Progressive Discipline
& Best Practices
Discipline Policy:
It is the company’s policy to conduct disciplinary action in a fair,
appropriate and consistent manner, within the at-will
employment context.
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Why is this important?
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Makes Prism a Good Employer
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It’s the Right Thing to Do
Avoiding Discipline Problems:
Tell your employees what you expect and 99% of your
problems will go away…...
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Set Expectations through Job Descriptions, Competencies,
Goal Setting, Orientation.
Provide Regular, Constructive Feedback through Coaching
& Counseling, and 1 on 1s.
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Timeliness, Consistency & Objectivity
Seek out Feedback
Avoiding Discipline Problems:
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Conduct both Formal & Informal Performance Reviews
Review Employee Handbook and specific policies
Practice Good Recordkeeping
Be a Manager, not a Therapist
Progressive Discipline:
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Why do we issue discipline?
- To Improve Performance
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Designed to make an employee aware of a problem and to
give them an opportunity to fix it.
Applies to all employees regardless of length of service and
position.
 Prism does not have a Probationary Period. However,
new associates should be given at least one warning prior
to terminating.
Discipline Notices:
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Verbal & Written Warnings for Attendance, Performance or
Conduct.
Standardized Corrective Action form or Memorandum
following same format.
No notes or other documentation to personnel file without
employee’s signature.
Corrective Discipline
Progressive Discipline
 Regular feedback documented (e-mails, memos, etc.)
 Documented Verbal Warning
 Documented Written Warning
 Documented Final Warning
 Suspension (as appropriate) – Investigation Results must be documented
 Dismissal
 Managers and HR should partner together for recommendations regarding
the strategy and appropriate process to follow.
Considerations before a corrective
discussion
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Do you have all the facts? Ask questions. Give the team
member an opportunity to explain?
Were expectations properly communicated to the team
member? If the infraction is repetitive, has the team member
been counseled properly and aware of the policies?
Has the case been properly documented?
Verbal Warnings (Counseling)
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Formal indication of dissatisfaction with the employee’s work
performance or warning on the first violation of an
established rule policy/procedure or policy of the hotel or
department.
 May be appropriate for minor rule infractions; minor
misconduct; or unsatisfactory performance.
 Generally issued when previous discussions or informal
coaching and counseling sessions have not resulted in
desired improvement.
 The employee will be asked to acknowledge receiving the
warning (via signature)
Written Warnings
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Generally issued for serious rule infractions or misconduct;
repeat offense; or continued performance deficiencies.
 Informs employee that a serious problem exists and
employment may be in jeopardy.
 Should list any previous disciplinary action that has taken
place and corrective action required.
 The employee will be asked to acknowledge receiving the
written warning (via signature).
Final Warning (if applicable):
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May be appropriate for “repeat offender” of low-grade
offenses—including poor performance, repeated tardiness,
consistently failing to punch in or out for shifts, etc.
 Assumes that employee has already received prior
disciplinary notices.
 Notifies employee they have one more chance to improve.
Suspension Pending Investigation:
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Employees should always be asked for a written response to
allegations.
Must always complete a written warning form when
suspending an employee.
Employee is not permitted to be on property during a
suspension.
If an employee with house bank is suspended, you must
retrieve bank keys ad notify accounting to pull banks for an
audit.
Suspension Pending Investigation (cont’):
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Don’t commit to a specific time frame.. it depends on the
scope of situation precipitating the need to investigate.
Summary of Investigation and Witness notices if applicable
should be maintained.
Suspension is NOT used as a form of discipline.
Employees who are reinstated following suspension WILL BE
PAID for time missed.
Employees who are terminated following suspension will
NOT be paid.
Corrective Active Discussion:
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Know your facts.
Have the discussion as soon after the issue occurs as
possible.
Keep conversation on track;
Be constructive; focus on performance or conduct, not
feelings or judgments.
Never have the discussion when you’re upset or emotional.
Corrective Action Form:
Two good reasons for properly writing a corrective disciplinary
form are:
1. When applicable, the company should not incur
unemployment benefit expenses (if you can prove
competence and that the team member was showing
insignificant effort).
2. The legal implications for writing a good / bad corrective
disciplinary form can mean the difference between no legal
exposure or a law suit (stick to the facts and facts alone).
Show Corrective Action Form
Corrective Action Form:
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Be specific about the offense, incident, performance issue,
etc. Include date, time of occurrence, and work rule that
was violated if applicable.
Avoid subjective language and keep in behavioral terms.
Include backup documentation if appropriate.
State what needs to be done and by when.
“In the future I expect you to arrive ready to begin working promptly at 8am each
day you are scheduled to work”.
Corrective Action Form:
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State potential consequences if improvement is not shown
or if infraction occurs again.
Conclude with the phrase, “Any future infraction, violation of
company policy, or unsatisfactory performance may result in
further disciplinary action or possible termination of
employment”.
Corrective Action Form:
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If applicable, detail previous disciplinary action.
Record items such as action taken, date of incident,
reason/type of violation and who it was presented by.
Only current disciplinary action should be recorded (no more
than 12 months).
Encourage employees to write comments on the form or on
a separate sheet.
Employee should be provided a copy of the notice.
Check appropriate box stating whether or not you have
suspended the employee.
Corrective Action Form:
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All disciplinary forms must be signed by the employee and
manager/supervisor issuing the warning.
All disciplinary forms must be signed by HR and the GM.
If they refuse to sign, have another manager witness refusal
and explain to the employee that the warning is still valid.
Original form should then be submitted to HR and kept in the
employee’s personnel file.
Performance Improvement Plan (PIP)
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Performance Improvement Plan
PIP
Name:
Manager:
Position:
Review Period:
Competency
Goal
Action Plan
Expected Date
Managing
vision &
People
Establish credibility
and awareness on
functions on the
functions can support
and partner
executive team
Establish a new hire
training and
development
program for
housekeepers that
are new hires or
retraining or
development.

Project scope:
weekly until
due date of
nctional
Technical
Expertise
Meet with key stakeholders to
establish credibility through a
consultative approach
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Set up project scope to plan
timelines, deliverables and
measureable outcomes
Outline training items and assigned
trainers
Develop a checklist of all training
items to be completed
Implement an evaluation process
Brand required training
Present and communicate new
training program to EC
Develop
outline by:
Develop
checklist
Identify
trainers and
certify
Pilot training
for 4 weeks
Present final
product by
Results Expected
and Achieved
Buy in from
stakeholders and EC
Check list and
outline documented
Training program
piloted
Full program
presented to EC and
approved
Failure to meet all outlined all outline items by …. Will lead to employment termination with. Your signature serves as
acknowledgement that this plan was given to you and the expectations communicated for you continue your position
with us Housekeeping manager or director
Associate name
Date
Supervisor
Date
Performance Improvement Plan (PIP)
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PIP’s should be delivered as a form of early intervention –
Precedes written warning.
Should be delivered when success is the desired and likely
outcome. Otherwise, just issue discipline (Corrective Action).
Performance Improvement Plan (PIP)
Review the form. Make sure to point out that originals of both
documents should be turned into HR and no hardcopies should
be kept in someone’s office as in the past some of these have
“disappeared”.
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Protect the folder where the soft copies are saved. This is
between you, the associate and HR.
Associates at Prism are at-will employment status. This
means that when they willingly choose to work for our
properties, they agree to work under our performance
standards and to follow our policies and procedures when
they accept our employment offer.
Performance Improvement Plan (PIP)
cont’
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Associates who do not agree to sign and acknowledge the
required items for improvement leads to voluntary
resignation as our expectations are non-negotiable.
Do not let an associate take the action plan form with them
overnight or for several days.
The employee does not have to agree but has to comply to
remain employed.
Action Plans for EC members must be reviewed and
approved by Corporate HR and VPs.
Hotel Anywhere
Memo
Sales Performance Improvement Plan
(PIP)
To:
Sales Manager
From:
DOS
CC:
General Manager & Human Resources Manager
Review the Sales PIP Memo and Instructions.
Date:
8/13/2015
Re:
Performance Concerns
The purpose of this memo is address concerns with your recent performance.
Paragraph One
This section should reference exactly what the performance issue is with specifics, and backup if applicable.
i.e. – revenue performance vs. goal, sales activity performance vs. goal, lack of new
business in the pipeline with revenue or room nights numbers, lack of relationships with
clients with specific clients outlined, etc.
For example: Mary, you have had two back to back months of failure to achieve your revenue
numbers and failure to achieve your outside call goals. For April and May, you were expected to book
$45,000 in revenue and make 80 outside sales calls in the two months combined. You booked $7000
and only completed 47 outside sales calls.
Paragraph Two
This paragraph should reference previous coaching discussions, emails, conversations
relating to the performance concern. These should be dated and give specific reference to the
performance concern at hand.
For example: In our one-on-one on March 7 I suggested that your outside sales calls seemed
to be slipping and didn’t appear to be a as focused as they had previously. You assured me that was
not the case and they you would re-focus on your calls. Subsequently, in our one-on-ones on April 14
and April 28 we discussed my concerns for your revenue production over the past 30 days and my
Performance Discussions
• Prepare & Practice
• Schedule the discussion whenever possible and appropriate.
• Choose the right location, in private and with witnesses as needed.
• Be constructive.
• Be professional, stay focused on the issue, not the person.
• Don’t make it personal
• Be brief and to the point
• Re-set expectations
• Do not negotiate standards
Best Practices
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Set the right expectations.
Communicate and provide feedback on a regular basis.
Recognize and reinforce positive behaviors and
accomplishments.
Document conversations, incidents and feedback
discussions.
Be proactive
Be consistent
Know Prism’s Employee Handbook.
Best Practices (cont’)
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Don’t set precedents
Partner with HR
Model our Prism Core Values
Follow up with the employee