Strike Three, Everybody’s OUT! Why “Three Strikes” Employee Discipline Policies Don’t Work
by Paul Edwards
Three strikes and you’re out! Whether you’re a baseball fan or not, we’ve all heard the phrase. And many dental practices use baseball-inspired “three strike” employee discipline policies that sound like a good idea, until you realize that they turn management into a tricky and dangerous game.
What’s wrong with three strike policies? It’s true that there’s a similarity between baseball umpires’ hardest calls and those managers must constantly make about employee performance. Here are the strikes against three strike policies, followed by a better option for keeping your employees in line.
Three Strike Policies Don’t Hold Up in Practice
Three strike policies appeal to employers because they seem straightforward and easy to administer, promising a level playing field and clear rules. Both you and your employee know how many strikes are already in their file, and understand the consequences of getting a third. What’s the problem?
Here’s a whole list of strikes against three strike employee discipline policies:
* They’re vague. “Three strikes” sounds specific, but it isn’t. For starters, which employee problems or behaviors constitute a strike? Do only formal write-ups count? What about that email you sent half the team last week about being tardy? If you pull an employee aside to ask them to clean up their workspace, does that count? And do strikes last forever, or do they expire? If strikes expire, do you expunge the documentation as well, or does it live on in the employee’s personnel record? With a range of issues of varying severity to cover, an idealistic three strike policy doesn’t always fit, and a “simple” policy of this sort rarely covers what it needs to do.
* They lack flexibility. Employees are human, and overly rigid policies leave little room for discretion. Treating minor infractions of the rules the same as major ones can make your choices look silly and force your hand. What if one of your strongest employees reaches a third strike for a minor reason—will you terminate? What if you do need to terminate another employee, but there are extra risk factors involved, which you haven’t yet talked over with an expert? An inflexible three strike policy may require you to fire too soon and against the practice’s interests.
* They’re hard to apply evenly. While you should always strive to treat employees fairly, a three strike policy can cause employees to feel you are playing favorites if you are accidentally inconsistent. Did you give Pam an informal, no-strike email reprimand for an unexcused emergency medical absence, while giving Joey a formal corrective action because you didn’t believe his story? Do you laugh off one employee’s mistakes while correcting another’s, because you feel the circumstances are different? If your actions are ever less than uniform, you’re risking showing employees that you apply policies in an arbitrary fashion—and disgruntled employees lead to less production, declining morale, and sometimes legal issues.
* They invite discrimination lawsuits. Using your discretion to apply a three strike policy differently amongst different employees doesn’t just lead to claims of favoritism, it’s also dangerous because it can look discriminatory. When an employee in a protected class (race, gender, disability, etc.) or who has engaged in a protected activity (claiming workers’ compensation, filing a sexual harassment claim, etc.) is treated differently than another employee, your inconsistent application is prime evidence of retaliation or discrimination. Calling strikes too quickly and without expert advice can easily provoke discrimination claims and lead to wrongful termination lawsuits.
* They harm the at-will employment relationship. In all states but Montana, employment is “at will,” and you can terminate an employee for any legal reason, or even no reason, as long as no illegal reason is involved. But be careful—the at-will relationship is easy to damage if an employee can reasonably expect or understand there to be some guarantee of continued or future employment. With a three strike policy, you’re implying that employment will continue up through strike number three—so if an employee does something egregiously wrong and you terminate immediately, they may actually have a case against you for wrongful termination.
Think of how many ways that last point can go wrong! You can’t let yourself be forced to keep an employee who has embezzled from your practice, misused patient data, or committed some other heinous or dangerous act. And yet just having a three strike policy in place can make it more dangerous for you to terminate before the strikes are up.
There’s another problem if you realize you need to let an employee go before the third strike. Doctors and managers are sometimes tempted to quickly come up with the remaining strike or two, even for questionable or ambiguous reasons. But now you’re managing the employee you want to let go of differently from the rest of your team, so you may have just handed them a valid discrimination claim.
Overall, three strike policies are NEVER a good idea. They damage your ability to make the right call under the circumstances. You may be tempted to keep some employees past the point where they should be let go, and forced to terminate others to avoid the appearance of discrimination. This increases your risk of employee claims against you—the exact opposite of what you want your employee policies to do.
Reclaim Your Flexibility and Discretion: Use Progressive Corrective Coaching
Flexibility is valuable and necessary for employers. While your policies do need to provide a firm, legally compliant foundation for fair and consistent management, and to lower your risks as an employer, they must also be flexible enough to give you discretion. To achieve this, we recommend calling a final “Out!” on any three strike policy, and using the Progressive Corrective Coaching (PCC) method, instead.
A well drafted PCC policy allows you to solve any problem with any employee. It gives management the flexibility to consider individual circumstances and choose the appropriate level of response. While a progression from verbal warnings to written corrective actions might make sense in most cases, PCC provides the flexibility to skip straight to a final warning for serious problems, or even to terminate immediately when truly necessary.
The PCC procedure also adds a layer of protection for you and your office against litigation, by documenting the legitimate performance issues that lead up to a termination. You can read more about PCC here. It’s a better way to accomplish what you need to, while still coaching your team toward home-run performance.
Paul Edwards is the CEO and Co-Founder of CEDR HR Solutions (www.cedrsolutions.com), which provides individually customized employee handbooks and HR solutions to dental offices of all sizes across the United States. He has over 20 years’ experience as a manager and owner, and specializes in helping dental offices solve employee issues. Paul is a featured writer for The Profitable Dentist and Dental Town Magazine, and speaks at employment education seminars, conferences, and CE courses across the country. He can be reached at paul@cedrsolutions.com.