Agree on a follow-up schedule to track improvement. Establishing checkpoints shows the employee that you expect results by a certain time-and that you will remain vigilant in monitoring progress.
- Warning: Never delay documentation-do it in real time. Show employees what you've written at the end of your meeting and ask them to review and sign your summary notes. Then place the documentation in the worker's personnel file immediately. If you procrastinate, you may never get around to doing it or, worse, you may not recall key points.
- THE EAP CAN HELP: If you have referred an employee to the EAP in the past, but he or she has never accepted, consider one more try at the point of considering a disciplinary action. Ask the employee if he or she would like to accept the EAP referral now while the disciplinary action is held in abeyance pending attendance and follow-through with the EAP's recommendations. This choice often produces results, and it has saved careers -- and lives.
It's True! Treat discipline as an educational and correctional tool, not as a means of punishing or reprimanding people. By emphasizing that your disciplinary policy is part of a support system to educate everyone to meet a certain standard and correct behavior that falls below that standard, you couch discipline in positive, nonthreatening terms.
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