Feisty Employee Ignoring Office Policy?
Addressing a feisty employee ignoring office policy may not be an easy task, especially if you do not have a policy in place. While there is an acceptable standard of conduct in an office setting, expecting an employee to behave as such without set policies is inviting disaster into your office. For the purposes of this article, I will presume that those reading all have employee manuals and defined office policies set up in their practices.
With appropriate policies and procedures in place, if you have an employee disregarding established policy, the first step is to document all instances where the employee is disregarding office policy contemporaneously. Make sure all notes to the employee’s file are dated and signed by the office manager or another manager of the practice. The second step is to have an authoritative figure in your office, preferably the designated office manager, speak with this employee in a discrete setting and confidentially, reminding the employee of the set policies in place and that the employee has been violating same. If you have a real trouble maker on your hands, you may want to make sure that any meeting is not conducted 1 on 1, and a witness is included. If after a verbal warning to the employee does not alter that employee’s behavior or notice that continued inappropriate behavior may result in termination does not work, then you may have no choice but to terminate that employee.
If you are concerned about action being taken by this employee after termination against the practice you will know that you have maintained a contemporaneous file documenting all actions outside of office policy. Some practitioners elect to offer an employee severance in exchange for a signed release.
If you do not have defined office policies, please do not hesitate to contact me. An employee handbook is essential to every practice with even 1 employee and is not costly.
For additional information on this topic, please contact Jennifer Kirschenbaum at (516) 747-6700 ext. 308 or at Jennifer@Kirschenbaumesq.com. This email is for education and discussion purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. To access prior healthcare email newsletters or articles visit: www.kirschenbaumesq.com/healthcarearticles.htm.
