Full Careers

At your employer (company) is there a system of due process (progressive discipline) for problem employees?

I have spent most of my career at small companies. At these companies if a person does not fit in or makes mistakes, no matter how small, the result is usually termination of employment. Many people are not getting much warning, they are just cut loose. I understand that at larger companies it is really hard to fire someone unless they really did something wrong. They have a formal process before someone is fired. Oral Warning, Written Warning, Performance Improvement Plan, Final Written Warning, and then if they are still a problem, they can be fired if the senior manager of HR approves. What is it like in your company? What is a better system? I suspect managers like a quick fast termination. But employees notice these things and if a fellow worker who is highly regarded by staff is fired without due process, then they start to get nervous that this will happen to them and they will start sending out resumes. But on the other hand people do not like working around dead wood who can not be fired without so much effort that most managers just ignore the problem employee and try to work around them.

Public Comments

1. Most large companies I have worked at have a 3 step process. Oral, written and discharge. Government jobs are the hardest to get terminated from.
2. You explained it perfectly. It can go both ways though- there are good and bad points to this. It protects you to an extent, but it also protects others who don't really pull their weight. The people that go out on medical leave continually for "stress" (don't beat me up, I'm talking about the phonies not people with legitimate claims), the people who never should have been hired, etc.. Overall, I think it is better than the alternative.
3. The smaller companies are starting to put policies and procedures together. If you fire someone and don't go through the due process, they are entitled to file for unemployment. That is very expensive for a small company. If they try to fight it, they usually lose because there is no process. You cannot just fire someone. You must have a reason. You also don't have to follow the usual verbal, written verbal, written, suspension, etc. If they need to be fired they can be fired, without a problem. If there are many factors that make up a firing, there needs to be systems in place. My co. trains supervisors how to deal with the disciplinary process. Any questions, they are willing to explain what we should do. Performance Appraisals are a must.
4. I like swift terminations better, from both sides of it. No one wants to be an underperforming employee that management is constantly trying to get rid of, and no one wants to manage one. It's like breaking up after you realize things aren't going to work out. You can either get it over with quickly, or drag it out over months, make everyone completely miserable, and then get it over with. (Un)fortunately I live and work in Ontario, Canada, where employment law provides for the long, drawn-out process of termination you described that makes it very difficult to fire anyone unless they rob or attack you.
5. Rather than size of the company, employers and their due process programs, are governed by the state in which you live. You may reside in an "at-will" state, which means an employer is not required to give notice, reason, or anything else. However, most companies, no matter the size, want and need to have an organized termination process as a hiring incentive, as well as protection against the possibility of a lawsuit of some sort. You have outlined the normal system of oral warning, written warning, PFI, and final warning. At that point, a company has satisfied their obligation to try to turn an employee into a benefit for the company. No company wants to fire employees. Instead they want to take a mediocre employee, work with that employee's strengths and weaknesses and turn them into a company asset.