The goal of progressive discipline is to improve an employee’s job performance through increasingly formal feedback. Progressive discipline techniques can be applied to employees, whether contractual or “at will,” and to volunteers. In many cases, the application of progressive discipline is successful in improving employee performance at an early stage. A typical progressive discipline approach includes:
Progressive discipline is a flexible approach that can involve other forms of corrective action as well. For example, performance evaluations and salary/wage reviews are opportunities to provide feedback to employees. A written corrective action plan could be developed in conjunction with written warnings or probation. In some cases, it is appropriate to suspend an employee pending investigation or administrative review of an incident.
Each step of progressive discipline should include all of the following elements:
While progressive discipline can be an effective supervisory too