The prospect of disciplining employees can make managers nervous. That’s understandable. No one enjoys those conversations, but when warranted, they’re a necessary part of the employment relationship. And employees often come to appreciate the feedback they receive, as it gives them an opportunity to improve their performance or behavior and keep their job. Here are our tips for successful discipline:

Train managers on the policies they’re supposed to enforce. If managers don’t understand these policies, their enforcement can become inconsistent and subject to bias. In these circumstances, discipline can appear unfair. Worse, it can open the organization up to costly discrimination claims.

📌 Investigate allegations before acting on them. Sometimes, in a rush to correct wrongdoing or poor performance, a manager will discipline an employee after hearing only one side of the story. For example, a restaurant customer complains about rude service, and the server is immediately written up and given no chance to explain what happened from their point of view. Such adverse actions tell employees they can be penalized even if they do nothing wrong, causing them to feel resentment, fear, and distrust.

📌 Written warnings are best drafted by the manager and reviewed by HR. An employee’s manager often has firsthand knowledge of an infraction or unacceptable performance, making them the right person to draft the written warning. HR can collaborate with the manager by reviewing the warning to ensure that it’s factual, unemotional, thorough, clear, tied to a company policy, and consistent with how others have been treated under similar circumstances in the past.

📌 Corrective action is best delivered by the employee’s direct manager. This tells the employee that their manager is invested in their success and is willing to help them improve. Leaving corrective action to HR tells employees that they’re “someone else’s problem” and that their manager may not be fully vested in enforcing the company’s policies and practices.

📌 During a disciplinary meeting, a witness can help document what was said and done. Not every disciplinary meeting needs a witness, though—especially if the issue is a minor one, or it’s a first conversation about performance issues. In these cases, whether to have a witness present can be left to each manager’s discretion. A witness is more useful for a meeting that‘s likely to escalate, either due to the nature of the issue or discipline, or the temper of the employee.

📌 In situations where minor policy violations are an ongoing issue, a progressive approach is often best. For a first offense, you might start with an oral warning, then move to a written warning, final warning, and then termination if the issue persists.

📌 Document every disciplinary action taken and the outcomes of those actions. Documentation shows that you made a good faith effort to help the employee improve their performance or behavior.