What should we include in our disciplinary procedure?
The procedure should let employees know how you will deal with disciplinary matters, and in addition to existing rules must incorporate provisions equivalent to (or better than) the statutory procedures (see question one). As previously, you must ensure that any disciplinary offence will be properly investigated, that employees will be given an opportunity to state their case before any disciplinary action is taken, that they can exercise their right to be accompanied by a work colleague/trade union representative and that they can exercise their right to appeal against any disciplinary action taken against them.
You should set out some examples of conduct which would result in disciplinary action. It would be a good idea to cover rules relating to work and work performance - for example timekeeping, absenteeism, negligence, sub-standard work, and disregard of health and safety requirements. In addition you would need to cover conduct more generally - for example theft, fraud, offensive behaviour (such as harassment, abuse and violence) and inappropriate behaviour (such as drinking, drug taking or smoking in prohibited areas). In view of the fact that smoking in enclosed (or substantially enclosed) areas is now illegal, you should identify the steps you will take if employees flout the new law (and that you would like them to take if customers or other visitors do likewise).
Depending on the nature of your business, you might need to identify other forms of misconduct. For example, you might need specifically to state that it will be misconduct to breach the employer's rules on how employees use computers and the Internet (to protect the business against viruses and legal risks).
Do not try to be too prescriptive, or people might simply take it as a challenge to beat the system. Moreover, you need flexibility to cover new situations. Give examples of the rules, but make sure they are clearly indicated as examples.
