What is Disciplinary Action?

When you hire an employee, you expect them to maintain a certain level of performance and comply with employer policies, procedures, and laws. Employee disciplinary actions are corrective actions a company takes in response to an employee failing to meet performance expectations or having behavioral problems.

The purpose of disciplinary action is to correct the behavior of the employee while documenting the issues in case the problem arises again in the future.  In other words, the primary goal of disciplinary action is not to punish the employee.

The role of Human Resources during workplace disciplinary action varies on the organization and available resources.

For example, in some companies, HR is only involved in more serious disciplinary actions. In other organizations, they may be involved in all disciplinary meetings. In both cases, HR is responsible for outlining disciplinary action policy and formalizing procedures for responding to actions that go against the company’s rules. Generally, these policies are outlined in the employee handbook.