Progressive Disciplinary Action Advice
SamanthaQ
83 Posts
I'm a little stumped and looking for some pro's and con's to handling a situation. I need the expertise of the forum in handling this one.
We have an employee that has had performance problems in the past and received a suspension a little over a year ago. Since then the same issues have been written up in her annual review and also have been brought up at a recent department meeting (as all the employees in the area are having difficulties with personal visits, phonecalls, not getting work done etc...)
Her supervisor would like to take the next step in the disciplinary action process with her - except they want to modify what we would generally do for disciplinary action. We would normally give a 2 day suspension, give an outline of issues and changes needed with the warning of termination as next step.
Her supervisor says that giving an unpaid suspension doesn't make sense because she needs her here to catch up the work that she's way behind on. She would rather write her up and take away her vacation she had planned for two weeks over the holiday season. This employee has had these issues for awhile and I suspect they won't improve or will improve only temporarily and we will pursue termination and outsource her job. With that in mind....
Am I being a stickler by insisting on the 2 day suspension? My concern is if we don't suspend then we've essentially set ourselves back to the "written warning" stage and should not terminate if things don't improve but would have to do another stage of disciplinary action. I don't think we want to wait much longer to resolve the productivity issue if she doesn't improve substantially.
Would what the supervisor wants to do (no supsenion)set us back in the event things don't improve? Or if needed could we still terminate later on? I can't recall any instances in the past where we've had this come up.
We have an employee that has had performance problems in the past and received a suspension a little over a year ago. Since then the same issues have been written up in her annual review and also have been brought up at a recent department meeting (as all the employees in the area are having difficulties with personal visits, phonecalls, not getting work done etc...)
Her supervisor would like to take the next step in the disciplinary action process with her - except they want to modify what we would generally do for disciplinary action. We would normally give a 2 day suspension, give an outline of issues and changes needed with the warning of termination as next step.
Her supervisor says that giving an unpaid suspension doesn't make sense because she needs her here to catch up the work that she's way behind on. She would rather write her up and take away her vacation she had planned for two weeks over the holiday season. This employee has had these issues for awhile and I suspect they won't improve or will improve only temporarily and we will pursue termination and outsource her job. With that in mind....
Am I being a stickler by insisting on the 2 day suspension? My concern is if we don't suspend then we've essentially set ourselves back to the "written warning" stage and should not terminate if things don't improve but would have to do another stage of disciplinary action. I don't think we want to wait much longer to resolve the productivity issue if she doesn't improve substantially.
Would what the supervisor wants to do (no supsenion)set us back in the event things don't improve? Or if needed could we still terminate later on? I can't recall any instances in the past where we've had this come up.
Comments
If it was me, I would suspend and make sure there is follow up. To take away an approved vacation is something I wouldn't do. (however, you do have that right). However, be forwarned, if the other ees who were spoken to are treated equally, you could be asking for problems.
I tend to agree, I think the supervisor was lax on monitoring her work and that is being addressed.
Taking away vacation is iffy. What's your policy if she calls in? I would bet money she'll do that.
The in-house suspension has worked well in instances, like yours, where we need the EE here at work but are at the suspension stage of the discipline process. Basically it is a suspension on paper only, just verifying that you are following your process, and the EE is required to report for work and work each day. Let me tell you that an EE who knows that they are at the suspension level and are told they are NOT getting that time off gets more upset than being given the time off.
I agree that you are not locked in to the suspension, unless your written policy is that rigid or you have a union.
Another question is, if she is incompetent and not productive and doesn't do a good job, why would the supervisor say she can't do without her?
Just wondering, what's her ethnicity and age?
I think the employee has the ability to do the work and do a good job - she chooses not to - which is too bad because it's going to bite her in the butt eventually! With this disciplinary action she'll shape up for ahwile...and we'll get what we need out of her. If we suspended her she would have less time to get the accounts collected before month end. Maybe the logics not that great but that's the thought behind it.
What we have done for years is take the suspension step, but then suspend the suspension and make her work. By doing so the discipline step of a two day suspension has taken place, but due to business necessity the individual was required to work instead of being at home or out shopping. Of course when you do this you must rightfully pay her for the required hours worked.
I do believe you should not mess with one's scheduled vacation time unless their is truly a business necessity for her to forego her scheduled vacation. Should that happen then you should be ready to re-imburse the lady for deposits made and now lost because the company required her attendance at work instead of being at play.
Hope this helps!
PORK