Individuals found guilty of misconduct at workplaces must undergo investigations to ascertain appropriate disciplinary measures.
This is the assertion by the Head of Human Resource Management at the School of Business, University of Cape Coast, Prof. Nana Yaw Oppong, whose view is that employees should not just be dismissed for wrongdoing.
He says every company or institution has its way of handling disciplinary action against employees, however, they ought to give employees the chance to defend themselves against the allegations.
“You can’t just dismiss somebody without sending the person to disciplinary committee because once you want to sack somebody, the person needs to be taken through disciplinary; he has to tell what he has done, give any side of it.”
In an interview with ATL FM NEWS, Prof. Oppong explained that the severity of the offence determines the course of action nevertheless the person should be taken through the disciplinary committee before any final action is taken.
Outlining some protocols for addressing offences committed within workplaces, he revealed that minor infractions may result in verbal warnings or counselling, and more serious transgressions could lead to dismissal from the institution.
“So non-disciplinary corrective action would be, maybe we send a person to counselling. We refer the person to a senior member to advise the person; to guard against himself doing that again,” he said.
He opined that differences in punishments for similar offences lie with the track record of the employee involved, in that, employees with good track records may or may not have any disciplinary action taken against them and vice versa.
With this, Pro. Oppong said corrective actions may be used for performance issues even without disciplinary actions.
“So not all similar offences attract disciplinary actions because you have good respectful management of your attendance and everything. So, at that point, though we will send you through corrective actions for performance sometimes with regard to conduct, you may go home the same day if you’re found culpable,” he said.
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Source: Comfort Sweety Hayford/ATLFMNEWS
