One of the hardest parts of holding a managerial or CEO position is have the responsibility to discipline, and possibly terminate, an employee.
Employee performance is almost always a hard conversation, because there is always room for improvement, raises, praises, but with that comes harsh lessons for some, issues with retention, and possibly a convoluted organizational structure.
As the ‘boss’ you are representing your company, whether you own it or now, because of the position you’ve accepted.
So where should you turn to first? Always, always, always – the employer handbook.
An employee handbook is one of the best ways to ensure fair, uniform treatment of employees. It outlines your company’s policies, expectations for staff, and ensures compliance with state and federal law, and will help determine the legal and ethical ways to discipline and terminate employees.
***As a benefit of membership, NAE’s HR professionals will review your employee handbook and suggest revisions as needed to ensure it is compliant with federal and state law.***
NAE recommends all employers, but particularly its members, take advantage of an employee handbook review on at least an annual basis to ensure they remain compliant with applicable laws and regulations.
When disciplining or attempting to fire an employee, you must check the company’s disciplinary plan before addressing the employee in question. Should any legal action be taken against an employer, the first thing a judge will look at are the company’s written policies and procedures.
Which sort of disciplinary plan does your company use? One of the more common disciplinary plans is the progressive discipline is a performance management strategy in which supervisors employ progressively more severe penalties for misconduct.
HR professionals are charged with managing the employment function at their company, including recruitment, selection, and retention of employees – in many plans, HR professionals can be indirectly, or sometimes very directly involved in the termination or discipline of an employee, that is why in these situations it is extremely important to DOCUMENT EVERYTHING.
One of the characteristics of a successful business is a well-trained staff. Sometimes re-educating staff or a few employees can really turn around the employee, and can be used as a form of disciplinary action as well.
NAE offers businesses throughout the state of Nevada excellent training programs designed to ensure businesses can develop and maintain an effective workforce. NAE offers training programs for HR professionals, managers, supervisors, and all other employees.
FOR MEMBERS: members get access to NAE’s Model Employee Handbook, which is up to date with current state and federal regulations. NAE’s Model Employee Handbook is available for download from our Member Portal.
