The Documentation Dilemma

May 12, 2005

Any time you hold a conference or coaching session with an employee to discuss a performance problem, such as frequent unscheduled absences, discourteous behavior, or poor work output, for example, it's important to document the event by creating a written record of it.

For many managers, this means placing a note in the employee's file indicating the date and time the meeting was held, along with a summary of what was said.

Documenting these meetings can be a pain. After you've taken 30 minutes out of your busy day to talk privately with an employee because she was late getting into work the past three days, for example, you have phone calls to return, e-mails to answer, and people lined up at your door waiting to see you. You say to yourself, "I don't have time to document this right now. I'll get back to it later." But then, of course, it's easily forgotten.

On the other hand, if you don't document these sessions, you may have to repeat them all over again. Why? Because if you wind up having to terminate the employee for repeated instances, the individual can claim he or she was not given sufficient warning or opportunity to correct the problem behavior. And without the documentation, you can't prove that you ever met or discussed the situation with the employee. As a result, you have to start back at the beginning and go through the process all over again.

So, there's the dilemma. Forego the documentation and risk having to conduct the meeting over again or spend valuable time doing something you feel shouldn't need to be done at all. The trouble is, even if you choose to document, employees can still deny later that you ever said what you claimed to say in your notes.

There is a better solution.

Instead of making a record in the employee's file, document these meetings in the form of a memo, addressed to the employee. The memo should contain all the same information you would have kept in your notes, including a description of the problem behavior. The difference is the memo is given to the employee to see, whereas your notes usually are not. And that's a big difference.

A memo works better than a note in the employee's file because it makes the employee a party to the documentation. When you give employees a memo, they have an opportunity to either challenge the facts as you've presented them, or forever accept the content of the memo as an accurate representation of what happened and what was said. It removes the potential for any misunderstanding later on.

Of course, employees can still claim they never received the memo. However, it's unlikely this will happen and if you do suspect that an employee might try to make such a claim, you can easily prevent it by asking the employee to sign the memo at the time it's presented.

By the way, don't be tempted to use e-mail instead of a memo, thinking it might be quicker. An e-mail message is too impersonal and too informal to be suitable for this purpose.

What to Say in the Memo

Here are a few tips on how to structure the memo.

• First, be sure to include the date, the name of the employee to whom it is addressed, and your name.
   
• The subject line can include a reference to the problem behavior or better yet, the desired behavior you want instead. For example: "RE: Reliability and Dependability" (instead of "RE: Tardiness.")
   
• Clearly state the nature of the problem in the opening paragraph. For example: "This is to follow up on our discussion this morning regarding the need to focus attention on the job at all times while you are at work."
   
• Don't try to deal with too many issues in one memo. Focus on a single behavior or performance problem, such as poor attendance, low work output, or disruptive behavior.
   
• Be specific, including references to one or more particular instances. For example: "On Wednesday, May 4, you told a customer 'I don't have to take this from you,' then you hung up on the person." Your explanation of the problem should be clear enough that a third-party with no first-hand knowledge of the situation could read the memo and understand exactly what the employee did.
   
• Stick to the facts. Keep your emotions out of the memo and focus strictly on the employee's behavior or work products. Avoid turning the situation into an attack on the individual. For example: "For the past three months, your work output was below standard," NOT: "You are lazy and unmotivated!"
   
• Explain why the employee's actions pose a problem. For example, "While I understand you were frustrated, your inability to maintain composure with an unruly customer made matters worse."
• Tell the employee what you want instead. For example, "I expect you to treat customers in a professional and courteous manner."
   
• Express confidence in the employee. You can close the memo by expressing confidence that the employee will correct the situation. For example: "You said you were sorry and assured me it would not happen again. I am confident that you have learned from this incident and trust that we will not have to discuss the matter ever again."
   

Giving the Memo to the Employee

Don't wait too long after the meeting to give the employee the memo, otherwise it's effectiveness will be lost. Ideally, it should be drafted and presented either the same day or the next day, following your meeting.

You can set this up by closing your meeting by informing the employee that you will be sending the memo. For example: "I'll summarize our discussion in the form of a memo and give it to you in the next day or so, just to make sure we have a common understanding about what we discussed here this morning." Making a commitment like this to the employee all but ensures the needed documentation will get done.

There's one more advantage to using a memo format over the traditional approach of making notes in the employee's file. That is, you can work from a stock of sample memos, which makes the task of preparing one so much easier and quicker.

Here's where Expert Supervisor can really help you. Expert Supervisor contains over 200 sample memos to fit virtually every situation.

If you're a registered user, login and click on Problem Situations. You'll find one or more sample memos for each of the problem situations listed.

If you don't yet have an account in Expert Supervisor, click here to see a sample memo for absenteeism.

If you'd like to know more about how to obtain your own account in Expert Supervisor, click on the Subscription Information page.

Best regards,

Stephen Foster, Ph.D
Expert Supervisor, LLC
1493 Market Street
Tallahassee, FL 32312
(850) 893-5699

E-mail me at: Steve.Foster@ExpertSupervisor.com