We created a new approach to discipline that emphasised personal responsibility instead of punishment. 'Reminders' were substituted for 'warnings'. Supervisors were given two days of coaching to teach them how to confront performance problems in a non-confrontational manner. In addition, dozens of policy and procedural issues were reviewed and simplified.
But the most unorthodox part of this new approach was to replace the conventional unpaid disciplinary lay-off with a dramatic final step: a paid decision-making leave. Upon reaching this point, an errant employee was told to spend the following day at home. He was being suspended, his supervisor explained, as the final step of the company's new discipline procedure. He was told to return the day following the leave with a decision: either to solve the immediate problem and make a total commitment to acceptable performance in every area of his job, or to quit and find more satisfying work someplace else.
The employee received full pay for this day off to demonstrate that management was serious in its desire to see him change and stay. He was told, in a serious but supportive way, that his future was in his own hands and that the company would accept whichever decision he made. But if he elected to stay, his boss cautioned, another disciplinary lapse would result in immediate termination.
The results? The following year, terminations had dropped to 19 from 58; a year after that they were down to two. The atmosphere was transformed; customer complaints disappeared.
Treating a problem employee as an adult with a problem to solve rather than as a child who must be punished for misbehaviour greatly increases the likelihood that an adult response will be forthcoming.
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