Written Warnings Best Practice

[themessageyousend]

Hi All,

Due to some recent Management changes within my company and specifically my Department, I have some specific querys around Written Warning's, Performance Management and "Personal Observations" being brought into the process of a legal disciplinary process.

Obviously it goes without saying that in most organisations the Disciplinary Process and Performance Management System would be majourly dictated by the Procedure's in place. Unfortunately given the company I work in's size and relatively quick growth these procedures are not in place in a comprehensive way nor are they being followed. We have had a recent incident in which the new Managers personal observations of an employee's "Behaviours" specifically her volume and conversations were brought to her attention in an effort to assist her in becoming a more professional employee however there is nothing wrong with her technical ability to do her job which she has historically done very well and at great benefit to the company. In response to this being brought to her attention she asked for a list or dot points of the "Behavioural" issues so that she could effectively attempt to rectify the perceived issue, which she was given.

Up until that point I understand and have no real issue with the process that was followed, However following that there was no attempt by the manager or management in question to aid or facilitate her efforts. Three weeks later she made an unconcious relatively minor error due to unusual circumstances which she reported to her manager and accepted responsibility for after taking immediate steps to try and rectify the situation.

Without any discussion she was called into her managers office two days later aned issued with a formal written warning which referenced the previous dot points in a manner that is not supported by the original document nor does it account for her willingness to take on board or request to try and rectify the situation, The mistake she made is not of a serious nature nor does it in my opinion deserve the severity it was dealt with, She has come to me for advice and I am coming to you.

Any help that could be offered or opinions would be greatly appreciated.

[Qld IR Consultant]

So just to make it clear she had behaviour issues, then she made a technical mistake within her role, and the warning letter actually brought the behaviours into play as being part of the warning?...If this is the case whilst her behaviour at the time of the incident that triggered the warning can be taken into account to a certain point, the fact that she had displayed inappropriate behaviour beforehand, whilst relevant, cannot really be used as a justification of the warning given that, as you have said, management has done nothing to adequately assist her in changing the behaviours.

If the behaviours are inappropriate language than it is necessary for management to assist employees to change. If its purely she talks loud then that is certainly not a justification for warning her. Some people are just naturally louder than others. I think it is a case where the manager and employee need some mediation and a more focused performance improvement plan focusing on behaviours.

As HR you control the employees personal records so you have the ability to push for the removal of the warning letter if you think it is inappropriate, particularly if the manager goes off half-cocked and sacks the employee it sounds like they will have a good case for unfair dismissal......