What is the best way to address employee misconduct?

Question

Misconduct can range from minor to major infractions but please identify how severe the conduct is that you are addressing when you respond.

Answer 1

One on one---direct from supervisor to employee.

If the severity of the misconduct warrants a written notation in the Employee's Record, by all means do so. At that point it may be necessary to develop a specific plan of remediation---so there is no wiggle room to cover future infractions of the same type.

If there is a possibility that something done by an employee is illegal---then, hopefully, your HR Policy & Procedures speaks to how and when you must call in the appropriate authorities.

Answer 2

Whatever the misconduct, you start at the bottom, that is have the immediate supervisor talk to the employee rather than someone higher and keep it discreet. Offer the employee a chance to explain. If the misconduct is mild, let it go, a reprimand is sufficient. If it is somewhere between minor and major, point out that the employee is on notice for any further infractions. If the employee offended someone in your office or a client, have the employee apologize to them and insure that it won't happen again, so you are legally protected. If it is a major infraction or a repeat offense, then hopefully it is written down in your rules. At such point, you may fire the employee because he had been alerted. If you are too small to have written rules or it's a first time offense but a very serious one, you might have to consult a lawyer. Notice is always required but then again allowing a sexual harasser to stay on will get you in more trouble than firing him without notice. However minor the infraction, keep records of notices and reprimands, as well as, if you can, the infraction itself. Documentation protects you legally.

Answer 3

Any punishment entails the emloyee to be a stubborn employee. Penalty to an employee should only be a last resort, whell all other methods have failed. Pursuation is the best policy. Just bring to is knowledge to what extent he has harmed the interests of the organization. For first offence must ask for his explanation about the misconduct. It may be possible that on account of some compelling circumstances the offence might have ccured without his knowledge. Even if he is found guilty of that offence he should not be punished but a simple warning may be awarded, clearly mentioning that although he deserved stringent punishment, yet the warning has been made taking a very lenient view. But for the second offence a harsh warning be given to mend his ways. Keep a record of every misconduct, so that if he does not mend his ways, he should be chargesheeted and sever penalty be imposed to be a lesson for all other employees also to restrain them from doing such type of misconducts.

Answer 4

Before we diversify minor and major misconducts, the first point is the misconduct should be acceptable by the employee. Anger is reactive hence we should avoid it. We must not see ourselves or the employee in some other shoes. We must explain the principle which is infringed and misconduct has committed.
With the above three points the misconduct can be addressed. Punishment will not be the real solution for all misconducts. It depends upon each individual case, the intention behind and number of repititions committed. I hope this would suffice your question.

Answer 5

Before firing or laying off an employee, there are 3 critical termination factors you must consider. Factor #1: Fight Or Flight… How The Problem Employee Will Take Advantage Of You Factor #2: Your Problem Employee Will Destroy Your Morale and Results… If You Don’t Do Something About It Today
Factor #3: The Longer You Wait… The Harder It Is To Terminate The Problem Employee Knowing these 3 factors will help you decide when it's time to fire the problem employee.
Once you decide to terminate, you must know how. You'll discover that terminating is much easier and less risky than you thought.

Answer 6

Working for a large TeleCom myself, we handle it in two ways:

Suspension or depending on the severity, termination of employment.

Obviously minor conduct issues (such as being late for work, or returning from lunch) are tallied up and after a certain number is reached within a certain time frame, employees get suspended without pay. If this manner continues though to an even higher number, termination is warranted.

Major conduct issues (such as sexual harassment, insubordination, and theft) are grounds for immediate termination once an investigation into the accusations have been verified.

Answer 7

Any misconduct let go will grow more and more severe. Employees will think that you are either a push over, don't care or are giving them silent approval for what they are doing. Always pull the person aside when talking to them, don't do it in front of the staff, that just make you look bad. Be understanding and try to get them to offer ways they can fix their problem, don't do it for them. When they do, setup a time frame and hold them accountable.

Answer 8

Every company has a HR policy.Equally there is problem of labour.But one has to differentiate between deliberate misconduct and whether it is unintentional.In misconduct,the best policy is to strictly adhere to the company's HR policy and no Union can afford supporting misconduct these days.

Answer 9

Well it should always be conducted in an office with as few people as possable... Thats why most personel managers have offices and doors... Your not trying to embaress the employee just correct an action that is not exceptable...
Next you should always be profesional.

Other then that the action that you take should be easy to decide. It should be in the rules normally... Your just following procedure.

Answer 10

One thing to keep in mind is to always give posituve remarks to
an employee in front of the other emplyoyees and give negative remarks to an employee in private. Give credit where credit is due. Don't praise everyone for the actions of a single person.