Write You - A Positive Approach to Employee Performance Improvement Through Discipline

But today, a growing number of companies are moving away from using a criminal-justice mentality for employee performance improvement through corrective action. They are abandoning traditional approaches that focus exclusively on punishment. Instead, they are adopting an approach of accountability - employees with unfavorable performance, conduct or attendance issues are required to take personal responsibility for their choice of behavior.

Discipline and Recognition

One immediate difference is that traditional, punishment-based discipline systems ignore the great majority of people who never create disciplinary problems. In a non-punitive, “Discipline Without Punishment” approach, there’s a new step added to the process — a positive contact. Just as the policy is expected to resolve employee problems when they arise, it also makes clear that supervisors are expected to recognize employees when they perform well.

Recognizing good performance is no longer just good advice handed out in a management training class. Now it’s a formal policy requirement, a step of the organization’s overall discipline procedure.

Diffusing Problems

Supervisors continue to be responsible for beginning the correction process by employee coaching prior to formal disciplinary action. The exception is when the magnitude of the behavior warrants serious disciplinary action or even termination for a first offense.

In the early stages of disciplinary action, the Discipline Without Punishment approach replaces the familiar responses of verbal reprimands and written warnings with two comparable steps toward employee performance improvement: Reminder 1 and Reminder 2. Yes, they seem similar, but there’s more than mere semantic sleight-of-hand at work here.

Instead of being reprimanded for his mischief or warned about what will happen the next time he misbehaves, the employee is formally reminded of two important things. First, he’s reminded of the organization’s exact expectations of high-quality work, on-time performance, or whatever else has triggered the need for the discussion. And second, he is reminded that he has a responsibility for meeting the organization’s standards – he must do what he’s being paid to do and he must do it well.

The Last Chance

The biggest change from the traditional, punishment-based approach comes at the final step of disciplinary action. When the employee is one step away from termination, a dramatic gesture is needed to forcefully drive home the message that the end is at hand — one more time and you’re fired. But merely giving the employee a “final written warning,” or placing her on probation for some period of time, or creating a employee performance improvement plan aren’t powerful enough to clearly communicate the message “Once more and you’re out!” That’s why a disciplinary suspension from work is the best final step for a corrective action system.

Withholding Pay Does Not Work

traditionally, this disciplinary suspension has been without pay. The intent is that by depriving the employee of pay, he will come to his senses and return to work determined to do whatever is necessary to keep his job.

But the theory rarely works in practice. Employees who are placed on a three-day disciplinary suspension without pay don’t often return having seen the error of their ways and a commitment to excellent performance. They usually come back angry, all the organization has accomplished is creating a bitter employee.

There are other problems with using punishment as the basis for disciplinary action. Supervisors, many of whom are in the tricky position of being both on-the-job boss as well as off-the-job friend, often hesitate to place friends on an unpaid disciplinary suspension. Because they know the family is also getting punished by the loss of pay, they may cut their people more slack and open themselves to charges of favoritism. And suspensions without pay just aren’t appropriate for exempt, knowledge-worker individuals.

A Paid Disciplinary Suspension

A “Decision Making Leave,” the final step of the responsibility-based Discipline Without Punishment process, provides all of the advantages of a disciplinary suspension as a final step and eliminates the drawbacks. This disciplinary suspension with a twist suspends the individual for one day and one day only. On this day, the employee is required to make one of two choices: correct whatever problem brought him to this final step of the discipline process and make a commitment to fully acceptable performance in every area of his job in the future, or decide to quit and find greener employment pastures elsewhere.

Paying the employee for the day he’s away on “decision day” changes the supervisor’s role from adversary to coach. It demonstrates the organization’s good faith in wanting to see him change and return to fully acceptable performance, and is consistent with the values of almost every organization. By eliminating money as an issue, it doesn’t impact the family’s grocery budget and thus reduces the possibility of anger, hostility and even workplace violence.

Agreed Accountability

If the employee decides to remain with the organization and commits to fully acceptable performance in every area of the job (as almost all people placed on decision making leave do) and then doesn’t live up to his commitment, termination turns out to be much easier and guilt-free.

And should the employee challenge the termination in an EEOC complaint, unemployment hearing, or any other venue, the fact that the organization gave the person a day at its expense to decide whether he was willing to do then job he was being paid to do and the employee didn’t live up to his own commitment assures legal defensibility.

Traditional discipline approaches may indeed convince some problem employees to shape up, others to ship out. But punitive tactics can’t produce employees who are genuinely committed to the goals of the organization and the policies and rules by which they operate. We may be able to punish people into compliance, but we can not punish them into a commitment to The Entrepreneur's Checklist
I was asked the other day what personality traits I thought were important to entrepreneurial success. I immediately gave my preprogrammed reply about passion and dedication and hard work. After taking some time later to ponder the question a little deeper (I normally operate in shallow waters), I came up with a more detailed checklist for entrepreneurial success. This is by no means a definitive list, but I'd be willing to bet that if you don't have at least a majority of these traits, your chances of business success will be greatly diminished.You must be self motivated.If you don't have the wherewithal to bounce out of bed each day without your spouse drenching you with cold water, chances are you don't have the self motivation or discipline required to be an entrepreneur. Business demands that you take action based solely on your own volition. it also makes clear that supervisors are expected to recognize employees when they perform well.

Recognizing good performance is no longer just good advice handed out in a management training class. Now it’s a formal policy requirement, a step of the organization’s overall discipline procedure.

Diffusing Problems

Supervisors continue to be responsible for beginning the correction process by employee coaching prior to formal disciplinary action. The exception is when the magnitude of the behavior warrants serious disciplinary action or even termination for a first offense.

In the early stages of disciplinary action, the Discipline Without Punishment approach replaces the familiar responses of verbal reprimands and written warnings with two comparable steps toward employee performance improvement: Reminder 1 and Reminder 2. Yes, they seem similar, but there’s more than mere semantic sleight-of-hand at work here.

Instead of being reprimanded for his mischief or warned about what will happen the next time he misbehaves, the employee is formally reminded of two important things. First, he’s reminded of the organization’s exact expectations of high-quality work, on-time performance, or whatever else has triggered the need for the discussion. And second, he is reminded that he has a responsibility for meeting the organization’s standards – he must do what he’s being paid to do and he must do it well.

The Last Chance

The biggest change from the traditional, punishment-based approach comes at the final step of disciplinary action. When the employee is one step away from termination, a dramatic gesture is needed to forcefully drive home the message that the end is at hand — one more time and you’re fired. But merely giving the employee a “final written warning,” or placing her on probation for some period of time, or creating a employee performance improvement plan aren’t powerful enough to clearly communicate the message “Once more and you’re out!” That’s why a disciplinary suspension from work is the best final step for a corrective action system.

Withholding Pay Does Not Work

traditionally, this disciplinary suspension has been without pay. The intent is that by depriving the employee of pay, he will come to his senses and return to work determined to do whatever is necessary to keep his job.

But the theory rarely works in practice. Employees who are placed on a three-day disciplinary suspension without pay don’t often return having seen the error of their ways and a commitment to excellent performance. They usually come back angry, all the organization has accomplished is creating a bitter employee.

There are other problems with using punishment as the basis for disciplinary action. Supervisors, many of whom are in the tricky position of being both on-the-job boss as well as off-the-job friend, often hesitate to place friends on an unpaid disciplinary suspension. Because they know the family is also getting punished by the loss of pay, they may cut their people more slack and open themselves to charges of favoritism. And suspensions without pay just aren’t appropriate for exempt, knowledge-worker individuals.

A Paid Disciplinary Suspension

A “Decision Making Leave,” the final step of the responsibility-based Discipline Without Punishment process, provides all of the advantages of a disciplinary suspension as a final step and eliminates the drawbacks. This disciplinary suspension with a twist suspends the individual for one day and one day only. On this day, the employee is required to make one of two choices: correct whatever problem brought him to this final step of the discipline process and make a commitment to fully acceptable performance in every area of his job in the future, or decide to quit and find greener employment pastures elsewhere.

Paying the employee for the day he’s away on “decision day” changes the supervisor’s role from adversary to coach. It demonstrates the organization’s good faith in wanting to see him change and return to fully acceptable performance, and is consistent with the values of almost every organization. By eliminating money as an issue, it doesn’t impact the family’s grocery budget and thus reduces the possibility of anger, hostility and even workplace violence.

Agreed Accountability

If the employee decides to remain with the organization and commits to fully acceptable performance in every area of the job (as almost all people placed on decision making leave do) and then doesn’t live up to his commitment, termination turns out to be much easier and guilt-free.

And should the employee challenge the termination in an EEOC complaint, unemployment hearing, or any other venue, the fact that the organization gave the person a day at its expense to decide whether he was willing to do then job he was being paid to do and the employee didn’t live up to his own commitment assures legal defensibility.

Traditional discipline approaches may indeed convince some problem employees to shape up, others to ship out. But punitive tactics can’t produce employees who are genuinely committed to the goals of the organization and the policies and rules by which they operate. We may be able to punish people into compliance, but we can not punish them into a commitment to Prepared to Take Your Loss
Some planned changes in life turn out to be less promising than expected. What should you do in such a case?This “concept” of taking your loss is used in the investment area. The principle is simple. You have built up an investment portfolio with different investment instruments. Each individual instrument (a stock, option, future, bond, mutual fund, etc) is priced as an outcome of a market process. And the value of the portfolio changes in a moderate way; some titles increase in value other decline during a trading day. In the end the value of your portfolio is more or less in line with the development of the market. However, there is often some stock in portfolio that turns out to be underperforming: the wrong choice.For example you buy a stock at 80 dollars and after one week of trading the value has declined to 64; you loose 20 percent on thiganization’s standards – he must do what he’s being paid to do and he must do it well.

The Last Chance

The biggest change from the traditional, punishment-based approach comes at the final step of disciplinary action. When the employee is one step away from termination, a dramatic gesture is needed to forcefully drive home the message that the end is at hand — one more time and you’re fired. But merely giving the employee a “final written warning,” or placing her on probation for some period of time, or creating a employee performance improvement plan aren’t powerful enough to clearly communicate the message “Once more and you’re out!” That’s why a disciplinary suspension from work is the best final step for a corrective action system.

Withholding Pay Does Not Work

traditionally, this disciplinary suspension has been without pay. The intent is that by depriving the employee of pay, he will come to his senses and return to work determined to do whatever is necessary to keep his job.

But the theory rarely works in practice. Employees who are placed on a three-day disciplinary suspension without pay don’t often return having seen the error of their ways and a commitment to excellent performance. They usually come back angry, all the organization has accomplished is creating a bitter employee.

There are other problems with using punishment as the basis for disciplinary action. Supervisors, many of whom are in the tricky position of being both on-the-job boss as well as off-the-job friend, often hesitate to place friends on an unpaid disciplinary suspension. Because they know the family is also getting punished by the loss of pay, they may cut their people more slack and open themselves to charges of favoritism. And suspensions without pay just aren’t appropriate for exempt, knowledge-worker individuals.

A Paid Disciplinary Suspension

A “Decision Making Leave,” the final step of the responsibility-based Discipline Without Punishment process, provides all of the advantages of a disciplinary suspension as a final step and eliminates the drawbacks. This disciplinary suspension with a twist suspends the individual for one day and one day only. On this day, the employee is required to make one of two choices: correct whatever problem brought him to this final step of the discipline process and make a commitment to fully acceptable performance in every area of his job in the future, or decide to quit and find greener employment pastures elsewhere.

Paying the employee for the day he’s away on “decision day” changes the supervisor’s role from adversary to coach. It demonstrates the organization’s good faith in wanting to see him change and return to fully acceptable performance, and is consistent with the values of almost every organization. By eliminating money as an issue, it doesn’t impact the family’s grocery budget and thus reduces the possibility of anger, hostility and even workplace violence.

Agreed Accountability

If the employee decides to remain with the organization and commits to fully acceptable performance in every area of the job (as almost all people placed on decision making leave do) and then doesn’t live up to his commitment, termination turns out to be much easier and guilt-free.

And should the employee challenge the termination in an EEOC complaint, unemployment hearing, or any other venue, the fact that the organization gave the person a day at its expense to decide whether he was willing to do then job he was being paid to do and the employee didn’t live up to his own commitment assures legal defensibility.

Traditional discipline approaches may indeed convince some problem employees to shape up, others to ship out. But punitive tactics can’t produce employees who are genuinely committed to the goals of the organization and the policies and rules by which they operate. We may be able to punish people into compliance, but we can not punish them into a commitment to Establish A New Business And Prove Your Entrepreneur Skills
You have completed your education from renowned schools and colleges in UK. Your academic record has also been quite fair. With your professional skills you can easily get a job of your choice. Even your parents want you to do a job but you have different ideas in mind. Your temperament doesn’t allow you to work under a senior. Moreover, you want to check your entrepreneurship skills by starting a business of your own. But, to your utter discomfort you don’t have the most essential component of a business that is capital. In such a situation availing a business loan can be of great help.A Business Startup loan, as the name suggests, is taken to start a new business. It is taken to fulfill the initial financial requirements while establishing a business. At the initial phase you may need funds for various purposes such as:• Buying office premisesare other problems with using punishment as the basis for disciplinary action. Supervisors, many of whom are in the tricky position of being both on-the-job boss as well as off-the-job friend, often hesitate to place friends on an unpaid disciplinary suspension. Because they know the family is also getting punished by the loss of pay, they may cut their people more slack and open themselves to charges of favoritism. And suspensions without pay just aren’t appropriate for exempt, knowledge-worker individuals.

A Paid Disciplinary Suspension

A “Decision Making Leave,” the final step of the responsibility-based Discipline Without Punishment process, provides all of the advantages of a disciplinary suspension as a final step and eliminates the drawbacks. This disciplinary suspension with a twist suspends the individual for one day and one day only. On this day, the employee is required to make one of two choices: correct whatever problem brought him to this final step of the discipline process and make a commitment to fully acceptable performance in every area of his job in the future, or decide to quit and find greener employment pastures elsewhere.

Paying the employee for the day he’s away on “decision day” changes the supervisor’s role from adversary to coach. It demonstrates the organization’s good faith in wanting to see him change and return to fully acceptable performance, and is consistent with the values of almost every organization. By eliminating money as an issue, it doesn’t impact the family’s grocery budget and thus reduces the possibility of anger, hostility and even workplace violence.

Agreed Accountability

If the employee decides to remain with the organization and commits to fully acceptable performance in every area of the job (as almost all people placed on decision making leave do) and then doesn’t live up to his commitment, termination turns out to be much easier and guilt-free.

And should the employee challenge the termination in an EEOC complaint, unemployment hearing, or any other venue, the fact that the organization gave the person a day at its expense to decide whether he was willing to do then job he was being paid to do and the employee didn’t live up to his own commitment assures legal defensibility.

Traditional discipline approaches may indeed convince some problem employees to shape up, others to ship out. But punitive tactics can’t produce employees who are genuinely committed to the goals of the organization and the policies and rules by which they operate. We may be able to punish people into compliance, but we can not punish them into a commitment to Knowledge Management
Success in today's global, interconnected economy springs from the fast and efficient exchange of information. Sustainable competitive advantage is no longer rooted in physical assets and financial capital, but in effective channeling of intellectual capital. The market value of a commercial enterprise is derived not only from its physical and financial assets, but also from the intangible assets it creates through knowledge-based activities.These intangible assets include intellectual property, such as patents and copyrights, as well as the more nebulous assets such as methodologies, practices and customer relationships. These intangible assets are often estimated to be worth many times the book value of a firm and are known as knowledge or intellectual assets. The management of these assets is referred to as knowledge management. The major shift bee him change and return to fully acceptable performance, and is consistent with the values of almost every organization. By eliminating money as an issue, it doesn’t impact the family’s grocery budget and thus reduces the possibility of anger, hostility and even workplace violence.

Agreed Accountability

If the employee decides to remain with the organization and commits to fully acceptable performance in every area of the job (as almost all people placed on decision making leave do) and then doesn’t live up to his commitment, termination turns out to be much easier and guilt-free.

And should the employee challenge the termination in an EEOC complaint, unemployment hearing, or any other venue, the fact that the organization gave the person a day at its expense to decide whether he was willing to do then job he was being paid to do and the employee didn’t live up to his own commitment assures legal defensibility.

Traditional discipline approaches may indeed convince some problem employees to shape up, others to ship out. But punitive tactics can’t produce employees who are genuinely committed to the goals of the organization and the policies and rules by which they operate. We may be able to punish people into compliance, but we can not punish them into a commitment to employee performance improvement. And a culture of commitment is what today’s organizations really need.

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