EMPLOYEE DISCIPLINE & CONDUCT

[Published in Manila Bulletin last October 2011]

Just like in school, an Employee’s “behavior and conduct” is monitored, measured and graded. Whether formally or informally, most employers, bosses or managers need to master the art of Employee Discipline to ensure that business operations would run smoothly, the team performs well and workforce productivity is as its best.

Newly promoted supervisors and managers often find that this is one of the most difficult areas of people management. How do you make sure that your subordinates are all doing their jobs to the best of their abilities? How do you correct preventable mistakes and errors? And what do you do with unprofessional attitude and behavior?

Defining Your Leadership Style

Like a parent or teacher that deals with children, a manager often has to make a conscious choice in how to deal with employees. For instance, if you were a boss, what type of boss would you like to be? Are you going to be strict or lenient? Authoritative or approachable?

Most employees will immediately say that they would like a lenient and approachable boss. And newly promoted supervisors and managers, more often than not, want to be a likeable boss. This is fine in the beginning until sooner or later you realize that you have to make unpopular but sound decisions. You have to rectify errors and correct bad behavior. Then you have to adjust your style and define boundaries.

Setting Boundaries

Employee discipline is quite similar to parenting and teaching. As a parent or teacher, you want your child to learn and grow up to be a responsible person. Along the way, you have to teach your child what’s right and what’s wrong, what’s acceptable and what’s not, so that the child can adapt well to society.

In the same way, effective employers have clearly defined company policies that they expect employees to follow. This is immediately discussed upon hiring of an employee so that the new employee can adjust well to the workplace.

If an employee knows what is expected of him or her, then it is much easier to meet those expectations as opposed to having no idea at all of what the company wants.

Rewards and Punishment

Once a new employee is inducted, the employer starts to monitor the attitude, behavior and performance of the individual. Like parents and teachers, good performance is often rewarded with recognition, incentives, awards and bonuses. Needless to say, people like this and these types of positive reinforcement results in high morale and better productivity.

However, more often than not, employees make mistakes or have bad days. If a small error is made, a simple talk to correct the person is often enough. However, if the mistake becomes a habit or if the deed is grave, then disciplinary action is often done.

Disciplinary Action

Now being disciplined is not something normal people enjoy. I mean, who wants to be corrected, right? No one wants to go through the humiliation of being at the receiving end of that dreaded verbal or written warning. Not a lot of people want to be suspended particularly because workplace suspensions usually mean no pay. Worst of all, it just sucks to be fired.

That is why Disciplinary Actions are often viewed and received in a negative light. Meanwhile, HR professionals, the people who process these things, have the difficult job of being the messenger of such news. This is one of the least favorite tasks of HR professionals. It is a difficult job, but someone has to do it.

Consistent Disciplinary Process

Although this is not a popular area of people management, it is necessary for companies to have standard and consistent disciplinary policies and processes. Like most grown up children, employees will eventually realize that there’s security in rules and regulations since it sets clear boundaries on how all people in the workplace should act… that these guidelines actually give peace and order. It helps to know what to expect.

Just like parents who have clear rules and consistent discipline strategies, employers who have formal disciplinary processes will eventually be able to provide an environment where workers can easily adjust to. In the same way, parents and employers who do not have clear guidelines for rewards and punishments, will only confuse people more.

Positive Employee Discipline

But the real challenge for Employers, HR professional, Managers and Supervisors is this: How do you discipline an employee in a positive way?

The answer lies in the right mix of policies, communication, performance measurements, disciplinary processes, rewards and punishment practices. In our Human Resource Management Seminars on Employee Discipline and Conduct, we explore both the legal and practical aspects of Employee Discipline as well as best practices in this field.

There are concrete steps that can be taken to ensure that employees are corrected in a positive and effective way wherein their dignity remains intact. This results to a well-motivated and self-monitoring workforce that’s exciting to manage.

I believe each employer, boss, manager or supervisor must master the art of Employee Discipline. It is not a task that’s meant to control an employee, rather it is a pursuit in developing and letting people grow. After all, the job of the leader is not to make followers but to build future leaders.