The State of Nevada’s human resources guide lists the levels of progressive discipline in order: oral warning, written warning, suspension, demotion and separation.
The first step is a conversation. The second is “Written notice of discipline documented on the Written Reprimand form.” A suspension places an employee “on a leave of absence without pay for no more than 30 calendar days.”
On March 28, 1966, the arbitrator Carroll R. Daugherty decided a discipline case at Enterprise Wire Co. In his decision he set out seven tests of “just cause.”
The first test asks: “Did the company give to the employee forewarning or foreknowledge of the possible or probably disciplinary consequences of the employee’s conduct?”
The US Army records counseling on DA Form 4856, the Developmental Counseling Form. It covers event-oriented counseling as well as regular performance counseling.
A US Army Reserve guide to the form says: “Both the counselor and the individual counseled should retain a record of the counseling.”
On July 24, 2017, President Donald Trump called his own attorney general, Jeff Sessions, “beleaguered” on Twitter. The next day he wrote: “Attorney General Jeff Sessions has taken a VERY weak position on Hillary Clinton crimes (where are E-mails & DNC server) & Intel leakers!”
Republican senators answered in public. Ted Cruz called Sessions “a friend and a strong conservative.” Lindsey Graham said: “He’s a rock-solid conservative, but above else he believes in the rule of law.” Richard Shelby called him “a man of integrity, loyalty, and extraordinary character.”
Let’s take this offline. The speaker moves a difficult topic out of the meeting and into a private talk.
Can I grab you for a minute? This is a quiet request to speak with someone alone.
Pull someone aside. This means to speak with one person away from the group, often about a problem.
I’m going to have to escalate this. The speaker takes a problem with a colleague to a manager.
Let’s loop in HR. A problem between people goes to the human resources department.
The Society for Human Resource Management gives managers a rule for the annual review. “The first rule of performance reviews is that employees should never be surprised by what is said.”
Another SHRM article says the same: “an employee’s performance appraisal should never come as a shock to them.”
The Performance Improvement Plan is a formal American HR instrument, and its stated purpose is development. Everyone in an American workplace understands it differently. Being placed on one is widely read as the beginning of an exit, and employees respond by looking for another job.
The instrument exists to separate the work from the person. Nobody reads it that way.
A standing American management maxim, taught in manager training and repeated in HR guidance: when there is something good to say, make sure others hear it; when there is a correction, handle it one to one.
The rule pairs the two halves deliberately. The same event either gets an audience or is kept from one, depending entirely on which direction it points.
American football. The professional league – NFL. Green Bay, Wisconsin. Cold. Very cold. The Green Bay Packers, the dominant football team of the 1960s. Their coach, Vince Lombardi, one of the greatest of all time. Their quarterback – play-maker, Spielmacher – Bart Starr.
Starr: quiet, serious, disciplined, selfless, talented, understated, fully focused on one goal only, winning. Winning championships. Starr to Lombardi: “Do not criticize me in front of the team, instead just the two of us. Otherwise I cannot lead the team.”
Listen to minutes 3:45 to 4:30