Is inappropriate employee behaviour causing issues for your business? An in-house HR team would typically step in at this point and take disciplinary action.
This can be a particular challenge for startups and small businesses that don’t have an existing HR team working within the company.
Fortunately, the expert professionals at NORi HR are here to help managers regain control with our straightforward step-by-step guide to disciplinary action.
Below, we explain what is meant by ‘disciplinary action’ as well as why (and when) it becomes a necessary route to follow when dealing with employee misconduct.
To aid your understanding of this process, we also include plenty of disciplinary action examples.
What is disciplinary action?
Disciplinary action, also referred to as a disciplinary procedure, is a way in which employers can deal with employee misconduct in the workplace.
Instead of taking a staff member for a quiet word, this is a formal process that acts as a reprimand or corrective action to help tackle unwanted employee behaviour or action.
In terms of a set, disciplinary action meaning, Cambridge Dictionary describes it as “a method for dealing with a worker who causes problems or does not obey company rules, for example, by removing them from their job.”
However, taking disciplinary action doesn’t always mean dismissing the member of staff.
What qualifies for disciplinary action?
A wide range of employee behaviour or action can warrant disciplinary action. This includes misconduct (unacceptable or inappropriate behaviour), rule violation (breaking workplace guidelines), as well as poor performance (capability).
Behaviour that warrants disciplinary action can vary in severity.
Typically, the least serious employee behaviour or action is labelled ‘misconduct’, with more serious cases known as ‘serious misconduct’, and particularly serious incidents referred to as ‘gross misconduct’.
For example, more serious ‘gross misconduct’ cases that require disciplinary action include physical violence against other staff members or customers, fraud, and gross negligence – where the employee demonstrates a significant lack of care or responsibility for their duties.
However, less serious employee actions (‘misconduct’) can also require disciplinary action.
This includes misconduct in the form of persistent lateness or unauthorised absences from work. Between ‘misconduct’ and ‘gross misconduct’, ‘serious misconduct’ includes any employee actions that are likely to have caused serious harm to the organisation.
Examples of ‘serious misconduct’ include causing substantial risk to the health and safety of another employee or seriously damaging the profits of the business.
Why is disciplinary action necessary?
Depending on the severity of the employee’s behaviour, in many cases, disciplinary action is deemed necessary to simply let the employee know that their performance or conduct isn’t as expected or desired.
Often, this action acts as encouragement or provides managers with an opportunity to discuss issues and deliver formal warnings.
An incredibly valuable management tool, having a set disciplinary action procedure can ensure equal employee treatment and help to prevent claims of unlawful discrimination or unfair dismissal. This is because every employer is required to provide their employees with a written statement of their employment terms.
Terms of employment document should specify the disciplinary rules, expected conduct, and standard of performance for employees. The staff handbook is typically where employees will be directed to find information surrounding disciplinary and grievance procedures as well as information regarding how sickness, lateness, and employee absences are handled by the company.
These well-documented disciplinary action procedures are vital for providing evidence should your business be faced with discrimination or unfair dismissal allegations from a current or previous employee.
What is an example of disciplinary action?
Due to the wide range of employee misconduct behaviours, varying from minor to much more serious, there’s a correlating selection of disciplinary actions a business can take. For less serious employee misconduct, a verbal warning, written warning, or performance improvement plan may suffice.
More serious employee misconduct behaviours may be disciplined with a temporary pay cut, a loss of privileges, or even suspension from the workplace.
Disciplinary action examples for gross misconduct, on the other hand, can extend to immediate dismissal (so long as you carry out an investigation and follow a fair disciplinary procedure first).
By way of illustration, one of the most well-known HR employee misconduct issues revolves around persistence lateness and unauthorised absences. This behaviour has a negative impact on workplace productivity, team morale, and can lead to a lower quality of work/less work being completed than required or expected.
In this instance, a relevant disciplinary action may be to hold a meeting to review the evidence of recorded lateness and unauthorised absences.
The cause(s) of this behaviour can then be discussed, allowing both parties to work towards a more favourable outcome. Alternatively, a formal verbal warning can be issued.
What are the four types of disciplinary actions?
While there are many different types of specific disciplinary actions that can be taken to help combat employee misconduct, there are four key types of disciplinary measures managers and CEOs should be aware of when creating a disciplinary procedure.
We explore each one of these disciplinary actions in more detail below to help you understand when it’s best to consider using them.
Verbal warning
Typically, the first step in any disciplinary procedure, a verbal warning is simply a spoken discussion between a manager and the employee. They will discuss the problematic behaviour or poor performance and a verbal warning (be it informal or formal) will be given to the employee.
An informal verbal warning can be as simple as an amicable chat between the manager and employee to identify any issues causing the behaviour and to have a friendly discussion on how these issues can be rectified. A formal warning, on the other hand, maybe a recorded meeting with evidence and several relevant attendees.
It should be explained that in the event that their problematic behaviour or performance isn’t rectified or hasn’t been at least improved, there may be additional, more serious disciplinary actions to follow. These verbal warnings are usually given for only relatively minor misconduct or related to poor performance.
Written warning
A written warning is a more formal warning than the verbal alternative, but it can also be given after an initial verbal warning if the problematic conduct doesn’t improve. While a written warning will be given in accordance with the company’s disciplinary procedure, it is often given at the end of a disciplinary procedure.
This is because a formal written warning can only be issued once it has been confirmed that unwanted or inappropriate employee behaviour is taking place. It is used to highlight that the employer’s concerns are serious and indicate to the employee that they are moving towards dismissal if the behaviour continues.
Often, a first written warning will be issued to the employee. This will explain why they’ve received the warning, which changes are required (and within what timescale), as well as the consequences of not making these changes.
A final written warning will follow if the employee continues to act unfavourably, can’t make the changes within the given timeframe, or doesn’t meet any other requirements set out in the first written warning.
It’s important to note, however, that written warnings must be warranted. If possible, a verbal warning is often the best way to help resolve poor performance or misconduct before it progresses to the point of conducting an investigation and sending them a written warning.
Suspension
Suspension is simply when an employer instructs their employee not to work for a certain period of time. Suspensions are commonly used for more serious cases of misconduct, often allowing a thorough investigation to take place while the concerned employee isn’t in the workplace.
This temporary removal from their role within the business is often still with pay. A common part of many disciplinary procedures, especially if a serious claim of misconduct has been made against the employee, they will still be employed by the company, they just won’t be asked to work during this time.
Dismissal
Also referred to as termination, immediate dismissal as a first disciplinary action is rare. This form of dismissal is typically a result of gross misconduct, such as fraud and physical violence.
However, dismissal can also follow at the end of a disciplinary procedure if the unwanted behaviour hasn’t been rectified following a final written warning.
In order to ensure allegations of unfair dismissal can’t be made against your business, it’s vital that you make a record of all warnings and communications with the employee to use as evidence. You should also ensure that you strictly follow your set disciplinary procedure, any deviation could land you in a costly and time-consuming tribunal case.
When should you take disciplinary action?
Before you can take the required disciplinary action, you’ll need to conduct a full investigation into the alleged misconduct or poor performance. If the allegations are serious, suspension may be necessary to keep the employee away from the workplace until the investigation has been completed.
During this time, you should collect as much information as possible regarding the problematic performance or conduct. Physical evidence such as emails, paperwork, receipts, phone and computer records, CCTV footage, and attendance records can all be used as long as this information has been gathered in accordance with the law and with respect to the employee’s right to privacy.
Once enough information has been gathered to ascertain that employee misconduct has occurred or their poor performance has become problematic for the business, the employer can call a disciplinary hearing. The employee should be given all the details of the hearing prior to the meeting including any evidence, the issue, their rights, as well as the time and date of the hearing.
The disciplinary hearing involves the explanation of the alleged misconduct or performance issue and a discussion of the evidence. The employee can then reply to these allegations, ask questions, go through their own evidence, and even ask relevant witnesses to attend. They are also allowed to take a companion with them if desired.
Once the hearing has come to an end, the employer should make a written record of the notes taken during the meeting and let the employee know the next steps of the procedure and when they can expect a decision.
What are disciplinary decisions?
A disciplinary decision is simply the act of choosing a disciplinary action following the outcome of the disciplinary hearing. A fair decision should be made based on the outcome of the investigation and hearing. The decision may be a formal written warning, a performance plan, suspension, or dismissal. In some cases, there may be no action needed at all.
You should inform the employee of your disciplinary decision as soon as possible.
According to the ACAS Code of Practice, the employee does have the right to appeal this decision, so it’s important you make them aware of the deadline for their appeal to ensure you stick to the appropriate disciplinary procedure.
Receive disciplinary action advice in an instant
Many startups and small businesses tend not to have an internal HR team until the business grows and becomes more sustainable. In the meantime, how can you be sure that your business is taking fair disciplinary action? Cue, NORi HR.
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This extensive package provides businesses of all shapes and sizes with access to disciplinary action advice.
Including everything from HR document management to HR software and a HR advice helpline, it provides comprehensive cover and offers peace of mind to businesses that might not have an existing internal HR team.
Once you’ve signed up, our professional team will get to work analysing your HR requirements and identifying any gaps straight away as you’re guided through our HR onboarding service. This covers annual leave, staff contracts, trade unions, and even disciplinary action.
Prices for this package start at just £95 plus VAT per month, so please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you’d like to find out more.
To learn more about disciplinary meaning or to discuss your HR requirements with an experienced member of our team, simply give us a call on 01254 947829. Alternatively, you can also request a callback by filling in our handy online contact form.
