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Seyfarth Synopsis: Employees are only human — misconduct, theft, harassment, discrimination, and even criminal conduct are a fact of life, even in the workplace.  Companies confronted with allegations of workplace misconduct must consider the manner of responding to the allegations and the means by which they will be investigated.

Businesses suffer millions of dollars in losses each year due to diminished productivity associated with employee misconduct and theft of confidential information, money, and merchandise.  It is for this reason that at one time or another in their careers, management personnel will have to deal with serious employee problems or problem employees.

In a broader sense, the problem employees may have a tendency to “push out” other employees. By and large, poor employee morale is intertwined with poor management techniques. Simply put, bad behavior begets bad supervision and bad supervision creates bad morale – it’s a cycle.

Holding on to the best workers is a process over which front-line managers have a key role.  Aside from a steady paycheck, employees want a boss who offers them a future filled with challenging work, the potential for advancement, and appropriate recognition.  Thus, workers do not quit companies as much as they quit their managers.  The boss of choice is one who inspires an employee to be as successful as possible, and to strive to grow professionally on a continuous basis.  This process starts with a supervisor-subordinate relationship marked by trust and respect. 

Better management of employee performance can eliminate perceptions of unfair treatment and discrimination.  Effective feedback and two-way communication between managers and workers also pays dividends in improved employee relations.  Furthermore, proper decision-making in firing an employee is grounded in sound evaluation and disciplinary practices.  It is for this reason that proper evaluation of employees and use of performance appraisals are especially critical to effective loss control and risk management of employment-related exposures.

Setting out a clear and consistent policy for evaluating and disciplining employees is very important – not only will all employees be equally accountable for their misconduct, and therefore gaining the trust of employees, but it will ensure that if an employee is terminated for their behavior, it will not come as a surprise.

Sound termination decisions, in turn, are dependent on effective evaluations and discipline.  The entire process is premised upon personnel decisions which are fair and non-discriminatory.

Our video provides insight for employers on how to best prevent employee grievances from occurring, and, because grievances are always bound to turn up, how to best manage them.