Communicating with employees - Discipline at work

All employees will recognise that a well run organisation needs a Disciplinary Procedure. The rules and procedures need to be accepted as reasonable both by those who are covered by them and those who operate them. Employees and where appropriate their representatives should then be involved in drawing up the Procedure.

The Procedure should be set out clearly and concisely in writing and be readily available to all employees, for example in handbooks or on company Intranet sites. Management should make every effort to ensure that all employees know and understand the rules including those whose first language is not English or who have a disability or impairment (eg, the inability to read). This may best be achieved by giving every employee a copy of the rules and explaining them orally. For new employees this might form part of any induction programme .

It is also important that managers at all levels and employee representatives are fully conversant with the disciplinary rules and that the rules are regularly checked and updated where necessary.

If all employees have access to the internet then employers may find it easier to refer employees directly to the ACAS Disciplinary Code of Practice.