As a business leader, you give your employees the freedom to express themselves, provided that they follow the codes of conduct. But what happens when your workers break the rules? 

You might need to take disciplinary action. 

Since disciplinary action is vital for any human resource department, knowing when to apply it ensures that you and your workers benefit as much as possible.

In this article, we discuss: 

• What employee disciplinary action is
• Examples of employee misbehavior
• How to discipline an employee 

What Is Disciplinary Action?

In other words, it’s a corrective action that stops and reprimands an employee’s unacceptable behavior that might harm the reputation and success of your company. 

It aims to let the employee know about the problem and offers them the chance to ameliorate their conduct, while minimizing these disruptions. 

As a result, it lets people: 

• Improve their future behavior
• Meet company goals and expectations
• Observe rules and procedures
• Function in a team-based environment

There are many types of disciplinary actions, such as a written reprimand or verbal warning, demotion, disciplinary suspension, reassignment, and even termination. 

However, it might not be that easy to recognize when an employee misbehaves or if they just had a bad day. 

Continue your read as we’ll show you examples of employee behavior that qualify for disciplinary action.

Examples of Employee Behavior that Qualify for Disciplinary Action

While you might have some obvious guidelines regarding employee behavior, some actions are unwelcome anywhere:

• Employee misconduct: A behavioral issue harmful to your organization, often leading to termination. It’s a deliberate violation of a company’s policies that jeopardizes an employer’s trust in an employee. Actions might include gross misconduct, such as intentional property damage, or benign acts, like not showing up on time. 
• Sexual harassment: Unwanted behavior of a sexual nature that leaves someone offended, humiliated, or frightened. The act is not always about sex, but about the harasser being hostile towards the victim or abusing power. It’s a serious problem that hurts an employee’s well-being and harms productivity in the workplace. Acts can include suggestive or demeaning comments, offensive touching, or even demands for sexual contact in return for benefits or promotions. 
• Discrimination: This occurs when someone treats a person differently and less favorably because of their race, sexuality, gender, or specific characteristics. No matter the intent, or whether it was deliberate or accidental, discrimination between coworkers or during the hiring process is unlawful. 
• Absenteeism and tardiness: Absenteeism is when an employee fails to show up to work when they’re supposed to. While it’s normal to miss work due to an emergency or illness, absenteeism happens without notice and can impact other employees’ productivity. On a similar note, tardiness is when employees show up consistently late. Like absenteeism, irregular lateness due to unforeseen circumstances is normal, but when it becomes a pattern, it’s a cause for corrective action. 
• Poor employee performance: Prompted by a job’s tasks and responsibilities or an employee’s behavior within a team, poor work performance is that which falls below expectations and can’t be attributed to any external factors. Performance issues sometimes reveal more severe problems, such as unhappiness or disengagement in the workplace. 
• Bullying: Unwanted behavior from a person or group that is intimidating, malicious, or insulting. Or you can describe it as an abuse of power that causes emotional harm to someone. It’s verbal or physical and happens between employer and employees or just between employees. Examples can include extreme performance monitoring or deliberate exclusion from meetings or events.  
• Violating dress codes: Many employees have different views on acceptable outfits. If you don’t have procedures explaining your dress code policies and their consequences, employees might wear inappropriate outfits unknowingly. You can implement a uniform policy with branded apparel to create a consistent brand image. 

That’s a lot to chew on, but we hope you understand what behaviors qualify for disciplinary action. 

Moving forward, let’s see how you can discipline misbehaving employees. 

How to Discipline an Employee

When an employee disrespects your company’s rules, it’s time to start the disciplinary process to promote a healthier and happier workplace. 

Here are the steps to consider when facing insubordination: 

Tip #1: Hold a private meeting with the employee 

The first step of any disciplinary action is a verbal warning in private.

It means setting up a disciplinary meeting in an office where others can’t hear you. Consider notifying HR of the first warning or include them in the discussion along with a written conversation record. 

During the meeting, you can explain several aspects of the employee’s behavior, such as:

• The exact nature of what happened
• Why it’s considered a violation of your discipline policy
• What corrective actions to take

Go to these meetings with an open mind. 

Think about corrective measures that don’t so much punish employees as help them grow, and discuss reasons why the misconduct happened to prevent it in the future. 

Author’s Tip: Be prepared to answer any questions and outline that you’re ready to correct their behavior. 

Tip #2: Create a written warning

Often, the second step of the discipline process requires you to write a more formal written notice. This might happen if there’s been no improvement in the employee’s behavior since your last discussion. 

Usually, you fill out a disciplinary action form where you document and report the incident and describe the corrective actions you will take if the problem persists. 

The employee then reads and signs the letter to show they understand its content. This formal notice often acts as the beginning of a probation period during which the management observes the employee. 

Tip #3: Conduct an HR investigation

Conducting an HR investigation and reviewing an employee’s file, especially when it deals with serious issues like harassment, gross misconduct, or bullying, is the third step of the process. 

This step requires the employee, an HR representative, and a supervisor to meet, where they can discuss and resolve the issue. It also informs the employee that every misbehavior past this point might lead to disciplinary suspension and even termination. 

This investigation helps ensure you treat everyone fairly while fostering a safer work environment for your staff. 

Tip #4: Consider imposing penalties

The last step before termination is imposing penalties.

It means that employees receive sanctions, such as demotion or suspension of pay, and a loss of certain privileges. You can outline these penalties in the employee-discipline policy so it doesn’t take workers by surprise. 

If nothing works, you can fire the employee for continued violations. The HR department approves the final decision to terminate after a thorough investigation.

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It all comes down to clearly communicating your expectations. 

Read on to see how you can do that. 

How to Communicate Disciplinary Expectations

When disciplinary expectations are unclear, it might lead to unwanted behavior that harms your reputation.

Here are some great methods for communicating these expectations: 

• Company’s brand: Brand marketing is a way to ensure you constantly deliver your organization’s values and mission to your target audience. It focuses on selling branded products that enhance your brand identity and company culture while ensuring everyone understands what your goals are. If you struggle with your brand’s image, we can help you bring it up to par! 
• Job description: Job descriptions can make or break your worker–attraction and retention efforts – a common HR challenge. Such descriptions should clearly state job duties and responsibilities, skills required to perform in the role, and disciplinary expectations, so your future hires know what awaits them. 
• The employee handbook: Generally, you can clearly outline your expectations regarding behavior and performance in a company handbook or a welcome letter, depending on the organization and available resources. This way, you keep employees informed about unwanted behavior right from the beginning. 
• Diversity training: Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are vital for any modern company. Aside from having a bigger candidate pool to choose from, diversity training motivates employees and ensures good retention rates. During the diversity training, ensure your employees understand that you don’t tolerate discrimination of any kind. 

With all these great tips, you can tackle your progressive discipline plans and create a more productive and safer workspace. 

Author’s Tip: To celebrate this achievement, you can throw a fun corporate event or reward an employee’s efforts with these wonderful gifts. 

Now Over to You

Having a robust disciplinary action policy in place will ensure you avoid unpleasant situations and even legal action. 

To function properly, you need to ensure a fair process that treats every employee equally while also amending the policy from time to time to cover all situations. 

Has this been helpful?

If yes, you might want to check out our HR glossary to find many other useful terms.