Managing disciplinaries and grievances

Discipline

Disciplinary rules and procedures are used to manage conduct and the performance of employees in your organisation. They help to set out clear standards so that everyone understands what is deemed to be unacceptable behaviour and conduct in the workplace. They also provide a framework, giving a fair and consistent approach, for employers to use on anyone that behaves or conducts themselves in an unacceptable way. 

It is now a requirement by law to provide a written disciplinary procedure to your employees when they join. 

When carrying out a disciplinary in your organisation certain stages must be followed by law. Failure to follow these stages in the procedure will render any dismissal that follows automatically unfair, even if the reason for dismissal is a fair one. 

Grievance

A grievance procedure must also be in place to provide a way for employees to address any complaints about their employer in a formal way, if it has not been possible to deal with this informally. 

As with the disciplinary procedure, it is a requirement by law for a written grievance procedure to be provided to all employees within 2 months of them joining your organisation and for certain stages to be followed as a minimum. 

If you are dealing with a disciplinary or grievance situation, make sure that you don’t fall foul of the law by seeking advice from The Life Bureau.