Why HR Automation Is Key to a Progressive Discipline Process

A disciplinary process can be used to deal with everything from employee misconduct to attendance issues. But it’s important to strike the right balance between rigidity and flexibility. Too strict and you run the risk of dampening employee morale. Too vague and it leaves room for bias and favoritism.

A progressive discipline process is a great solution because it provides a standardized set of responses to infractions while leaving some room for discretion.

Here’s how to use a progressive discipline process to shape employee behavior while providing a consistent process for managers and your human resources team.

What Is a Progressive Discipline Process?

A progressive discipline process is a multi-step system that allows you to address an employee’s conduct in a series of escalating stages. Rather than sudden disciplinary actions that come out of nowhere, a progressive discipline process lets employees know what to expect and gives them an opportunity to correct their behavior.

You can use your disciplinary processes to address:

• Tardiness and absenteeism
• Poor job performance
• Insubordination
• Dress code violations
• Other behavioral issues

With a progressive discipline process, everyone’s on the same page about what comes next and which disciplinary measures are appropriate for specific behavioral issues.

(For serious cases, such as theft, fraud, and harassment, you may need to abbreviate the disciplinary process and seek immediate legal advice.)

Process vs. Policy

A progressive discipline process is a component of your progressive discipline policy. Essentially, an employee disciplinary policy lays out your employees’ rights and your performance standards. It should be included in your employee handbook.

The progressive discipline process maps out the step-by-step actions that your managers or HR team members take to enforce your workplace policies.

Be sure to convey your performance expectations during the onboarding process to minimize performance problems and increase employee retention.

Benefits of a Progressive Discipline Process

It’s not uncommon for an employee to face termination of employment for unacceptable behavior. But no one wants to face immediate termination or suspension on the whims of their manager without a chance to explain themselves.

Formalizing your employee discipline process supports clear and open communication, and improves employee relations in the following three ways:

Consistency

A progressive discipline process enforces consistency. Everyone moves through the same sequence of steps, regardless of their workplace relationships or seniority. Of course, serious cases of misconduct may call for a faster escalation, but in general, employees can expect a consistent and proportionate response.

Documentation

A key part of disciplinary action is documentation. This can serve as proof that you did your due diligence if issues arise later. With a progressive discipline process, you can use standardized templates to create a corrective action or performance improvement plan (PIP) and store these in the employee’s personnel file.

Fairness

Some behavior issues, such as poor performance or insubordination, can be subjective, and different managers may take a different approach to disciplinary action. By requiring your managers to follow clear and consistent standards, you reduce the risk of bias and favoritism creeping into the disciplinary process.

4 Key Steps of a Progressive Discipline Process

A progressive discipline process typically includes the following four steps — although the exact number and order of steps can vary depending on your disciplinary policy.

1. Verbal Warning

A verbal warning is a low-stakes way to make an employee aware of an issue and what they can do about it. This can take the form of a one-on-one meeting, or you can raise the issue as part of a performance review or another type of check-in.

Don’t be misled by the word “verbal.” You still need to document the date and time you delivered the verbal warning to serve as a record for later.

2. Written Warning

The next step is to provide written notice of the behavioral issue, with a warning of any subsequent actions that will be taken, such as suspension or demotion.

Be sure to specify the rule or workplace policy that was broken, and request a signature from the employee to acknowledge they received the notice.

Some workplaces may leave room for one or more follow-up notices, with the last one designated as the “final written warning.”

3. Suspension or Demotion

If the employee hasn’t addressed the issue by this point, it may be appropriate to take disciplinary action, like suspension or demotion. Not all organizations use this step, so consider seeking legal advice before including this in your disciplinary policy.

In some cases, suspension is a precautionary measure while you schedule a hearing or conduct a workplace investigation. Consider the nature and duration of the suspension, such as whether the employee will be suspended with or without pay.

Avoid actions that could be seen as retaliation or reprisal by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

4. Termination

The final step in the progressive discipline process is termination of employment. By this point, it should be clear that the issue is unlikely to be resolved and that you’ve done all you could to reach a satisfactory outcome.

There’s still a risk that the employee could claim wrongful termination, but the written documentation you’ve saved from each step will serve to back up your case.

As part of the exit process, remember to collect any company assets, like badges and key cards, and remove access credentials from company systems. Keep the process as confidential as possible to maintain employee morale.

Use Automation to Standardize Your Disciplinary Process

A progressive disciplinary process can go a long way toward building trust with your employees and discouraging workplace misconduct. But it’s important to give your managers and HR representatives the tools they need to implement it.

Pulpstream’s cloud-based employee relations management platform allows you to streamline your disciplinary process in the following ways.

Follow Consistent Procedures

Pulpstream’s HR automation tools and digital workflows take the guesswork out of disciplinary action. Instead of dealing with scribbled notes and physical paperwork, managers can initiate the disciplinary process from a secure, cloud-based portal, providing them with digital checklists and a 360-degree view of every case.

Document Actions Properly

Pulpstream automatically generates key documents — from disciplinary action forms to performance improvement plans — and can even collect signatures electronically. This saves your team time and money. Plus, you can automatically send email and SMS notifications to employees, reminding them when follow-up action is needed.

Reduce Compliance Risks

Pulpstream’s built-in rules engine helps you ensure compliance with employment laws. Avoid violations of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) by coordinating leaves of absence with performance management, and avoid any semblance of retaliation when navigating the return to work and ADA interactive process.

Manage Employee Performance Issues With Pulpstream

The disciplinary process plays a key role in enforcing workplace policies and addressing employee performance issues. Your disciplinary policy should set out clear expectations for employees, while the disciplinary process provides consistent steps for managers to follow when employees violate your code of conduct or company values.

A progressive discipline process promotes fairness, fosters open communication, and reduces the stress and anxiety surrounding disciplinary action. It can also serve as a legal defense by documenting your attempts to resolve the issue in good faith.

Pulpstream modernizes the disciplinary process with digitized workflows that walk you through step by step. Automatically generate forms and documents, send out follow-up reminders, and keep a paper trail of every verbal and written warning for your personnel files. Book a demo today to see how Pulpstream works!