Verbal Warnings: When Employee Discipline is Necessary

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As a supervisor or manager, you must be able to conduct both positive and negative employee meetings. This includes giving verbal warnings. If you conduct it effectively, the employees should feel that you are giving them a chance to correct the behavior and avoid missing growth opportunities within the company.

To give a verbal warning, follow these steps. First, prepare in advance. Document in the problem, and how the employees behavior conflicts with company expectations. As you do this, make sure the employee is aware of the company's expectations. Is there any written documentation showing that the employee is aware of these expectations? Did the employee sign the employee handbook acknowledgment?

You will also want to consider mitigating circumstances. This may include business conditions as well as conflicting directions. Review the employee file for prior documentation. You want to look for performance appraisals. Records of previous warnings and similar records. Decide on a time and place where the meeting will not be interrupted. Make sure to conduct a meeting privately and away from co-workers.

Third, get right to the point. Ask questions which encourage the employee to provide an explanation or give you more information. Let the employee talk about what is happening and why their performance is not meeting company expectations. Doing so will help you finish the discussion with a clearer view of the problem and the employee will likely feel that their concerns have been considered.

Fourth, come to an agreement about how the employee's performance is going to improve. Let the employee know that they are important to the team and reiterate your expectations so that there's no confusion.

Finally, follow up with the employee by emailing a summary of the discussion. Ask the employee to confirm they received the email and that they understood the conversation in the same way. Print and place a copy of the email and returned acknowledgment and the employee's file.

After discussing the problem, if the employee does not seem serious about improving, you must take a firmer approach. Reiterate the importance of changing their behavior and let them know that if they don't improve, they could lose their job. Tell them that at this point you're giving them a verbal warning that will be placed in their personnel file. If the conversation has been positive, let the employee know that you are glad to have had the discussion and that you are confident in their ability to meet expectations going forward.

We help clients avoid common legal mistakes with contracts, entity formation, or human resource issues. Legal costs and damages can cost $150,000! The financial hits of litigation can shut down a business. Dana’s 20 years of experience brings value and relief to small business owners who want to avoid court. Dana has made the whole process of “getting a lawyer” not only easy, but affordable with set pricing and monthly plans to spread out the costs of protecting the business.

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