How Progressive Discipline Works

April 13, 2006

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In a progressive discipline system, the severity of the penalty increases with each infringement of the rules. Among the advantages of a progressive discipline system is the fact that you can work with the employee to try to retain him or her as a productive worker without having to resort to termination immediately. Typically, the progression is:

oral warnings
written warnings
suspension
termination

A progressive discipline system contains the following elements:

Both you and the employee know in advance, to the extent possible, the appropriate discipline for the violation of a specific work rule.
The degree of discipline is greater for repeated offenses in a given time frame.
All violations are treated the same unless there are unusual mitigating or aggravating circumstances.

Usually, after a specified time period (like six months or a year) passes without another infraction, the worker gets a "clean slate." Any later infractions will start the process again with an oral warning.

Some cases of misconduct are so severe that you may skip the first one, two, or even three steps. For example, assaults or fighting, stealing, intoxication on the job, gross insubordination, destruction of company property, etc., may all justify immediate action. But don't fire the worker on the spot! Firing someone is a serious action, not to be done off the cuff. Sometimes situations are not as they appear. Give yourself some time to investigate, and, at a minimum, to be sure of what really happened and who was responsible.