Progressive discipline is known as a process of dealing with job-related behaviour that does not meet anticipated and communicated performance standards.
Usually, the main purpose of progressive discipline is to assist the employee to comprehend a performance problem or opportunity for improvement.
It is important to note that the process of progressive discipline is not proposed as a punishment for an employee, but to rather support the employee to overcome performance problems and fulfil job expectations.
According to Brian Mugisha, a businessman in Kigali, progressive discipline helps you to avoid the reactions of letting workplace problems remain uncurbed.
He says, if an employer or manager doesn’t mediate, the employee may not know that their behaviour or actions are improper.
Mugisha carries on that if such behaviour is ignored, employees are not the only people affected, but the company as well, hence resulting in low productivity, low morale, and at times, losing customers.
He also states that progressive discipline requires you to open up about your expectations to employees, but also be unbiased while obliging discipline, and making employees become part of the procedure of progress, and to file your arrangements and choices suitably.
"The beauty about progressive discipline is that it allows managers to correct employee behaviour once they sense trouble. It also boosts communication between managers and employees. Perhaps, it avoids expensive replacement costs,” Mugisha notes.
How to implement it
Experts state that when enforcing progressive discipline, it is vital for employees to have a clear understanding of the stages to be taken in the instance that disciplinary action is required.
For example, when an issue arises with an employee, ensure you completely recognise the situation and its cause, before taking disciplinary action. This may require you to interview other team members, without revealing your intentions and make it a point to keep the employee’s privacy in mind or even monitor the employee for days or weeks to gather the data you need to support disciplinary action.
Mugisha explains that progressive discipline has categories and one of these is a verbal warning. A verbal warning is more informal. This makes the employee aware of the breach and is given a chance to find solutions.
The businessman carries on that the second category is a written warning; this is more formal and is mostly delivered if the verbal warning doesn’t upshoot a positive change in the worker’s conduct. It can also aim at confirming that there are no further consequences. This written warning goes into the employee’s personnel file.
He adds that if the steps are not followed, a suspension can be imposed, with or without pay. This can be done as the manager inquires, before further action is taken. It can also be a final warning to the employee that if the behaviour is not better, they will be terminated.
He says the last step is termination as it can stipulate that the employee is not willing to change regardless of chances given to them.
The Balance Careers, a credible website for professional and business topics, states that you can take the employee to or set up a meeting with the employee in a private office. If you anticipate difficulty, and always at the stage of the written verbal warning, it’s smart to ask an HR person or another manager to sit in on the meeting so that there is a third party witness present.
In such cases, the employee may deny their character, possible, you will want to have witnessed the behaviour yourself rather than enforcing discipline based on co-worker opinions. It’s not always possible for you to time your observation of the behaviour when it is occurring.