In any kind of organization, there must be policies and standards set to govern and regulate employees’ behaviors towards expected outcomes. Sometimes you may find a few employees not adhering to the set regulations or behaving inappropriately. When an employee involves in such misconduct, the organization is expected to take disciplinary action to address the misconduct. The best way a manager or supervisor can approach such discipline is by issuing an Employee Reprimand.
What is an Employee Reprimand Form?
An employee reprimand form is an official letter that keeps a track record of employees of improvement after being summoned for misconduct. The document often describes in detail the violations committed in the workplace. Also, it allows the employee to know what kind of violation they made as described. Usually, the employee reprimand form acts as the first letter of the disciplinary process. However, before issuing out the form, ensure you first engage with the employee on oral counseling and warning in a private setting. The warning can either be verbal or written.
The organization’s management will issue the employee reprimand form once they have observed an employee’s improvement progress. If they notice no significant improvement by the employee, then additional disciplinary actions may be taken, including dismissal.
Free Templates
As an employer, it is crucial to maintain clear and consistent communication with your employees when addressing performance or conduct issues. Our professionally designed templates provide you with a convenient and effective solution. By using our pre-built templates, you can save time and effort while ensuring that your employee reprimand forms adhere to professional standards. Best of all, our templates are available for free download, making it even easier for you to streamline your employee management processes.
How Do you Create an Employee Reprimand Form?
If you have no idea how to write an engaging employee reprimand form, this might be your luck as you have two options. One, download our free employee reprimand form templates here for free. Alternatively, you can follow the following step-by-step guide to writing one on your own.
Consult Wide With Your Seniors
Before anything else, you need to take your time and consult the disciplinary action you are about to take with your seniors. This should include human resource departments, supervisors, and managers. Through this, you will be able to come up with an inclusive disciplinary review process. At the same time, you should revisit the organization’s policies and regulations to ensure the legal process is followed. Plus, consultations make you be sure of whether you are the rightful person to undertake disciplinary action. For example, some organizations don’t allow supervisors to create the reprimand form. In such cases, if you are a supervisor and create one, your efforts could go to waste.
Document
Once you’ve ensured every legality is in place, you can go ahead and record the behaviors you would want to correct. Ensure you describe the misconduct in detail, including the date committed, time, and counseling. In case you talked to the employee after inappropriate behavior, you should note down the details of your conversation. For instance, you can write down the expectations you arrived at during the conversation, as well as the probable course of action to be taken should the employee fail to reform.
Describe The Misconduct
After issuing oral counseling, you can give it some time before having a written reprimand in place. If no noticeable improvement is noted, you can proceed and write the reprimand. Describe the misconduct that was observed in the first incident. Make sure you include the observations noted in the first oral conversation/counseling. This way, the employee will know that you are citing evidence from the previous discussion.
Detail Expectations
Here, you need to note down your expected code of conduct from the said employee. For instance, you can mention that starting today; you will handle your projects without delays. If the employee isn’t able to complete the assigned projects, immediate communication should be made in order to seek the best alternative. For instance, the projects may be too complicated for the employee to handle. Hence, he or she can be reassigned place of work or made to undergo further training.
Explain The Consequences
Here, you need to make the employee aware of the awaiting consequences should they refuse to make improvements. Since the employee has been counseled and advised to rectify their behavior, any future misconduct could attract a more severe disciplinary action, including employment termination. At the end of the form, make sure you create some space for signatures (both for management and employee). The signatures will act as proof of receipt for both parties involved.
What to Include in an Employee Reprimand Form
As mentioned earlier, an employee reprimand form will specifically dwell on employees’ misconduct and the need to improve performance/behaviors. Regardless of the severity of the misconduct, a lucid, respectable reprimand form should contain the following key factors.
- It should identify the misconduct or performance issue that needs improvement.
- It should provide ways in which the employee should change his/her actions.
- It should highlight the risk impact posed by the employees’ misconduct.
- The form should contain a timeframe by which the employee must demonstrate behavior improvement.
- It should highlight consequences will be enforced for the failure of improvement.
- Signature both for employee and the employer
Frequently Asked Questions
The simple answer is ‘No.’ There is no single law that demands employees to sign for Employee Reprimand Form. After all, most employees always decline to sign the forms since they disagree with their contents. However, employers may still request the employees to sign the forms. If they refuse, the employees should write a rebuttal and attach it to the Employee Reprimand Form.
An Employee Reprimand Form usually follows counseling and other verbal conversations that are carefully documented. The reprimand forms, therefore, provide full evidence that the employee was informed of their violations, counseled, and advised to improve. Therefore, should the employee be fired, the company will not be accused of wrongfully.
Yes. In order to issue the reprimand officially, you need to first give the employee a verbal warning and counsel him/her to rectify their behaviors after this is when you issue a written reprimand.
There are various reasons to provide your employee with an Employee Reprimand Form. These may include:
• Perennial lateness
• Continued absenteeism
• Violation of policies and regulations
• Presentation of shoddy word
• Poor customer behaviors
• Insubordination
• Breach of confidential terms
About This Article
