Documenting Discipline and PerformanceUnderground Vaults & Storage, Inc.

06/2009

Review of Performance Management• Set performance expectations

• Clear, Concise, Comprehensible, Correct• Collect data to measure performance

• Facts, reports, documented, objective• Compare results and expectations

• Honestly, equally• Corrective action if needed• It is up to YOU

Training Overview• Reasons for Documentation• Rules of Documentation

• Know your audience• Follow the rules• Tell the story

• Review difficult conversation training points• Employee signature

Reasons for Documentation• Critical for substantiation if action is questioned • Protects business in your absence• Memory alone will not suffice in grievance,

unemployment, or any other form of lawsuit• Helps to support you as a supervisor• Provides documentation that employee heard and

understood information presented• Helps employee understand difference between

corrective action and friendly reminder

Reasons for Documentation• Improves employee performance• Juries distrust employers and expect employers to

provide documentation of problems • 74% of jurors believe that employers must provide fair

warning, must ensure the employee fully understands the policies violated, and employers must show documentation of working with employees to improve

• 90% of jurors felt employers were negligent if didn’t provide documentation of performance centered conversations

Rules of Documentation• Know your Audience

• Primary audience for documentation is employee• Secondary audience for documentation is lawyers,

judges, juries, supervisors• To accurately convey situation and policy breach to all

audiences;• Tell the story – explain the problem and impact on others• Avoid jargon or terms specific to our company• Include documented dates and conversations that

occurred prior to formal documentation• Employee signature or when applicable documentation

that employee refused to sign

Rules of Documentation• Follow the Rules

• Review handbook, policies and procedures for support and reinforcement

• Firm, Fair and Consistent• How have situations been handled in the past• Must treat everyone equally

• Be aware of employees legal rights• HR involvement if needed

Rules of Documentation• Tell the Story

• Fact gathering• Attach any supporting documents• Do not use labels, conclusions drawn, heresay

• Copy and paste policy violated into the document• Highlight any prior conversations concerning the

violated policy with dates and detailed information• Allow employee to express their opinion• Describe behavior expected in future

Rules of Documentation• Avoid listing timelines until next level of corrective

action• Include wording stating consequences for not

correcting the problem – “will result in corrective action up to and including termination”

• Avoid noting the employees performance otherwise – no “but” or “usually” situations

• Ex; you come to work on time, but workplace violence is unacceptable

Difficult Conversations• Think about it as trying to manage outcomes in the

future, not as disciplining for past events• Confront the problem, not the person• Agenda of issues with factual documentation• Practice • Consider responses and reactions

Difficult Conversations• Describe problem specifically• Listen and acknowledge their point of view• Summarize their point of view• Clarify your expectations• Agree on a solution• Express confidence in employee

Difficult Conversations• In closing;

• Clarify who will do what and agree on those items• Agree to disagree and commit to joint efforts toward

specified outcome• DOCUMENT!• Follow-up on commitments and expectations

discussed• Document every conversation• Partner with HR and Supervisor

Employee Signature• Signing that they will work to change the behavior• If they disagree, you have documentation that you

discussed this with the employee• Employee has the right to disagree with

documentation• If employee refuses to sign the document, reiterate

that the signature is just acknowledging that you discussed the situation with them.

• If they still refuse to sign, notate the refusal to sign on the document