What you must consider if the employee ignores your
warning
Veteran managers and Human Resources personnel know that employee
turnover is unavoidable. People leave a job to pursue other
interests, like going back to school or changing careers and
this is the nature of the work world. However, these managers
and HR people also know there are a certain percentage of employees
who can never get the job done. They may have poor behavior
in the workplace, a bad work ethic or have incompatible skills
for the work they perform. This is where an employee warning
becomes important. You give out an employee warning in hopes
of rehabilitating the underperforming employee. But you also
must understand that sometimes they work and other times they
do not.
The Purpose of an Employee Warning
An employee warning has several uses. First, it tells the
employee there is a problem. Second, it gives the company formal
documentation to track an employee's problems and, hopefully,
their progress in resolving them. Third, it gives you and your
worker a common forum to discuss and fix problems.
You can give either a verbal or written warning. In either
case, you and the employee must meet in a private, or semi-private
setting to discuss specific behaviors or work performance that
need improvement. Issuing this warning should prompt a two-way
conversation between you and your worker. You must clearly
communicate what the problems are and how they negatively affect
the business. Then you and the employee must come up with a
plan to fix these issues. Specific tasks, behaviors and dates
should be agreed on. Then both you and the employee sign off
on the warning form and you place the document in the worker's
file. Later you may revisit the warning if you do not see improvement
in the employee's behavior.
When Giving an Employee Warning no Longer Works
You may find yourself giving an employee more than one warning.
The employee may not take these warnings seriously or simply
just cannot do the job. When you have given multiple warnings
to an employee for the same problem, it may be time for your
company to cut ties with this person. At this point, your employee
warnings become the documentation your company needs to fire
this individual. Terminating an employee is never an easy process
either for you or the worker, but sometimes you will have no
choice. If you consistently use employee warnings with a fair
policy of progressive discipline, you at least have the peace
of mind that you tried your best to rehabilitate your worker.
How
I discipline employees and terminate (when necessary)...
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