What’s Included in the Employee Write-Up Form

 The employee write up form was developed around six key aspects of resolving an internal employee problem:

1. Reason for Discussion
2. Cause for Action
3. Level of Warning
4. Performance Improvement Required
5. Explanation of Situation
6. Employee Remarks

Despite each of these being rather simple to fill out and describe, they are all needed and play a vital role in the employee write up form. All six also help explain to the employee what was done wrong and how to fix it, in addition to serving as a record for the employer.

While we don’t need to do a deep dive on all six sections of the employee write up form, we should explain a few big ones.

• • Reason for Discussion – This may seem obvious, but if it is an employee’s first infraction it can get overlooked. You need to be explicit when explaining to the employee what was done wrong and why they are being reprimanded.
  • Performance Improvement Required – Even if you tell your employee what they’ve done wrong, it may not be enough to reverse the course of action. It is imperative that you explicitly explain to your employee what they need to do differently.
  • Employee Remarks – The discussion you will have with your employee can not be one sided. The employee has to be given a chance to make remarks to either explain their action or why they don’t believe they should be reprimanded. However, this section is also very important to the employee write up form because it give you the space to take note of everything your employee has to say in case it becomes a recurring issue.

These three aspects of an employee write up, in addition to the three that weren’t explained, assure that all the necessary information is covered in the event of potential litigation.

Tips on How to Write Up an Employee

The first thing we recommend when reprimanding an employee is to use our employee write up form (obviously). But we know that even though you have this fantastic tool, there’s more that comes with write ups and reprimands. Here are a few tips that’ll help.

Revisit Company Policies

When conducting an employee writeup, it’s important to explain to them why their actions work against the company’s policies. In some instances, the employee’s action could be purely a mistake because of a misunderstanding of particular policies. By explaining this to the employee, it will give a better understanding as to why what they did was wrong.

Keep the Conversation Focused

When filling out the employees write-up form—and when explaining what an employee is being reprimanded for—make sure the topic of conversation is about the action in question. If you start to go on a tangent about other matters, you’ll confuse yourself and your employee.

Mention Prior Instances

If this has become a reoccurring incident, be sure your employee is made aware of that. However, you should only mention moments of the past if they have been previously documented in other employee write up forms, and if they have been relatively recent.

Choose the Right Time to Conduct the Write-Up

You should never do an employee write up if you are angry. This is already an emotional, high-stress situation and any inflated emotions can make things go south. Be sure at the time of the write up and meeting with the employee, it’s in a calm and controlled environment.

Write Down as Much as You can

Even if a statement or action seems irrelevant, write it down. Taking thorough notes to keep record can help with any potential legal ramifications that may arise. If someone is disgruntled about something you don’t recall, and you don’t have any record of the event, then you won’t have much to lean on. The more information, the better!

Don’t be intimidated by the responsibility of having to conduct write ups. We understand they can be tough, but that’s okay—we’re here to help. We also have other tools that may be helpful to you and your business like our employee evaluation template.