Workplace violation documentation is one of the most often overlooked aspects of your HR process, and it’s absolutely necessary. Without proper documentation and record-keeping, you could face legal problems, penalties, or other financial repercussions. For dental practices, in particular, you must be as accurate as possible where your workplace violations are concerned from the moment your new employees begin your onboarding process.
Workplace violations should never surprise your employees, because you should have already clearly outlined acceptable and unacceptable behavior as part of your employment contract with your offer letter, job description, employee documentation, policies and procedures in your dental practice’s employee handbook. You’ll outline specific details about your attendance policy, your dress code requirements, how to interact with patients, your social media policy, and cell-phone-use policies, along with other details specific to your dental hygienist, receptionist, and other roles in your practice.
Recommended Resource
2022 Handbook Update Checklist
What Is Workplace Documentation for Dentists?
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Workplace documentation for dentists refers to the range of records you keep to track the information that was gathered, as well as the actions and decisions made related to an employee at your dental practice.
The relevant information you gather could include the following violations related to your employees:
- Actions
- Disciplinary actions
- Disputes
- Investigations
- Performance evaluations
- Company policy violations
- Behavior that violates your standards of conduct policy
Workplace violations could involve activities by your team related to their attendance, employee behavior, dress code, employee performance, punctuality, sexual harassment, patient and coworker interactions, leave of absence, and any other workplace events that directly reflect and relate to their lack of appropriate behavior.
At HR for Health, our HR software makes it easy to manage and store workplace violation documentation at your dental practice. Schedule a call with our HR experts to learn more.
How Does It Work?
You’ll usually immediately know when a violation has occurred at your dental practice. You may see it, hear about it, or notice the direct results of the violation. Your first response usually takes the form of an informal oral warning, which you will want to record as part of your formal documentation.
If the behavior continues, you’ll issue a written warning, for which you’ll want to request acknowledgment. The final stage is a more serious, written notice shared and discussed during a formal meeting to discuss the behavior. HR for Health offers built-in functionality to document the progressive levels of violations, and you should also retain a record of your written warnings as part of your cloud-based repository for future reference and review. Also ensure that you are discussing the issue prior to issuing/sending the written violation.
Know Your Workplace Infractions
There is no easy formula for approaching the disciplinary process, as key stakeholders should assess each situation individually. Different situations, infractions, and circumstances carry different levels of gravity, so the steps for disciplinary action may vary.
Example 1: A hygienist has a tardiness issue. You may warrant a formal written record.
Example 2: An employee punches someone. This violent altercation may warrant immediate termination.
Next Steps On Infractions
Always be clear about how the action constitutes a breach of conduct under the employee handbook, and what the severity of the infraction is.
- When issuing a formal write-up, be sure to communicate what the next steps may look like if poor performance and/or behavioral issues persist.
- During the discussion, consider sharing a copy of the policy that was violated so that the employee can see the written evidence of a policy in place. Be sure to follow through with what you say will occur.
- Failing to do so can affect your credibility with your team and affect how effective your discipline is in the future.
Whenever you issue a formal write-up and take further action, document every step, including what response, if any, you received from your employee. If your employee refuses to sign a violation notification, remind them that their signature simply acknowledges receipt of the violation.
If they still refuse, enter details about your request, their response, and the date of their refusal. At HR for Health, our HR software allows you to store these key pieces of evidence, including the fact that policies/forms are shared electronically, in your workplace violation documentation.
Schedule a call with our HR experts to get further feedback on how to track infractions.
Recommended Reading
Workplace Bullying: How to Identify and Manage
Communicating Expectations to Employees
Use your employee handbook to communicate general expectations, but you can also check in with your team daily. Gauge their understanding when you provide feedback and/or communicate expectations with your employees. You may need to further clarify policies and procedures.
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At HR for Health, our HR software makes it easy to keep your employee handbooks up-to-date, acknowledged, and compliant. Schedule a call with our HR expert to learn more about keeping up with key laws and regulations for your dental practice.
How HR for Health Can Help
With our HR for Health software, we simplify the workplace violation documentation process. This feature helps you easily document infractions along with the associated levels of discipline. With every formal write-up, our HR software requests and tracks employee acknowledgment. We also support performance reviews for your personnel file, with standard templates available. So, you can easily track performance and workplace violations as part of our cloud-based repository for future review. Schedule a call to learn more about how we can help.
