You’re the Expert: Can You Give Me Some Hints For How To Make Documentation More Effective?

I’ve been told to prepare some training on documenting discipline issues. Can you give me some hints for how to make documentation more effective?

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• We found that we have to give our supervisors an outline. Briefly, we ask them to include the following in their documentation:
• 1. State the rule that is not being followed or the expectation that is not being met, and why it is important to the company.
  2. Describe the employee’s behavior in detail and show how it violates the rule or expectation.
  3. Review any past discipline or prior steps in the progressive discipline program.
  4. State the behavior you expect from the employee in the future.
  5. State the consequences if the behavior requirements are not met. When our supervisors follow this model, their documentation is complete. — P.D.
• We are unionized, and our collective bargaining agreement (CBA) spells out most of our discipline program. We have to train our new supervisors carefully as soon as (or even before) they assume supervisory duties. We get out the CBA and go over a series of examples of infractions and how to deal with them. — A.K.
• Train, train, train. We give our supervisors starter sentences, like fill in the blanks. “Our policies require that all employees _________. This is important to the company because _________. Your behavior on _________ violated the policy as follows: _________. If you don’t follow the policy in the future, this is what will happen _________.” — C.S.
• Regarding discipline documentation, it is essential to consider whether there was a rule in place, and whether the employee knew about the rule. — R.N.