Disciplinary issues:
- Misconduct:
- Racism
- Unauthorised
- Use of social
- Networking sites
- Lateness
- Drink
- Absences
- Fights
- Email abuse
- Sexism
- Theft
- Drugs
Capability for performance:
- Poor work
- Illness
Procedures (Informal actions):
- Counselling
- Informal discussion
- Gather facts
Procedures (Formal actions)
- Follow the disciplinary and grievance procedure and investigation fully
- Step 1: a) write to notify of allegations, b)invited to meeting
- Step2 hold meeting; a) right to be accompanied, by)notify of decisión in writing.
- Step 3 on appeal hold appeal meeting; possible outcomes: a) Issues resolved, b)first improvement, notice for por performance, or first written warning, b) or final written warning, c) keep to time limits
Discipline and grievance
In nay organisation, however good the management and however highly motivated the workforce, there will be occasions when problems or difficulties occur between management and employees. In order that employees are able to work to their optimum performance and that these problems do not turn into even bigger issues suitable ways of dealing with them need to be devised before they occur. If the problema has arisen from something that management has done this may result in the employee concerned having a grievance, if however it is a problem arising from the behaviour or attitude of an employee then disciplinary action may be called for.
Human resources managers are concerned to get the best out of people and although the human resource approach tends towards a dislike of rules and procedures in favor of more individualised approach there are times when this is not possible because of the need to comply with legislation or codes of practice. This is the case where discipline and grievance are concerned. While discipline and grievances are individual issues it would be unfair to treat each case in a totally different way and to do so might result in a claim for unfair dismissal against the organisation or dissatisfaction among the workforce. Our Human resource managers need to consider these and design suitable procedures in order to enhance both the performance management process within the organisation and to enable employees to contribute fully to the strategic objectives of the organisation. Handling a disciplinary situation in an unfair way may result in the employee being dismissed but this might also result in a case for unfair dismissal being brought against the organisation, this could be expensive if he organisation lost and in any case would be expensive in terms of:
- The time needed to prepare for the tribunal
- The time lost
- Disruption caused as witnesses are called
- The bad publicity for the organisation itself
- Employee retention
- The por employee relations likely to ensue because of unfair handling of a disciplinary situation.
The role of the Our human resource manager and the line manager
Discipline and grievance are sensitive issues requiring skilful handling and in many organisations they have traditionally been an area that has been left to human resource managers. This has been partly due to the fact the human resources managers were likely to be trained in skilful handling of sensitive interpersonal issues but also many managers and supervisors were often unwilling to tackle something that might result in their un-popularity and cause difficulties in maintaining a stable relationship with someone they had to work with on a daily basis. Our Human resource managers still have several important roles to play in:
- In devising the procedures in providing specialist advice
- In providing specialist advice
- In ensuring that everyone is aware of the procedures and acts consistently
- In ensuring that line managers are suitably trained
- In monitoring the effectiveness of the procedures.
Features of our disciplinary procedure
We gave a lists the following as being good features which should be contained in a disciplinary procedure. According good disciplinary procedures should:
- Be in writing
- Be non-discriminatory
- Provide for matters to be dealt with speedily
- Allow for information to be kept confidential
- Tell employees what disciplinary actions might be taken
- Say what levels of management have the authority to take the various forms of disciplinary action
- Require employees to be informed of complaints against them and of supporting evidence before a disciplinary hearing
- Give employees a change to stange their case before management reaches a decisión
- Provide employees with the right to be accompanied
- Provided that no employee is dismissed for a first breach of discipline except for gross misconduct
- Require management to investigate fully before any disciplinary action is taken
- Ensure that employees are given an explanation for any sanction and allow employees to appeal against a decisión.
- Apply to all employees irrespective of their length of service, status or say if there are different rules for different groups.
It may seem obvious that rules should that rules should be in writing that any disciplinary cases should be kept confidential and that disciplinary issues should be dealt with quickly. If they are not written down people will remember the rules differently and varying approaches to discipline will occur, this becomes an even greater problema if there is a log time lapse before an investigation occurs as witnesses can forget what has actually occurred. The rules should not discriminate against or disadvantage any specific group. The management must ensure that these rules are available to everyone the rules may also need to be translated into other languages where english is not the first language of some of the workers. The disciplinary rules should also be explained orally for new workers during the induction period. This will be of help to those with a disability such as a visual impairment, who may also require a large print, braille ora n audio versión of the procedure but will also ensure any workers who are unable to read will know of the rules an will avoid the risk of them experiencing inadvertent discrimination. Employees may otherwise be uncertain as to what they may and may not do.