to eliminate any potential problems you could experience.
When issuing employee discipline there are some basic rules you should follow. A big mistake, which could end in a possible law suit, is to wait until you just can't take another minute of someone's poor behavior and you finally blow up. Unfortunately, many new supervisor's subject themselves to this because they think the employee's behavior will get better.
The fact is that an employee's behavior rarely ever improves when that employee does not receive consequences for their negative actions. To compound the problem, if a supervisor chooses not to correct their poor behavior there is a big chance that other employees will take that as a green light to conduct themselves similarly. If you didn't think you had a problem before, now you really do.
Defining exactly what rule the employee has violated is your first task in producing and issuing a written warning letter. Next, is to make sure you are treating all employees the same, so if anyone else has violated the same rule what did you do? Treating everyone the same is very important so if you haven't taken action against one employee it is wise not to take action against someone else. In fact, this is the quickest way to be contacted by the EEOC for discrimination.
Although there are many types of behaviors that it goes without saying are wrong, such as, fighting and stealing, but there are many others that may not be. As an example, is it ok for an employee to call in sick as often as they want? Can an employee show up late any time they wish?
Producing an employee handbook is an outstanding method to cover these types of policies. By covering all your employment policies in your employee handbook and providing your staff with a copy, it acts as an excellent way of insuring your employees have been made fully aware of them. This is a must for your employee disciplinary program.
Before actually writing the written warning letter it is time to collect all the evidence that you can in order to show clearly that the staff member has violated your employment policy, and you have confirmed you have taken similar action on others. Just to show an example, we will say an employee has had three tardy periods within a ninety day time frame. Also we will say that our written attendance policy, which the employee signed for, states that any employee that incurs three or more tardy periods that are unexcused in a twelve month period may receive discipline.
This is a quick example of how your written warning letter could be structured. "This warning letter is being issued to you for having three tardy periods within a twelve month time frame. This is a violation of our written company policy that you signed for on July 23, 2011, when you received a copy of our employee handbook. Specifically, you were thirty-two minutes tardy on May 3, 2013; you were seventeen minutes tardy on June 24, 2013, and forty-four minutes tardy on July 17, 2013. In the event you violate our attendance policy, or any other employment policy, you may receive disciplinary action that could include possible dismissal.
A written warning letter can be this simple to prepare. The most important part to keep in mind is to only state the facts and not be long winded. Never include words that would indicate feelings like, "I hope." These tips should help to eliminate any potential problems you could experience.
About the Author:
Get the information you need to make writing a written warning letter an easy process by following simple rules that are laid out on Gregory's website www.leadership-skills-for-life.com. Gregory's website also includes multiple warning letter examples.
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