Employee discipline is a difficult task for any Human Resources manager. It is an inevitable part of business. One of the many hats that I wear in my current occupation is Human Resources Manager. While it is not one of my preferred duties, the need to discipline an employee does occur from time to time. Read on to learn more about properly handling employee discipline.

In a perfect world, each business would have a set of guidelines to follow when it comes to reprimanding employees. This is not a perfect world. The company that I work for has been in operation for over twenty-five years and has never had an employee handbook or a set of guidelines to follow when it comes to employee discipline. They handle things on a case-by-case basis. In my experience, this is not a good idea. It is important to have standards and guidelines to follow, this makes the Human Resources Manager’s job much easier, and the employees know exactly what is expected of them. The employees of the organization should be guided towards the hrms in singapore about the manual and software process. The process should be simple and easy for the managers and the employees.

If you are facing the task of reprimanding an employee, and your company currently does not have guidelines and standards in place, you should follow the instructions below.

The first step in employee discipline is informing the employee that they have done something wrong. This is generally referred to as a verbal warning. When you give an employee a verbal warning, you should take the employee aside, away from other employees. Take them to a private office or at least out of earshot of others. There is no need to reprimand an employee in the presence of their peers. Tell the employee what they have done, and why it was wrong. Tell them how they can avoid the action in the future and tell them what to expect if they continue to repeat the same action. To handle a verbal warning if the employee has excessive absenteeism you might consider the following script.

You: John, I need to speak with you for a moment. Would you mind stepping into my office?

Once he is in your office, you should make the reprimand brief and as painless as possible.

You: John, I need to discuss your attendance. I realize you have had a sick child and that you have had several doctor’s appointments, but I have ran this report and it shows you have missed over 8 days since February. Many of these days have been unexcused absences.

Company policy states that employees who have over one year of service are eligible for 5 vacation days and 3 sick days per year. You have several months before you reach the one-year mark and your attendance is unacceptable.

At this point, you will likely receive a response. This response can vary from apologies and promises to do better to excuses and reasons why they should not be in trouble. Your response should be firm and you should continue on track.

You: John, this is a verbal warning that if your attendance does not improve that you will face further disciplinary action. If it progresses, you will be terminated. From this point forward, your absences must be excused by a doctor’s note, and if you need time off that is unscheduled, you must request it at least 5 days prior. If your request is approved you will not receive any disciplinary action for your time off. It is important for you to realize that when you are absent, your co-workers must work harder to get the work done. You not only affect your paycheck when you miss, but it makes things harder for your co-workers.

At this stage, you need to bring out the positive. It is important to end the discipline with something positive about the employee.

You: John you are an excellent worker and I never have to re-check your work. You are one of the most valued assets our company has. I appreciate the work you do.

Once you have ended the verbal warning, make a note of it to be placed in the employee’s personnel file. Be sure to detail the conversation that you had with the employee and note what the employee has indicated that they will do to improve the situation.

If you follow the above format when giving an employee a verbal warning, you will have gotten your point across to the employee. You will have prevented the employee any embarrassment in front of his or her peers. Hopefully, the employee understands the importance of correcting his actions and will take steps to do so.

The next step in disciplining an employee is a “write-up”. This is a documented account of inappropriate action and should only come after the employee has been verbally warned. Please see part II of this article for handling the second step in employee discipline.

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