employee warning form

It is never a pleasant business to terminate employees. Nonetheless, the prospect presents itself and you must take action. If the termination is for “cause,” you must take great care must to keep from making a bad situation worse. There are books and articles available to guide a manager through this sticky problem.

Sometimes it becomes necessary to layoff employees for economic reasons. While this presents a different set of problems, you still must handle it delicately. The bruised feelings of the former employee may express themselves in ways that damage the business.

Problems Can Arise When You Terminate Employees

The decision to terminate employees raises several different issues. How will the termination affect customers or clients? You must contact them to let them know they can expect the same quality of service they have always enjoyed. It is unsettling for a customer to find the friendly employee he or she always worked with is no longer there.

When it becomes necessary to fire someone, another question you must ask is, “How will this affect the remaining workforce?” When a coworker gets fired, rumors spread like wildfire. Most employees think, “It could happen to me.” You may need to reassure them and calm their fears. It is a mistake to assume that by terminating one employee, the others will increase their productivity. Worried about their job security, these employees may unconsciously decrease their productivity.

There are external forces at work here as well. There are federal, state, and local laws that regulate employee termination. When you decide to terminate employees, you should brush up on these laws. If you do not, you may be inviting a complicated lawsuit.

If you fire employees because of downsizing, keep the all workers informed. Once you fire one set of employees, the business needs might require more layoffs. If this is the case, let the employees know they will get plenty of notice before the next wave.

Also be aware that terminated employees may act irrationally. You may need to change locks and security codes. In short, a great deal of thought and preparation is necessary before you terminate employees.

Discipline and fire with peace of mind. Includes employee warning form.

An employee warning form is an excellent resource that every small business owner and Human Resources manager should consider using. It is an important tool when disciplining employees. Employee warning forms allow companies to keep track of difficult employees. They help show a pattern of problems for a quarterly review, or in the worst case scenario to support firing an employee. These forms will get rid of the "he said, she said" rebuttal that an employee might have. They will also back up the company if the employee tries to come back with legal counsel claiming unlawful termination.

How Do You Use An Employee Warning Form?

No matter what format you come up with for a warning form, whether it is company made or generic, your basic form should have the same result. Information written on the form should include the employee's name and identification information, the date and time of the violation, and what the violation is. It is also important to take note of the number of past violations the employee has and what further steps the manger must take if the behavior continues.

If this is the employee's first warning, it is important to set out a timeline of how many warnings they can receive before more serious action takes place. The manager must write out this more serious action as well. Will the company suspend the employee, will it dock pay, or will it terminate the worker?

If this isn't the employee's first warning, then you need to state on the warning form, what warning it is and what the proper action will be if they continue to cause difficulties at the company.

For those Human Resources offices dealing with several problem employees, they should create preset guidelines for certain actions. This way they do not have to come up with the number of warnings an employee can receive on a case-by-case basis. This will also keep employees from claiming unfair treatment.

Remember that when using the employee warning form, you must allow the employee to make written comments on their actions, whether it is a rebuttal or an agreement. As well, there should be a place on the form for the employee to sign that they agreed to the warning and to future actions that will be taken.

Where Do I Get An Employee Warning Form?

You can get generic warning forms at your local office supply store. Unfortunately these will only provide basic information such as employee identification information, the action that required a warning, the time and date, and room for statement by the employer and employee.

Your company may want to add other information to the employee warning form. For example, management may want a section to discuss employee work objectives or for specific guidelines regarding further actions. If this is the case, then you should involve the entire Human Resources or Management team in making your own company based warning form.

What Issues You Can't Solve With An Employee Warning Form

Every company should have set ground rules and guidelines. Also every employee should have a hard copy of these rules that discusses offenses that may result in immediate suspension or termination. These should include violations like arriving to work drunk, using drugs or alcohol at work, physically fighting with another co-worker, theft, threats of violence to the boss or other co-workers, or misrepresentation of themselves.

Overall employee warning forms are an important tool in the disciplining employees. They give a standard format for open communication between employers and their workers.

Are you aware of these common mistakes that employers make when disciplining?

As an employer, you must conduct employee investigations before termination proceedings can begin. This is because failure do employee investigations before termination proceedings can lead to lengthy legal battles – and you might find yourself on the losing end. More...