HR Retainer Service Case Study
Client sector: Charitable Services
Number of employees: 12
Location: Newport, South Wales
Issue to be resolved:
The organisation had instigated disciplinary proceedings, but this had lead to the employee being signed off with stress. They had no idea how to manage the situation or resolve it.
My initial actions:
The priority was to encourage the employee to return to work.
- I coached the organisation in how to speak to an employee who is off work with stress.
- I also advised them which questions to ask so they could formulate an action plan to help the employee return to work.
Dealing with the disciplinary
There were two parts to this:
- Advising the charity how to handle the situation objectively. The charity had made assumptions based on the evidence they had, but the employee needed to be allowed to provide their version of events.
- Coaching them on how to manage the disciplinary process. I provided step-by-step coaching on how to manage the entire disciplinary process. This included what to write in an invitation to a disciplinary hearing, how to hold the meeting, and what to include in an outcome letter.
What happened
The employee returned back to work quickly, and the disciplinary was dealt with promptly. In fact, it turned out that the charity’s assumptions were incorrect and the employee was not found to have been doing anything wrong.
Almost a year later they are one of the top performing employees in the organisation. They felt they had been treated fairly and professionally, and have continued to work to the highest level.
The organisation felt empowered to deal with the disciplinary process and saw the benefit of obtaining an objective viewpoint. aible has continued supporting them and during the past year the organisation has grown substantially. There has been a move to a bigger office, performance has improved, and most importantly, the employees are happy to come into work and are loyal to the organisation.