Progressive discipline checklist

Follow these steps in exercising progressive discipline with an employee:

Before the Meeting

• Arrange to meet with the employee privately. Do not discipline an employee in public or in front of other workers.

• Prepare for the meeting by reviewing your notes and files about both the specific incident or problem in question and any past discipline taken, either verbal or written.

During the Meeting

• Explain to the employee why you've called the meeting if the employee doesn't know already.

• State the specific problem in terms of actual performance and desired performance.

• Review your progressive discipline policy/program with the employee, and explain what steps have been taken already and what the next step is.

• Give the employee a chance to respond, explain and defend his or her actions.

• Acknowledge the employee's story and be sure to include it in your notes of the discipline session.

• Tell the employee that you expect his or her behavior to change. Give specific examples and suggestions.

• Indicate your confidence in the employee's ability and willingness to change the behavior.

• Have the employee repeat back to you or otherwise confirm that he or she understands the problem and is clear on what changes are expected.

• Explain to the employee that you will write a memo summarizing the session as documentation.

• Reassure the employee that you value his or her work and that you want to work with the employee to make sure that he or she can continue to work at your business.

After the Meeting

• Using your notes from the session, write a memo or other documentation that summarizes the conversation.

• If a written warning has been issued, be sure to give the employee the opportunity to sign any documentation for the file.

• Give the employee a copy of the document no later than the end of the day following the conversation.

• If the employee has other supervisors, distribute copies to them, but emphasize that the information is confidential and not to be shared with anyone else.

• Monitor the employee's behavior and performance to make sure that the problem has been corrected.

After a discipline session, you will want to make some documentation based on your notes. Use this checklist to make sure you include everything you need in your documentation.