It’s a great irony that the discipline policy preferred by most companies is called “progressive.” The word progressive means “making favorable progress or change;” nothing is further from the truth with this type of policy.
A progressive discipline policy is about punishment — not improvement. This process was created to protect companies from adverse legal rulings, mostly at the advice of legal counsel. The irony is that a claim or charge can be adjudicated in favor of the employee — not because of what the terminated employee has or hasn’t done, but because the company failed to follow the myriad details
