A Progressive discipline is a process of taking strict action when an employee fails to follow clearly stated rules that govern the workplace or if they fail to correct their behavior after being given a specific time to change their behavior (Delpo, 2017). A good progressive policy should ensure that all the employees follow all work place policies and rules to ensure all the business operations run smoothly. Many organizations have different departments and divisions and they all come with different policies and requirements. All employees are expected to follow these requirements as well as the rules and regulations of the local government (Delpo, 2017).
The progressive policy should clearly define the process for correcting both repeated and single episodes of employee misconduct. Corrections to these behaviors are usually addressed under the policy; they may also be addressed under the accountability and commitment policy depending on the nature of the circumstance. Progressive discipline is a step by step process that is designed to deal with unexpected behaviors by the employees. It also allows for discipline to be administered depending on the severity of the situation (Fallon, 2014). A good example is where an employee in anger or stress yells out profanity and is heard by his or her coworkers different from when an employee yells out profanities directed at colleagues. Another example is when an employee wears inappropriate clothing in the workplace, which is totally different from when an employee neglects to wear safety clothes in the workplace. The type of discipline that will be administered to these employees will vary (Guerin, 2017). There are also situations where an employee does mistakes that harm others. A mistake that harms another employee deserves severe punishment while that that harms the individual personally like forging the time stamp or injuring himself due to negligence, does not require severe punishment. It is important for the supervisor to assess the employee’s understanding of the policies and rules, their willingness to follow the rules and workplace obstacles that will interfere with compliance with the rules and regulations.
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There are several performance and conduct requirements that should be covered by the policy. They include violation of protocols, safety procedures and regulations and misuse of organization facilities like electricity (Kreitner, 2014) . Unprofessional behaviors like insults and physical discipline also fall under this category. There is also the incidence of promotions; an employee who wants to apply for a promotion and has had a disciplinary action over the past 12 months is required to share the information with the promotion manager. He or she is also required to share the disciplinary action that they received. This information is vital in the decision-making process. Failure to disclose such vital information may lead to progressive discipline including termination.
An employee’s behavior is expected to have improved after receiving disciplinary action .In instances where an employee is under disciplinary action and goes on leave, the disciplinary action will be extended by the same time in which the employee was away and he/she should be given the opportunity to demonstrate that their behavior has improved. The only body required to extend progressive discipline is the Human Resource.
It is vital for punishment to be applied in a fair and consistent manner. The human resource managers have the critical role of conducting a proper investigation of the situation at hand(Kreitner, 2014) . An investigation can be very simple, for instance checking the arrival time through the timestamp. It can also be very complex like interrogating several employees. If the investigations are complex, the human resources can outsource to other departments. The human resource department should review all relevant documents associated with the investigation, check how the employee was informed about his reckless behavior or incident, this is where the eye witness comes in, and they should write a statement indicating how the incident happened. A witness can be anyone, it can be either a coworker, bystander or a customer who was present at the time. the witnesses statement is very important since it is usually unbiased.
An employee may be suspended or given administrative leave when the investigation is taking place. During the administrative leave, the Human resource department is required to tell the employee that he or she should be available for questioning during the working days and that they should not conduct any business on behalf of the organization (Fallon, 2014). The managers should have all facts of the circumstance before assessing the disciplinary action. The Human Resource managers should the fate of the employee with several departments before determining the appropriate disciplinary action. It is advisable that many situations are solved through verbal counseling or discussions with the employee. However, there are incidences that may be severe enough that the managers will have no option but to write a formal warning, suspend the employee with half pay or no pay or even termination. The seriousness of the offense and the history of the employee will determine the discipline to be applied (Kreitner, 2014). There are situations where the discipline of an employee or the performance falls under the performance accountability policy and the progressive discipline policy. In such a situation, the totality of the circumstance will determine the appropriate cause of action.
There are several steps of administering progressive discipline. The first one is verbal warning. In many cases, verbal warning is usually sufficient. The main purpose of the verbal warning is to clarify policies and expectations. The impact of offense is also taken into consideration. The manager or the supervisor is required to document that the verbal warning occurred. The second step is written warning, if the employee repeats the problem after the verbal warning was given or additional offense reoccurs within 12 months of the verbal warning. The manager in charge of the department should write a warning in form of a letter. The letter should describe in detail the unacceptable conduct, what is expected of the employee and clearly state that further disciplinary actions will follow if the same mistake will happens again within the coming 12 months(Fallon, 2014) . Step three is the final written warning; this may include suspension without pay. If the conduct that was documented in the written warning reoccurs within the 12 months, then the discipline will lead to a final written warning. However, there are incidences that may be very severe, such situations will lead to the skipping of all procedures by the Human resources and write the final warning and suspend the employee with no pay. Before taking any drastic measure, it is important that all managers, supervisors and the human resources discuss what punishment they will take.
The final step is the termination of employment. Employment may be terminated if an employee is involved in misconduct within the first year of a written warning or the offense was very severe. Misconducts that involve violation of company policies and rules, dishonesty, risking the well-being of employees, breaking the law of the country may be grounds for termination of employment(Kreitner, 2014) .
In conclusion, the case of Mrs. Avery Foster should have followed all the four steps. If she had forged the time stamp, the right cause of action would have been to give her a verbal warning, if repeated again, a written warning. The case of forging a time stamp is not that severe that her employment has to be terminated. The following is a list of misconducts but they are not limited to these. The first one is a violation of policy terms and conditions, violence in the workplace, neglect of assigned duty and insubordination, criminal activities and disclosures among several others (Guerin, 2017) . It is vital for the employees and the supervisors to know the procedures that have to befoolwed during discplinary actions.
References
Delpo, A. G. L. (2017). Dealing with Problem Employees: How to Manage Performance & Personal Issues in the Workplace . Ingram Pub Services.
Fallon, L. F., & McConnell, C. R. (2014). Human resource management in health care: Principles and practice, second edition . Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Guerin, L. (2017). Create your own employee handbook [2017]: A legal & practical guide for employers . Berkeley, Carlifonia.
Kreitner, R., Cassidy, C., & VanHuss, S. H. (2014). Administrative management: Setting people up for success . Australia: South-Western
