Employee Relations

Employee discipline and termination guidance

If you’re a parent, you’ve probably wished at some point that children came with an instruction manual. And, while employees obviously differ from offspring, they sometimes evoke similar sentiments from employers.

Difficult or under-performing employees are like poison to smaller companies, where it’s particularly important that everyone pulls his or her weight and works effectively with the rest of the team. Employers must take a firm stance in addressing the problem, but they also have to consider the legal risks associated with disciplinary actions. So, just like parenting, employer-employee relations are a delicate balance.

Consider Axcet HR Solutions, a Kansas City employee relations solutions provider, the answer to all of your employee relations questions. Axcet’s certified HR consultants help you navigate performance challenges and are especially effective when you consult us before disciplining an employee.

We view employee relations issues through a lens that considers both your company culture and employment law, giving you peace of mind that difficult employee situations have been vetted thoroughly with seasoned HR professionals.

Axcet provides coaching for managers in charge of disciplinary measures, helps write corresponding documentation and identifies ways to resolve employee performance concerns, all while helping minimize the risk of a claim against you.

In Axcet’s experience working with small and mid-sized companies in and around Kansas City since 1988, timely coaching for managers and effective corrective measures – both of which we can design and deliver – often remedy employee performance problems.

Given the high cost of turnover, the goal always is to rehabilitate an under-performing employee. Sometimes, though, termination is the only option. For clients who are considering letting a team member go, we recommend first discussing those plans with Axcet, an employee relations solutions provider with expertise to mitigate legal risks. We help your company comply with the state and federal laws that govern certain aspects of severing employee relationships, counseling you on steps you can take to ensure terminations are not discriminatory or retaliatory.

It sounds complex – and it often is – but Axcet can help you prepare for disciplinary or termination conversations, make sure you have the right documentation in place and manage any additional factors, such as safety concerns that could be elevated when an employee is fired.

Performance management processes

Most employers conduct yearly evaluations – even though only a little more than half of employees find them helpful – and do little else to regularly assess employee work contributions. If you wait until it’s time for an annual performance review, though, it might be too late to retain a high performer or to turn around an underachiever on your team.

Effective performance management goes beyond once-a-year meetings with each employee. To help your associates feel valued, improve the quality of their work and empower them for success, Axcet helps clients create ongoing, holistic With a consistent cycle of feedback, including constructive criticism and recognition for excellent efforts accomplished through ongoing performance meetings every few weeks throughout the year, your organization will:

• Keep employees aligned to corporate goals;
• Understand what help employees need and what obstacles are preventing goals from being achieved;
• Maintain a healthy culture;
• Build employee confidence;
• Help associates improve both their strengths and weaknesses; and
• Create trust and rapport between employees and managers.

As a highly qualified employee relations consulting company, Axcet assists clients in creating performance management processes customized to meet their specific needs, developing the right software or other tools the organization needs and providing coaching and help with implementation.

Metropolitan Kansas City organizations that work with Axcet can expect to see improved employee performance and productivity, as well as higher engagement, job satisfaction and retention levels.

Employee relations issues and concerns

The best employee relations policy for smaller businesses is to seek outside counsel. Employee relations consulting companies – including Axcet – examine internal employment issues from HR and compliance standpoints. We objectively identify risks and best next steps to manage employee problems.

Axcet’s certified employee relations specialists mitigate legal complications, protecting your company’s reputation as well as the bottom line. And, while we can help at any stage of a situation, you benefit most by involving us from the start. Clients who call us as soon as they become aware of an issue are more likely to make well-reasoned decisions that reduce the chance of a termination action backfiring into a legal claim.

Employee grievances and complaints

Sometimes discord happens at work.

When an employee complains about a co-worker or manager, employers must swiftly address the situation to restore harmony and maximum productivity levels. It’s beneficial to navigate this rocky ground with Axcet, an employer-employee relations expert, at your side.

Axcet can determine if a complaint stems from harassment, discrimination, bad management behaviors, conflict between employees or a clash of personalities. Then we help you resolve these sensitive employee relations issues, mediating grievances or coaching managers so they can effectively address objectionable circumstances.

Axcet also will help you evaluate whether factors inherent to the company, such as culture, pay practices or an ineffectual organizational structure, are contributing to the internal conflict. You can turn to Axcet, a Kansas City employee relations specialist, to help you deescalate employee grievances – and avoid future conflicts among your workforce.

Harassment allegation investigations

Societal sensitivities around workplace harassment, discrimination and bullying are high, and the spotlight is trained more than ever on how employers respond to claims of harassment. An unhappy employee isn’t necessarily experiencing harassment, but if your company does face a complaint, Axcet can determine if it qualifies as a harassment or hostile work environment allegation based on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and other laws. If it does, we can lead the investigation as an objective third party.

Partnering with Axcet, a metropolitan KC employee relations solutions provider, ensures a harassment investigation is unbiased – a critical factor in helping protect your company from a legal claim. We add integrity to the process by assigning two employee relations specialists to each case, so they can compare notes and confirm independent agreement before recommending steps your company should take to address the grievance.

Handling harassment investigations from start to finish, Axcet:

• Interviews the complainant, alleged perpetrator and any witnesses in a confidential, professional manner;
• Ensures all details are correctly documented; and
• Provides a report to management with recommendations for immediate responses and actions.

A thorough, trustworthy harassment investigation not only provides legal protections for your company, but also reduces other potential fallout from an allegation, including heightened volatility that may create additional employee conflict, increased turnover, a deteriorating company culture and a negative public reputation. With Axcet, smaller Kansas City companies can avoid these significant adverse impacts.