Why Discipline Tracking in the Workplace is Important

Labor Relations Software

March 29, 2023

Why Discipline Tracking in the Workplace Is Important

For any organization to be successful, it’s essential to have a strong foundation of discipline in the workplace. Many employers may think of disciplinary tracking as an unnecessary cost or just another administrative task that leads to more paperwork. Discipline tracking is a common term that refers to the process of documenting and monitoring employee behavior in the workplace. It is important because it helps employers manage behavioral patterns, ensure fairness, stay compliant with legal regulations, prevent serious injuries, and improve productivity. Additionally, discipline tracking is actually one of the best ways for managers and executives to promote productivity, encourage collaboration, and instill company values within their teams- making a huge impact on an organization’s bottom line.

In this article, we will delve deeper into each of these reasons why discipline tracking is important in the workplace. So, keep reading to learn why this tool can make all the difference for your organization’s growth!

Managing behavioral patterns

Patterns of behavior, whether it be in an individual or a team, can be extremely difficult to identify if your organization doesn’t know what they’re looking for. It can be tough for leadership to establish whether it is an isolated incident or a pattern of behavior that could potentially put the organization at risk. Tracking disciplinary problems is crucial for identifying these patterns of behavior and taking proactive measures to address common issues and prevent future risks.

With Sodales for Enterprise Health, Safety, and Labour Relations discipline management module, employers can easily record and manage various workplace events, including employees coming in late, causing harm to others, engaging in verbal abuse or harassment, and more. Supervisors can fill out an intake form with relevant details such as event date, investigation requirements, disciplinary type, specific violation clauses, and names of involved individuals.

Addressing the root cause of disciplinary problems can prevent them from escalating into more serious issues, while tracking provides documentation that helps to protect organizations in the event of termination or adverse employment decisions. Employers can create a safer, more productive workplace for all team members by implementing an effective disciplinary management system.

Instill fairness

Discipline tracking helps to ensure that employees are treated fairly. By documenting and tracking disciplinary actions, employers can demonstrate that they are taking a consistent and fair approach to address employee behavior.

Sodales’ discipline tracking system ensures that employers treat their employees fairly by consistently documenting and tracking corrective actions. This approach can help prevent claims of discrimination or unfair treatment. Sodales’ employee discipline history feature enables labor relations managers and supervisors to easily view an employee’s disciplinary status, types of actions taken, and relevant forms submitted. It can also be easily integrated with HR systems such as SuccessFactors for quick access to important employee information that can improve productivity for HR teams.

Even when an employee is not found at fault for a violation, Sodales’ configurable system can store this information if the company chooses to capture it. Employers can use this comprehensive history to track an employee’s disciplinary record over their employment with your organization, providing a truly transparent view for your HR department. This can help to improve your organization’s workplace policies and procedures and maintain consistent fairness throughout all disciplinary actions.

Stay compliant

Employers must protect the health and safety of their employees, which includes responding to workplace misconduct and policy violations. Although there may not be explicit laws mandating disciplinary tracking, failure to document health and safety actions could leave employers legally vulnerable.

For example, in 2022, a worker at an Ontario Sawmill was suspended for 2 weeks after failing to report a collision he experienced between the machinery he was operating and a door, causing severe damage. The sawmills policies required the employee to report the incident immediately, however, the employee failed to do so until later on. After arbitration, the suspension was reduced to one week, as the employee’s long-standing history at the company and past precedence were analyzed. In this situation, using a solution like Sodales for Enterprise Health, Safety and Employee Relations would have provided the employer with the necessary history on the employee to properly discipline the employee for the breach in company safety policy, saving the organization in the associated costs for arbitration.

Additionally, with Sodales employers can easily customize templates for disciplinary processes and generate pre-determination hearing letters with just one click. These letters notify employees of upcoming hearing meetings and, once submitted, the system automatically sends the information to the appropriate department for follow-up. Sodales’ streamlined discipline management module saves time and ensures consistent and appropriate actions are taken in response to workplace events.

Preventing serious injuries

By tracking disciplinary issues, employers can prevent more serious problems in the workplace, including accidents and injuries. In the case above at the Ontario Sawmill, the supervisor deemed the door as unsafe working conditions after noticing and inspecting the damage. The supervisor was able to discipline the employee in hopes of preventing serious injuries or accidents as a result of the damage.

Sodales’ discipline portal offers a centralized view of all recorded requests and events submitted by supervisors through hearing forms. This portal allows access to metrics such as pending investigations and pre-determination hearings, as well as closed cases. Employers can also track the stage of each disciplinary event and manage chronic behaviors using search filters across the organization. In the case at the Sawmill, the Sawmill could have utilized Sodales to track all stages of the investigation and during the arbitration process. The Sawmill can then use this history of how this case was handled when determining future disciplinary actions in similar situations. So it is safe to say that addressing disciplinary issues like unsafe behavior or failure to follow safety protocols right away can ensure a safe work environment for all employees.

Improve productivity

Ensuring all employees meet expectations and follow company policies can lead to improved productivity. Sodales’ discipline portal offers additional benefits such as the ability to add step delays or extensions to the disciplinary process when an employee is on vacation or otherwise unavailable. This feature allows for the seamless capture of disciplinary events without interruption, helping to ensure the process proceeds smoothly and effectively. These streamlined processes improve the quality of work, increase productivity, and promote a more positive work environment for all employees.

With robust reporting features, our solution enables companies to shift from a reactive to a proactive approach in managing disciplinary events by generating reports based on the data inputted into the system. Through analysis of the data and identification of behavioral patterns, employers can take proactive steps to create a safe work environment and improve overall productivity.

Takeaways

Employers can achieve numerous benefits by tracking disciplinary problems, including managing behavioral patterns, ensuring fairness, staying compliant with legal regulations, preventing serious injuries, and improving productivity. Ready to learn how Sodales for Enterprise Health, Safety and Employee Relations can help your organization?  Request a demo to learn more about how Sodales’ discipline tracking module can be integrated into your company’s workflow to prevent future disciplinary incidents and promote a positive workplace culture.

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