But when it comes to actually getting a procedure in place, it can all get a bit confusing, which is why we’ve put together this step-by-step guide to disciplinaries for you to follow.

Informal Action

If it’s the first time an issue has occurred, often no formal disciplinary action needs to be taken. If the issue is minor, a manager pulling the employee aside and having a quiet word in their ear can be enough to resolve things. Even informal conversations like this should still be followed up with an email that’s kept in the employee’s personnel file so that there is a record of the incident. It’s not a written or even a formal warning – just an acknowledgement of the issue and letting the employee know that their conduct needs improving.

If the issue doesn’t improve even after that informal chat, then it’s time to move forward to a more formal disciplinary procedure.

The Disciplinary Procedure Step By Step

In the UK there is an organisation called Acas, which is short for the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service. They are a part of the Department for Business and Trade, and they exist to help make the working world better for everyone. This includes providing strict guidance on how a disciplinary of any size or shape should be done, which consists of 6, well-defined, steps.

Step 1: Understanding The Options

Disciplinaries are a formal process for dealing with misconduct or capability of employees. But before you start down this route, it’s important to see if the problem can be resolved in a more informal way. As we mentioned above, having a private talk with the employee in question, and listening to their point of view can be a good way to start this. It’s important that this conversation ends with an agreement on improvements to be made, and if needed, a training and development plan to improve performance. If the issue is more about the employee’s ability to do their job, then this should be handled under a capability plan including support, training, and encouragement.

There are generally 3 reasons a disciplinary would come about:

Misconduct: The inappropriate action or behaviour of an employee, or the breaking of workplace rules. This includes things like:

• Bullying
• Harassment
• Refusing to do work (insubordination)
• Excessive absence
• Being absent without permission

Each workplace will have its own examples, but these are the most common.

Misconduct Outside the Workplace: In some cases, an employee could face disciplinary action for their conduct even if the conduct was done outside of the workplace. For example, we have handled cases of employees smoking marijuana on a break in an alley, while they were working on a nearby site. A local resident then called the company to complain, identifying who they worked for by their uniforms. In this case, even though the employees were smoking off company property and off the clock, their conduct still reflected poorly on the company, and so a disciplinary was conducted.

In these cases, whether or not you hold a disciplinary investigation depends on how seriously you as the employer see the misconduct, and whether it could have a negative impact on the business.

Gross Misconduct: More serious cases of misconduct that can have a major impact on the company and its employees, or are classed as crimes. Some examples of this would be:

• Fraud
• Physical violence
• Serious lack of care for their duties to others
• Serious insubordination (for example refusing to take reasonable orders from a supervisor)

Again, your business will have its own examples of what is considered gross misconduct.

Step 2: Following A Fair Procedure

If you have tried to resolve the issue informally with no success, then it is time to start the formal disciplinary process. You need to inform the employee that you are doing this right away, in writing. Your notice needs to include:

• Details about the issue, including sufficient information about the alleged misconduct or poor performance.
• Possible consequences, for example, a written warning.

You need to provide this to the employee so that they have enough time to prepare for a disciplinary hearing, where they will meet with you to discuss the evidence and a decision will be made.

You as an employer must follow a fair process all the way through, keeping the Acas guidelines in mind.  Keep up communication to ensure there are no misunderstandings, a drop in morale or legal action further down the line. If the employee decides to raise a grievance during the disciplinary procedure (which happens more often than you would think), then you should pause the disciplinary to deal with the grievance unless to two are related. And if the employee wants to resign (otherwise known as the ‘jump before you’re pushed’ mentality), then you should try to talk through any concerns with the employee and encourage them to complete the disciplinary procedure first.

Step 3: Carrying Out An Investigation

Now you must carry out an investigation and collect as much information as you can about the employee’s alleged misconduct or poor performance. This can include reports, CCTV footage, interviews with employees or clients, emails, or any other evidence that is relevant to the concern at hand. The more thorough you are at this stage, the less likely the outcome will be challenged.

It’s important to note that sometimes the investigation may leave you with nothing or provide evidence that there is no need for further action. In this case, the disciplinary process can be concluded.

Step 4: The Disciplinary Hearing

If the evidence you gather shows that the employee has a case to answer, then it’s time to bring the employee in for a disciplinary hearing. This is when the employer hears all of the evidence and the employee’s side and makes a final decision.

To make sure the employee has enough time to prepare for the hearing, you should inform them in writing of:

• The alleged misconduct or performance issue
• Any evidence from the investigation
• Any other information you plan to talk about
• The date and time of the hearing
• Information on the employee’s right to be accompanied to the hearing
• The possible outcomes

Employees are, by law, allowed to bring someone with them to their disciplinary hearing. Specifically, this could be:

• A work colleague,
• A workplace trade union representative who is trained in acting as a companion
• An official employed by a trade union

If the employee wants to bring someone outside of those groups to the hearing (for example a partner, legal representative), it is at the employer’s discretion.

In the hearing itself, the employer should:

• Explain the issue
• Go through the evidence
• Make sure someone takes notes

The employee should be given the chance to:

• Set out their case
• Answer any allegations
• Ask questions
• Show evidence
• Call relevant witnesses (with good notice)
• Respond to any information given by the witness
• Choose if their companion can speak for them at the hearing

Any companion should be allowed to:

• Set out the employee’s case
• Respond for the employee to any comments or points made
• Talk with the employee during the hearing
• Take notes
• Sum up the employee’s case at the end of the hearing

At the end of the disciplinary hearing, the employer should tell the employee what happens next, give a timeframe, and ensure there is a formal written record of the hearing.

Step 5: Deciding On The Outcome

Once the hearing is over, the employer needs to decide on what action should be taken, if any. This should be decided based on:

• The findings from the investigation meetings
• What is fair and reasonable
• What the workplace has done in any similar cases previously

Every workplace will have a different outcome for a disciplinary, and it’s a good idea to have your framework written out within your disciplinary policy or guidelines. A few of the more common outcomes for disciplinary procedures include:

• No action is needed
• Informal warnings
• Written warnings (employees are typically only given 2 warnings before dismissal)
• Demotion
• Support framework (with goals and timelines for improvement)
• Dismissal

Step 6: After The Disciplinary Procedure

It’s not surprising that sometimes employees don’t agree with the outcome of their disciplinary. This is why employers are required to offer the right of appeal. This is so that an employee can appeal the outcome if they feel the outcome was too severe, if they feel that any stage of the process was unfair or wrong, and if there is any additional evidence that hasn’t been considered. They are not allowed to appeal just because they don’t agree with the outcome.

The outcome of the disciplinary must remain confidential. But if it’s appropriate then the employer can speak privately with any staff who knew the disciplinary was taking place to put their minds at ease. This can help avoid any of the negative effects of disciplinaries, like gossip, bad feeling, and low morale in the workplace.

Records of the disciplinary should be kept for as long as necessary to help with similar cases and provide evidence if an appeal is made. If you are asked for a reference for the employee at any point in the future, you cannot mention the disciplinary or the outcome.

That’s a lot of information and a lot to do!

At Karen HRM we provide business owners will a full-service HR solution that covers every aspect of employment, from recruitment to disciplinaries, grievances and terminations. We can support you in providing a comprehensive disciplinary process tailored to your business, along with support and guidance if you should ever need to implement it. We’ll be with you every step of the way, so you don’t have to worry about remembering all of the above! If you’d like to know more, just get in touch with the team today.

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For most businesses, they’re treated as an annual (or maybe quarterly) meeting between employees and their managers to discuss job performance and suggest improvements. But here’s the thing. A lot can happen in a year. So having 12 months’ worth of comments and improvements saved up for that one review isn’t actually that useful to anyone. This begs the question, what is the point of performance reviews, and what could you do to improve them in your business?

The Real Role Of Performance Reviews

In general terms, performance reviews are a chance for both employer and employee to reflect on the working relationship, the performance of the employee over the last 12 months and maybe even discuss any relevant salary changes, accommodations or other upcoming issues.

First things first, the second half of that sentence should always be a separate meeting and should happen at any point during the year when either party thinks it’s needed. We see a lot of managers use performance reviews as a way to ‘touch base’ with employees so that they don’t have to do as much during the year, and this isn’t a great approach for anyone.

Instead, performance reviews should be reserved to discuss the employee’s performance at work, their workload, how they are coping and any support they need from their manager. It gives employees the chance to understand what’s expected of them and learn what behaviours they need to alter or modify to do their job better. It also gives the manager a chance to get to know the employee better, identify strengths and weaknesses, assess growth and send a message that they care about the employee’s performance and development. They are also a great opportunity for managers to gather feedback on their own performance and how they are supporting their employees.

Performance reviews should be a positive experience – a chance to learn and improve on the previous years’ work – and not a disciplinary hearing where managers run through a list of failures. Sadly though, this is often the case, and performance reviews either end up being overly negative, or worse, an utterly useless box-ticking exercise.

Continuous Feedback Or Annual Appraisals?

The ‘standard’ format for performance reviews and appraisals is currently annual, usually around either the work year anniversary of the employee or the start of a new calendar or fiscal year. But discussions around the effectiveness of a single annual appraisal have been going on for years, with a lot of good arguments for and against retaining the format. Including the idea that annual appraisals should be ditched altogether and replaced with a new system of continuous feedback.

This would mean no more once-a-year reviews and more on-the-spot feedback, regular reviews, and consistent performance check-ins. This approach has 3 big benefits. First is that it helps keep employees’ efforts in line with the business goals. This leads on to benefit 2, which is that companies can be much more adaptable and rapidly effect change throughout the business. And thirdly, it’s much more popular with employees!

In fact, the research has been pretty conclusive on that last one. According to a study done by PwC, 51% of employees said they welcomed and expected regular feedback and praise for a job well done. 51% also said that feedback should be given frequently or continually on the job, with only 1% saying that feedback was not important to them.

Overall, a regular feedback cycle between managers and employees can result in timely corrections to behaviours, improved and ongoing development and a much better employee-manager relationship. In fact, the only thing holding many businesses back from moving over to this feedback method is a lack of buy-in from senior leadership and not knowing how to record such informal feedback. Which, if you think about it, is an easy hurdle to overcome.

You can read the full report on continuous feedback by clicking here – I definitely recommend it!

Top Tips to Improve Your Performance Reviews

When you sit down to do a performance review, there are a few things you can do to get the most out of it as a manager and help your employees too.

Don’t just focus on the bad: Yes, there might be areas you need your employees to improve in, and you should absolutely discuss those. But a performance review needs to be balanced in order to be effective. Just focusing on the negatives and areas for improvement can be demotivating and give you the opposite result than you want. So, make sure you’re recognising and praising good work as well, highlighting what went well and what was learnt so that both employee and business can improve in the future.

Be honest: Even if the discussion you need to have is uncomfortable or difficult, it’s important that you’re honest about it from the off. You’re not doing anyone any favours by skirting around it! Be upfront about the issues and your expectations and allow space for a productive discussion.

Listen, and make sure you’ve been heard: Hearing and listening might be similar, but they aren’t the same thing. When giving feedback, make sure the person you’re speaking to has clearly understood what you’ve said. Equally, repeat their points back as you understand them, so that they know you’ve understood them to avoid any misunderstandings later on!

Don’t expect instant results: Even when feedback is well received, you shouldn’t expect changes to happen right away. Any change takes time, especially when it comes to the habits people form, so don’t expect your suggestions to manifest right away. Give employees time to absorb your feedback and act on it, and make a point of recognising the incremental changes, not just the big strides they make.

Ultimately, feedback is an essential tool for all managers and business owners, but its effectiveness is all in the delivery. It’s up to managers to understand the role of performance reviews, and how they can best deliver feedback to their team. For some, that might be a monthly or even weekly check-in, while with others it might simply be giving feedback on the spot.

At Karen HRM Ltd we understand how difficult performance reviews can be But we also know how important they can be to developing talent within your business, and fostering a positive and encouraging company culture. So if you’re dreading doing performance reviews in 2023, why not give us a call and see how we can help?

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If you currently feel ill-equipped for this, fear not, as we have some useful advice for you below.

What is a challenging conversation? 

A challenging conversation is any conversation where the primary subject matter may evoke strong, potentially unpredictable, or uncontrollable emotions. Due to this, it’s essential to bring these discussions up in a sensitive manner.

Some examples of challenging conversation topics could be:

• Underperforming at work
• Dealing with office disputes/investigating grievances
• Handling clashing personalities
• Comforting employees after bad news, e.g. if they are about to be made redundant
• Addressing personal problems that may be affecting work performance.

These sorts of conversations are best had in a more quiet, intimate environment, usually one-on-one, to prevent the employee feeling publicly embarrassed.

Why have a challenging conversation?

From a surface level, it may seem easier to let small mistakes go unmentioned, however, in the long-term it can have some detrimental effects.  For example, your employee will carry on believing that there is no problem and continue to harm the productivity of your company – after all, if they’re not told, how will they know they’re doing anything wrong!  It also denies your employee the opportunity to fix their errors and improve, for if they don’t put things right (and you say nothing) this could set a bad example to everybody else and either damage morale or make everyone on the team think that this form of behaviour is acceptable.

Tips on how to manage a challenge conversation:

• Tackle the issue the moment you spot it. Don’t wait for it to fester and spiral out of control before you have a word.  If you wait, the problem will only become more complicated and deep-rooted, making your job even harder.
• Talk in a quiet place, just you and whoever is directly involved. You don’t want your employee to feel as though they are being made a public spectacle of – this will help minimise any feelings of embarrassment/disappointment/anger.
• Have an open line of communication with your staff and team.  Where they will feel comfortable raising issues or concerns.
• Listen to employee representatives to gauge how your staff are reacting to the issue – this can help gauge the severity of your conversation
• Have a clear plan for your conversation.  If you’re discussing a difficult topic there’s nothing worse than aimlessly talking around the issue and ultimately your employee having no idea what it is you are concerned about.  Have a clear idea of your purpose, for example “what’s the challenge at hand” and “how it can be resolved”.
• Manage your own emotions.  Whilst these sorts of talks can definitely be distressing to both parties, as a figure of authority and calm.  It is vital to keep your cool even if your employee isn’t.
• Stay open-minded!  Perhaps your staff has a legitimate reason for a dip in performance recently, such as troubling personal issues (maybe they’re going through a divorce or a family member has passed away).  Give them a chance to explain their side of the story and present yours as well, and from there a mutual, amicable solution can be found.

Submit an enquiry via our online form today to find out how we can help your business, or call 07771 642 182 to book a 30 minute consultation with Karen directly.

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Thankfully, probation periods and reviews are a move to resolve this issue. Within this probation framework, you are able to tell whether your new starter truly has the skillset that they promised and likewise the new starter can assess if this is the right role and company for them. For those who do make it, probation reviews will provide valuable insight into performance, training needs, and give timely feedback so that your new employee understands the expectations of their new role and company.

What is a probation review?

This is a meeting in which you and your new starter properly assess their progress in the new role, whether they have achieved any targets set, completed training requirements and received the support needed to be successful.

What’s a probation period?

It is essentially a trial period for new employees, which usually last three or six months, and in some circumstances can be extended by a further 3 months. Within the probation period they may be exempt from certain benefits that other workers may have, such as company sick pay.  Additionally, if a new employee doesn’t complete the probation period successfully, they may be let go with a short notice period.  Making it very useful to companies if a new starter is quickly proving to be ineffective.

What can happen in a probation review? 

There are three possible outcomes on completion of a probation period:

• Dismissal; if their performance has been highly unsatisfactory you will have no choice but to let them go.  This must be confirmed in writing and providing the statutory notice period and pay.
• Extend the probationary period; if there have been any criteria that the employee has not met, or you believe they need a bit more time before reaching the standard your company expects, you will be able to extend their probation for an additional 3 months. Of course, this must be confirmed in writing with the reason, the new probation period end date, review dates, and a set of goals for the new starter to strive towards.
• Success! They have completed this period as expected and confirmation of this should be confirmed in writing.

Who do probation reviews benefit? 

Probation reviews can be hugely helpful to both employer and new employee. They are a vital method in motivating your workers to work on their performance by having a direct line of communication, and it ensures that they do not get lost and overwhelmed when starting a new job.  We all know that it can be very nerve-wracking!  It can be encouraging to make sure that both of you are on the same page and working towards the same goals. From an employer’s perspective, it is crucial to understand the strengths and weaknesses of all your workers, and these reviews can help lay them out in black and white, and give constructive feedback based upon this.

There are a variety of issues that may be brought up within a review, and it’s the perfect chance to have an open discussion; whether it’s your new starters’ concerns or yours. For example, perhaps they mesh perfectly with the workplace culture and are enjoying their job, however the commute is simply too much. Potentially this could be resolved looking at whether flexible working hours or occasionally working from home is a viable option. Or, if you feel as though they’re underperforming a clear set of goals and appropriate support can be outlined so they have a target to strive towards.

Submit an enquiry via our online form today to find out how we can help your business, or call 07771 642 182 to book a 30 minute consultation with Karen directly.

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