Discuss the concept of progressive discipline and the seven tests for just cause employment terminations Provide examples of how they might relate to your job or company Progressive discipline is a process of steps that managers can use when an employee will not correct a problem after being told about it and given time to change it The seven steps are 1 Notice The manager needs to make sure that they gave the employee notice of what the problem is They need to let the employee know what is wrong and see how the problem can be handled 2 Reasonable Rule or Order Make sure that the businesses rules and the manager s rules are fair and there is nothing that is not fair for the employee 3 Investigate Make sure that the employee really did what they were being accused of The manager needs to check into every part of the problem before making a decision because the employee might be innocent and being falsely accused 4 Fair Investigation The manager needs to not pick sides The manager needs to stay in the middle so that there is an understanding of all sides 5 Proof Was the evidence proof enough to accuse the employee Make sure that the proof is just not he said she said that there is real proof that the employee did what they are being accused of 6 Equal Treatment Was every employee treated equally The manager has to make sure that there is no favorite treatment between a manager and an employee 7 Penalty The penalty needs to be handed out fairly with the offense that the employee did The manager needs to make sure that they are not handing out a bigger punishment than what the problem was How do these relate to my job They do not There is favoritism at my job there is no set of rules for everybody and it matters who you are how a situation is going to be handled Response 2 The primary purpose for progressive discipline is to assist the employee to understand that a performance problem or opportunity for improvement exists The process features increasingly formal efforts to provide feedback to the employee so he or she can correct the problem The goal of progressive discipline is to improve employee performance Progressive discipline enables the organization to fairly and with substantial documentation terminate the employment of employees who are ineffective and unwilling to improve The seven test for just cause employment terminations are 1 Notice Did your manager notify you of the consequence 2 Reasonable rule or order Is the organization rules and operations fair 3 Investigation Did the employer conduct a fair investigation prior to the discipline 4 Fair investigation Was the investigation conducted in a fair way 5 Proof Did management have enough proof to make a decision 6 Equal treatment Does management and the organization treat all employees the same and hold all employees accountable to the same standards 7 Penalty Was the discipline for the course of action My organization received an Anonymous letter complaining how management treats its staff how information is controlled communicated to the board of directors and made reference to misallocations funds The alleged accusations were taken very seriously My organization contracted an outside third party attorney to conduct an investigation into the alleged accusations After several weeks of interviews the report showed that most of the accusations were false Some of the issues regarding treatment of staff were confirmed thus a management coach has been brought in to help guide the management team I do know that one manager is on a PIP because of the outcome of the investigation so this employee has been given the opportunity to improve his performance as a manager