Employee Discipline - Research Paper Example

Employees may be disciplined for various reasons. One reason that may cause an employer to discipline their employee is insubordination (hr.ubc.ca, 2013). This occurs when the employee knowingly and wilfully disobeys their superior. Another reason that may lead an employee to be disciplined is theft (hr.ubc.ca, 2013). Employees are supposed to be faithful to their employers and therefore must not steal from them.

Types of Discipline

Employees may be disciplined in different ways when they go against company policy or break rules. One type of discipline that may be applied is employment termination. This involves removing the employee from the organization’s list of workers. This form of punishment should be used only when the mistake done by an employee is grave or when they have been warned about their mistakes severally. Yet another punishment that employers can impose on employees is a suspension (hr.ubc.ca, 2013). As opposed to termination, when an employee is suspended, they are relieved of their duties and seize to enjoy some of the benefits and privileges they previously enjoyed temporarily.

The employer can also demote an employee for the mistakes they commit. When an employee is demoted, they lose some of the privileges they previously enjoyed and have their pay cut. This type of disciplinary action is also severe and should be reserved for serious cases.  Instead of issuing such weighty disciplinary actions against an employee, an employer may issue a warning to an errant employee. The warning should carry weight and should serve to deter the employee from engaging in further inappropriate activities. Warnings should always be issued privately and should be accompanied by counseling aimed at instigating improved performance (entrepreneur.com, 2013).  An employee can also be assigned an unpleasant task as a disciplinary action (hr.ubc.ca, 2013).