It is tough being a manager; they wear multiple hats at the same and have a huge amount of responsibility. One of the tasks that take away from the managers job is the dreaded write-up or documenting of employees. Documenting employees serves several purposes, both positive in the case of great reviews or guest compliments. However, documenting more often than not is for negatives that happen on the job: mistakes, negative reviews/guest complaints or time and attendence (showing up late, call outs). Not all restaruants enforce time and attendence, however many in hotel and union settings do keep notes on time and attendence, which is part of progressive discipline.
Progressive discipline lies at the core of documenting employees.
Why is it is Necessary To Document Employees?
It is necessary to document employees for quite a few reasons. These range from discipline to growth to a form of record keeping. Documenting is what a smart manager will do after every 1 on 1 with employees. Record keeping in this manner is a great way to keep track of both positive and negative feedback to employees.
Managers: save both the good and the bad for employees. Keeping the good and the bad, more importantly, celebrating the good, goes a long way with employees. Do not forget this is still the restaurant business, its brutal. Giving hourly, (mostly) tipped employees praise, encourages morale to increase and loosens the ever-present tension between management and employees.
Why A Manager Should Document
A manager who documents employees doesn’t always enjoy it. Actually, it is one of the toughest tasks of being a manager. Documenting must be done to hold employees accountable for their actions during shift. This is a check and balance to make sure the inmates are not running the asylum. Remember, a manager cannot be responsible for what an employee does off the clock, especially an hourly employee. At least with a salaried employee they are technically always on call and need to be available as needed. It is also easier to fire a salaried employee for making bad decisions out of work than an hourly employee.
Documenting employees is extra work and extra paperwork, the last thing a manager wants. However, it is a necessary evil in order to maintain accountability and keep records of progressive discipline. Sometimes employees might be late, other times, they might make a mistake on orders that cost the restaurant upwards of $70 (misordered steak or lobster tail), especially in fine-dining or a prime steakhouse.
Product is expensive, mistakes are even more costly, even wonder what happens when a steak goes out medium that should have gone out medium-rare? It gets pricey and sadly is one of the costs of doing business.
What Causes Employees to be Documented?
Anything and everything!!!
When was the last time you were out and saw hourly employees, not managers on a cell phone? Most likely the last time you went out! It sure bothers us and takes away from the experience. Generally, everything can wait until an employee goes to the bathroom or for the shift to end! The amount of genuine emergencies that happen in day to day life is minimal. Of the actual emergiences, most can wait until the generally (short) shift is over.
Employees on phones during work is the #1 thing managers document for, tardiness is a close second. It is hard to dismiss an employee for being late though as is being on a cell phone. Distracted employees take away from guest experience. Guests not getting a good experience will go elsewhere to get an experience. This is the experience business after all!
What is Progressive Discipline?
Progressive discipline, according to Indiana University Human Resources is “the process of using increasingly severe steps or measures when an employee fails to correct a problem after being given a reasonable opportunity to do so. The underlying principle of sound progressive discipline is to use the least severe action that you believe is necessary to correct the undesirable situation. Increase the severity of the action only if the condition is not corrected.”
Included in these steps are terms such as:
- Write Up, Documenting, Violation, Warning or Paper
- Suspension
- SPI (suspension pending investigation)
- File Review
- TERMINATION
In the restaurant business this can mean reduced/slower shifts, changing of schedule or demotion and even termination as mentioned above. Progressive discipline also involves coaching.
How Can Coaching Help Employees with Negative Behaviors?
Through coaching (progressive discipline) a restaurant manager is able to show an employee how to correct the behavior or how to do their job properly. This establishes the employer is providing a duty to the employee and encouraging their growth and development as opposed to failure. Coaching is about improving, since a performing employee is the best employee and in a tipped business, usually a very happy employee.
Coaching employees through these digressions can be what makes or breaks the business. They can also be the difference between good ratings on Yelp! or TripAdvisor which can greatly affect the flow of business for a restaurant. Consistency is key, even if it is consistently blah service with amazing food or the opposite. We once had a professor that said, people speak with their feet in hospitality. They still do in the digital age with an app telling them where to go.
What Happens When Coaching Doesn’t Work for Restaurant Employees?
The value in coaching is that it isn’t just for discipline, it can be to help top performers as well! There is always an opportunity to gain some more incremental sales for the entire service team. However, if the coaching doesn’t result in a positive change, the ensuing documentation is a record of the discussion and attempt by management and/or peers to help the employee.
Documentation creates a record, identifies the behavior (s) or action that has caused a problem and how to correct it. If the behaviors/actions do not change action must be taken to correct this.
How can Managers Help Employees from Further Documentation?
Employers/managers have several tools available to them when working with employees that receive progressive discipline. Some of these are coaching, employee handbooks, training or a smaller section (for FOH). These all offer opportunities for employees to relearn or refresh themselves on polices and procedures. This an excellent opportunity to work on the tense server/bartender employee relationships that commonly plague the restaurant business.
What Are An Employers Options When Progressive Discipline Doesn’t Work?
Employers have quite a few options when discipline if not effective at correcting actions/behaviors that are detrimental to a restaurant as mentioned above, they are:
- Reduced Shifts
- Demotion
- Reassignment
- Suspension
- Termination
This list can go on for a little longer, but there is no point beating a dead horse. The point in understood. Even the options a manager has are progressive in progressive discipline, it is quite the novel concept. Each possible outcome tends to be worse than the next up to termination. Now, how those options play into the discipline will differ. This leaves suspension and termination as the most popular options when talking progressive discipline. How many servers or bartenders are willing to take a demotion? Slim to none! Demotion is insulting and degrading, no one deserves that.
Why Are Options Such as Demotion and Reassignment Used Infrequently?
They look good on paper as alternatives to suspending or terminating an employee. However, they are the most surefire way to have an employee quit! Know what happens when you tell a server they will now be a food runner?
Ever let a dog loose when a squirrel, rabbit or cat is a yard?
Those critters scatter pretty quickly!
Sadly, demoted employees will do the same thing, scatter quickly. There are plenty of fish (jobs) in the sea of restaurants. They will sure find one elsewhere, it might not be a bad thing either. Problem employees leaving is a gift from the restaurant powers for managers and employees alike. Replacing them is an opportunity to start new.
An alternative is to retrain the employee or offer them a smaller section/lower volume days to improve their performance. Retraining or placing employees on slower shifts keeps the employee working, while giving them the opportunity to improve. It is always easy to go find another serving/bartending job if an employee feels disrespected or not valued. The can quit on Tuesday and be training elsewhere on Thursday. It is also expensive to hire new employees and train them, as opposed to giving a current employee slower shifts to improve/change their behavior.
Why Suspension or Termination?
If writeups do not succeed in correcting bad behavior or improving servers’ performance, suspensions and/or termination might occur. Are there cases where instant termination is possible?
YES!
There is an urban legend stating says restaurant employees and managers are always partying on the job, this isn’t always true. Many managers save their drinking/drugs for when they are not working. While many are sober while on the job, there is always a few bad apples in the bunch and they can make it quite funny for the restaurant. Also, there is no guarantee about not being hungover, but is that any different than office workers after happy hour???
The Process to Terminate an Employee through Progressive Discipline
PAPERWORK; not a lot, but a little bit.
To properly terminate an employee, a few things must happen at a minimum.
- A pattern of behavior must be established
- Effort on the employer side must be made to show the opportunity to improve has taken place
- All interactions about discipline have been documented
- Suspension happens after a pattern has been established
- A “fair and final” warning can be made after suspension
- An employee might not return after suspension
Management/HR has the final say in who gets to come back from suspension and who is terminated. The word discretion is very important here. Managers are the final word in suspending and terminating employees. It is their word against the employees’ word! Usually the employer has the upper hand with the exception being a unionized environment as mentioned before which is a very different situation and one not worth delving into.
We have mentioned the first three bullet points and now want to jump into the second three as they get to the nitty-gritty and ultimate purpose of documenting employee digressions.
What Is Suspension (SPI or Suspension Pending Investigation)?
Suspension or SPI (Suspending Pending Investigation) means that an employee is suspended pending an investigation of their employee file. This is when an employee file is reviewed and if there is enough in the file to warrant termination. Usually SPI results in termination, as employees have had enough warning and coaching to improve or correct the situation.
In the progressive discipline framework, an employee has the least control of the outcome at this point. Through their behavior it has fallen out their hands and into that of management/HR. This is where management discusses options for the employee and if they deserve another chance or will be terminated. Their employee file becomes paramount as management decides the employees’ fate. It can be stressful for both management and employees, however more often than not management’s mind is already made up on the employee, but their a chance for an employee to come back with something called “Fair and Final”
What is “Fair and Final”?
Fair and final is a term used when bringing an employee back after suspension. This means the employee is well aware that they are skating on very thin ice. It is a time for redemption and puts in pretty clear language what happens for even the slightest slip up. It is a get out of jail free card, however it leaves the employee on house arrest.
When an employee is on their final warning, it usually means they are seen as an asset to the team OR the employer needs them in their position. In some positions, such as banquet captain, sommelier, sushi cook/chef, it can be difficult to fill or train a new hire. This gives the employer time to find a replacement or decide what terms the employee is coming back on. Remember, the employee is all the mercy of the employer at this point.
Termination: The Final Solution
After suspension, fair & final or any gross offense it is usually time to part ways with an employee. When this time comes it isn’t easy for an employer. Terminating/firing an employee is always a lot of work. An employer must put together the employee’s file with all previous infractions, writeups and documented conversations. This helps justify the employers’ decision and reasons for the firing. Additionally, all the record keeping and documenting has a most sinister purpose: avoid paying unemployement.
While many restaurants outside of the union atmosphere do not have a policy of progressive discipline or documenting employees, those that do rarely end up with people collecting unemployment. It is sad and evil, however, employers pay taxes based on how many fired employees receive benefits. The more employees that get benefits, the higher the insurance goes (in some states it can be as high as 5% of sales). In a low-margin business, that can add up, especially since you are paying the state. Pissing them off usually isn’t a good idea.
How Does Firing with Proper Documentation Protect an Employer?
While the reasons behind letting an employee go and using progressive discipline are ultimately to avoid paying unemployment, it is a sign of integrity and organization in the employer. The last thing an employer needs/wants is a disgruntled former employee to claim harassment, racism or something civil rights related and collect unemployment. Clearing that issue up can take quite a while.
An employer that has documentation is doing the world a favor by having the records. It shows the interactions that have taken place and that the employer is playing by the rules. These records also show the employer gave the employee the opportunity to fix the problems and worked with them to correct it. All of the records and documentation make the unemployment offices’ job easy. There is a paper trail of interactions and consequences for not changing.
Employers that document employees and keep records seem mean, however, they actually are doing the employee a favor. They do not reward bad behavior with a 26-week parachute of checks from progressive discipline. Many employees receive unemployment due to the employer not filing proper paperwork and firing them. It is a nice thing to do, but when an employee is termed for not following the rules it is almost a reward.
Conclusion
Documenting employees is a process that puts more on managers that have limited time in the first place. However the purpose it serves and goal it represents is a far greater cause: accountability, growth and improvement. No manager likes to fire employees, it is a difficult conversation to have, especially with an employee you know and have worked with. But this is a business and the show must go on…