Employee conduct is, of course, an essential part of your daily operations. Guidelines for Managing Complaints, Misconduct and Unsatisfactory Performance in the VPS Page 2 PART 1 GENERAL PRINIPLES APPLI A LE TO MANAGING OMPLAINTS, MISONDUT AND UNSATISFA TORY PERFORMANE FOR VPS EMPLOYEES Overview Every day, managers may deal with a range of challenges such as workplace conflict, It’s not a fun task, but is often necessary to ensure that the company’s expectations of employee conduct are clear and enforced. It is not malicious and has the opportunity for improvement. The role of the investigator is not to act as judge, jury, and executioner. Make the workplace safe, conducive, and friendly: As much as possible, employees should be relaxed, free of tension and anxiety, and with a positive disposition to their jobs. Strong leaders are aware of how employees spend their time and possible challenges to a healthy workplace dynamic. As workplaces continue to hire and work remotely, it can be difficult to keep track of how all employees are interacting with each other. Write down every part of your investigation, including the initial report, the investigation plan, employee testimony, video recordings and other evidence. The numbers also reflect the extent of this type of workplace misconduct and its high cost to police departments. Make sure there is training in place for employees to take part in. Plans of this nature serve to not only curtail and … There should also be support systems that employees can easily access. In the written warning, explain the employee’s behavior or actions and what policy they violated. You can also suspend employees from a project, remove certain privileges or even put them on suspension. As businesses grow, they may eventually have cases of employee misconduct. All rights reserved. There are several platforms for this, and according to It’s your set of guidelines on how your people should act, and what they can and can’t do as an employee of your business. As you can imagine, the process to deal with gross misconduct is quite a bit more involved than minor misconduct. This can often be the quickest and easiest solution. Unfortunately many people still experience prejudice due … Many examples of insubordination have fairly minor consequences and can be corrected. But this is the time to be prudent and proceed with care. Oral notice is best issued for misconduct cases that are not that serious. Even after the investigation concludes and the situation is resolved, keep the records in your company files to demonstrate a consistent and fair discipline policy. What is misconduct in the workplace? Resolving misconduct promptly is essential for protecting employees, promoting teamwork, upholding best practices and avoiding litigation. Schedule a meeting immediately after the incident, with a third-party HR representative, if possible. While your process for reporting misconduct in the workplace will likely vary, it should include these important touch points: As mentioned, it’s very likely that some employees will be concerned about suffering professional repercussions if they voice their concerns about workplace misconduct. Automate tasks. Assess the situation to best understand the accusation. Ways to Spot and Handle Misconduct in the Workplace, Disciplinary responses to workplace misconduct, Frequently asked questions about workplace misconduct, 6 Traits of a Bad Boss & How to Improve Business Leadership, Communicating Difficult Decisions to Candidates and Employees During COVID-19 (with Examples). Document how you informed the employee of their termination and file it with HR. This document is a legal requirement that will allow you to objectively weigh on an employee’s specific instance of misconduct against the agreed-upon contract. The caveat to that statement is that rank-and-file employees may not feel comfortable in flagging workplace misconduct out of fear of reprisal or ostracization. This should include instructions for: Holding a meeting with the accused employee to get their side of the story, Potentially holding a disciplinary hearing, Define what constitutes good, and bad, behavior at work, Make it clear that the list is not definitive, and that some behaviors may be deemed negative upon review, Make it clear what happens when an employee engages in these negative behaviors, What staff should do if they witness misconduct, What management should do if someone reports misconduct to them, The process by which management and HR should investigate the issue, approach the individual, and decide upon disciplinary actions, The issue being brought to the attention of the manager or human resources, Both parties carrying out a fact-finding investigation to collect hard evidence of misconduct, Based on those findings, both parties can decide if a formal disciplinary meeting is needed, If it’s not, then an informal talk with the employee can take place, It it is, then a formal warning may be issued either via written document or verbally, This warning should remain on the employee’s file for about six months, and include a clear stipulation of what should be improved and by when, The same reporting and fact finding process as above, but with the option to immediately suspend the employee if they are considered to be a risk to the business, employees, or integrity of misconduct investigation, A formal disciplinary hearing that presents the findings of the investigation to the employee, and gives them a chance to respond, Potentially severe sanctions that can be applied to the employee, if the gross misconduct is proven, including a final written warning, demotion, or termination, The employer must genuinely believe that the employee committed gross misconduct, and be able to show reasonable grounds for believing this, The employer must be able to demonstrate that they have carried out a thorough investigation, The employer must show that termination was legally justified based on the nature of the misconduct. If two coworkers are having an inappropriate sexual discussion or make lewd jokes, anyone who hears their conversation and feels uncomfortable or targeted has grounds for a third-party harassment claim. If a sales associate uses the company database to find a customer’s phone number and saves it to their personal phone, that’s inappropriate misconduct and a confidentiality breach. Delaying an investigation can allow a hostile work environment to develop and make any possible victims of misconduct feel disrespected. Predict success. Employers have the burden of proof for documenting firings related to gross misconduct. This can help you from making a biased decision and provide more company buy-in for how the situation is handled. Some of the main types of workplace misconduct are: Many employees agree to protect trade secrets and confidential client information as part of their employment agreement. This should be communicated to all employees via publicly available channels. Typically, fair terminations must meet the following standards: Because of this significant legal hurdle for instances of termination, it’s critical that you take detailed notes at each stage of the process. A platform to report and resolve workplace misconduct is a trusted and safe implementation. Misconduct in the workplace refers to any behavior that goes against your code of conduct or other policies that dictate how employees should behave at work. Without this baseline of conduct, you will quickly enter some legally murky waters if you attempt to terminate an employee for perceived gross misconduct. Female officers are still encountering unacceptable behavior in the workplace and accountability is forcing a reckoning for some departments with their past culture and practice. If you receive a report of misconduct or witness it, follow these steps to address the problem professionally: Deal with misconduct in a timely manner to limit your liability as an employer for the offending employee’s actions. This mandate should come from the CEO, who stands as the model for how employees should treat one another, clients, and company property. Not acting when you become aware of misconduct could result in employees thinking that their behavior is okay and committing further infractions. Using drugs in the workplace; How to handle gross misconduct. Sharing private information about finances, business practices and customer relationships is a breach of that agreement and an example of misconduct. When employee misconduct occurs, the supervisor should know how to deal with the situation effectively. How to Avoid misconduct in a Workplace. Bullying and sexual harassment are considered serious workplace misconduct. Stealing from a company or its customers, defrauding clients or improperly using company funds for personal use are forms of serious misconduct and can be a detriment to a company’s external reputation and internal culture. In the workplace, misconduct can be classified as general misconduct or gross misconduct. In these cases, the incident of misconduct is typically bad enough to warrant severe disciplinary action. Handling misconduct in the workplace is an unfortunate necessity for HR departments and managers. Dealing With Racism In The Workplace. Instances of minor and gross misconduct in the workplace will vary depending on your industry, culture, and the nature of your business. The typical behavior that one might expect of an employed, responsible adult is, unfortunately, not always present. If an organization finds an employee with a severe case of misconduct that it considers gross, then it has the authority to dismiss him. It can be quite challenging to navigate the procedural requirements when serious misconduct occurs. Powerful software tool that makes hiring easy. Subordinates may feel pressured to go along with advances from their supervisor to protect their job, leading to inappropriate coercion. Some people may not even realize they have committed misconduct and a verbal warning helps them address the behavior. Several laws protect employees from hostile conduct based on a protected classification such as: Harassment can be direct or indirect. In some circumstances, simple misconduct prevents employees from collecting some of their unemployment benefits after being dismissed. – to conduct workplace investigations. Workplace misconduct is improper employee behavior that’s inappropriate for the workplace and negatively impacts their work, environment or peers. Instead, this process will require you and your co-workers to use your judgment to ensure that you’re doing what’s best and fair for all individuals involved. This process should include instructions on: That last point is key. *Indeed provides this information as a courtesy to users of this site. For example, if a waiter changes tip amounts on customer receipts to increase their earnings, this is fraudulent misconduct that could result in expensive back-charges against the business. Dealing with misconduct in the workplace means juggling a variety of considerations around communication, employment law, and ethical standards. For example, if an employee touches another employee inappropriately, that is direct sexual misconduct in the workplace. Poor performance refers to how the employee does the job and has nothing to do with his behaviour in the workplace.