Verbal Warning – What Exactly Does That Mean?

We recently received an email asking me about verbal warnings.

Hi. My name is Sarah and my boss gave me a verbal warning about my tardiness. What does that mean? Will that go in my employee file?

There is a lot of confusion by employees on how they should perceive a verbal warning.

Each employer has it’s own interpretation and practice on what a verbal warning is and how they handle it.

The reason we give an employee a verbal warning is because their behavior or job performance is not meeting the set standards developed by the employer.

An employer gives an employee a verbal warning as an indicator that they are doing something that needs to be addressed and corrected immediately. Confusion occurs when it comes down to defining the difference of an informal and formal verbal warning.

This is our personal interpretation and the way we would handle the scenario.

Informal Verbal Warning

An “Informal Verbal Warning” for tardiness would be given to an employee who is constantly tardy (Make sure you have the dates and how tardy they are, whether it is 3 minutes or 1 hour).

Discuss with the employee what the policy and procedure is. Ask them if there is any specific reason that they are having a problem? Find out if there is something you can do to help fix the problem. Make sure you let them know that you are going to place a note in your files that you have had a discussion with them (with the date on it) regarding their constant tardiness and that the behavior needs to be corrected immediately.

It is important that the employee knows they are a valued employee and you want to give them the chance to improve without having to initiate the “Progressive Disciplinary Process”. You want to make it known that if the behavior continues that they will receive a “Formal Verbal Written Warning” because you have already discussed the problem with them.

Once you give a “Formal Verbal Written Warning”, a copy will be placed in the employee’s personnel file.

Formal Verbal Written Warning

An employee is usually given a “Formal Verbal Written Warning” after they have been given an “Informal Verbal Warning” and the behavior or job performance issue has not been corrected or has gotten worse. Once you give a “Formal Verbal Written Warning”, the “Progressive Disciplinary Process” has begun.

A “Formal Verbal Written Warning” needs to clearly identify the offense, what the expectations are (a time frame, if indicated) and what the outcome will be if the expectations are not met. You need to sign the counseling. Request the employee to sign that they have had the counseling reviewed with them and are being given a copy.

Let the employee know they have the right to provide a written response. If the employee refuses to sign acknowledging receipt of the document, note it on the counseling form and have another manager witness you giving the employee a copy and have the manager so note it on the copy of the warning.

Make sure you give the employee a copy. If they refuse or say they do not want it, make sure to document it on the counseling form, as well. Place both copies in the employee’s personnel file.

After giving you background on formal and informal verbal warnings, here is our response to the questions asked.

Based on the information we have, we are responding to you presuming this is a first occurrence. Receiving an “Informal Verbal Warning” is giving you a heads up that your tardiness has become a problem. Your boss is offering you a chance to improve. You need to take advantage of this.

If you do not correct the problem now, it will turn into a “Formal Verbal Written Warning” and you do not want it to go that far. Is there a specific reason causing you to be tardy? If so, discuss the problem with your boss. Maybe he or she can help you come up with a solution. You never know unless you open up and let them know what is causing the problem.

Will that warning go in my employee file?

An “Informal Verbal Warning” is usually documented by your boss to use for future reference. They will use it in the event that your tardiness continues.

Your boss has the documentation that they have previously discussed the problem with you. Most of the time, your boss will keep all “Informal Verbal Warnings” in a separate file. Like we said, if the tardiness continues, then it will become part of the documentation used for a “Formal Verbal Written Warning” and yes then it would go in your employee personnel file.”

To ensure you know how your employer will handle the situation, we like you to ask the Director of Human Resources what their specific policy is on the subject. Each employer has developed their own policies and procedures so their policy may differ from the practices that we have described.

We hope this helps answer your question. Good luck on correcting the problem!

This information is based on our professional opinion and how we have handled “Informal and Formal Verbal Warnings” throughout our careers. This in no way means this is the only way to handle the issue, it is just the way we would handle it.

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