HR MANAGEMENT - Issuance of Warning to Employee

ISSUANCE OF WARNING TO EMPLOYEE

By Faudzil Harun

Issuance of Warning

Employee Explanation

1.  Warning is a punishment.

2.  Warning must be administered to an employee after giving him an opportunity
     to explain the omission or act alleged against him and after considering his
     explanation.

3.  Issuing warning to employee after getting instruction from the supervisors or line
     managers without giving him the opportunity to explain or to challenge the
     complaint made against him has been the most common error done by many
     offices which can later be the cause for a defective inquiry.

Oral Warnings

1.  Oral warnings must be documented as proof of the indiscipline and that the
     employee was cautioned.

2.  If the collective agreement does not provide for oral warning, then it must not
     be taken into consideration.

Written Warnings

In many occasion, indiscipline conduct is being committed and repeated often. Written warnings is a permanent form of cautioning. The warning may act as a reminder that they should conform to the norms and rules practiced as acceptable in the organization.

Communicating Warning

Warning to Management Staff

A warning especially a written one given to an employee in a managerial category will have a different effect altogether. The manager who receives such a warning would feel threatened. 

He would read the warning as a stigma in his employment record and his chances of progression in the organization are diminished somewhat. His response will depend on the economic situation of the country and also the type of skills he has. If there are jobs available he would look for an opening elsewhere. 

However during a period of industrial slack, the manager may want to mend his ways and conform to the accepted norms of the organization. In the case of management staff it may be beneficial to all parties if the manager is called in and a frank discussion is carried out before resorting to punishing him. If the offence is not as serious, it would be a win-win situation for both parties as the manager will mend his ways and the employer need not lose his service.

Communication of Final Warning

A final warning is usually given when the employee has had a record of indiscipline and the employer feels he should be given a last chance to mend his ways before he is dismissed. The final warning is really a final chance for the employee to reform his conduct and work attitude. Care must be taken to frame the final warning. The employee should know that he has pushed the tolerance level of his employer to the limits and there may not be a next time. The following extract indicates what a final warning should contain :

“The purpose of a final warning is to make the employee appreciate that his performance or behavior has placed his job in danger. The final warning should go beyond a statement of dissatisfaction with his behavior. It should include a clear and specific indication of the consequences of failure to respond to the warning and the final warning should specify that a repetition would lead to sanction of dismissal.”

Warning Just Before Dismissal

There is also the practice of employers giving a series of warnings to an employee before he is dismissed. He would have a clean record but just before his dismissal, a series of warnings would have been given. The fact is that the employee has become intolerable to the employer and he wants him out but he does not have good enough reasons to terminate him, and the employer wishes to prove to the world that the guy is not performing. 

But it is apparent that he will fail in his attempt to convince the court of the employee’s wrong doings as the warnings coming so close would appear to be a premeditated attempt to get rid of the employee. Employers are well advised that a warning should not be taken lightly. It is not a mere formality after which the employer can mechanically claim the right to dismiss the employee. The employee must be given sufficient opportunity to improve himself and to achieve a satisfactory level of performance.