At the BDA we often have members coming to us to ask what to do when there are misconduct issues or where they have performance concerns about their employees. We understand that for what are often small dental teams a disciplinary process can seem very daunting especially as these are often tight knit teams that consider themselves more a ‘family' than a business. There is however a fairly clear step-by-step process for you to follow when something does happen in practice which gives you the confidence to know that you are fairly and professionally handling those problems so that you can hopefully resolve them without too much hassle.
First you need to clearly identify the issue. This can range from minor infractions like repeated lateness, to breaches of workplace policies all the way through to serious misconduct issues like theft. For minor issues it is often useful to raise the problem informally with the individual in the first instance. Draw a line in the sand between what has happened so far, then clearly outline your policy and state that any further incidents can trigger the practice disciplinary procedure. You want to ensure the employee knows what it is they should be doing before disciplining them for not doing it. This is especially important where it may have been going on for some time as they may no longer be aware of the rules.
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