Professional behavior is a crucial part of a business culture regardless of your job title. From managers to third-party employees, corrective action is indispensable for the work environment and the company in general.

Team leaders and managers use the employee corrective action form tool to avoid and fix problems, from performance issues to more general company concerns. The need for an employee corrective action document begins when the business owner starts to experience flaws that can distance the company from its goals and objectives.

The corrective action form is a document that gives a formal review of any inappropriate behavior or violation an employee commits. The main objective of this document is to identify these undesired behaviors or performance concerns and understand the best course of action to correct them.

These inappropriate actions can go from procedure violations to any kind of behavior that somehow goes against the company policy. After identifying the problem, the corrective action document serves as a tool for deciding the best action to be taken.

It is also important to understand that a corrective action document is way different than an employee disciplinary action form. While the corrective action tries to solve problems regarding poor performance and behavioral problems, the employee disciplinary action form is used when the first one fails.

It is correct to say that an employee disciplinary action form is used when more serious problems appear. From recurrent underperforming employees to serious offenses, the disciplinary action is normally used in cases that lead to suspensions or dismissals

There are several reasons why a corrective action form is indispensable for your business. The first one is the fact that this document will also serve as guidance in the process every time it occurs, giving the best corrective actions for the case.

Not only that, but it is a way of preventing violations from happening again. This way, you will have a written notice of how the managers expect the employees to behave in a determined situation.

Moreover, the corrective action document can be used in conferences and meetings to introduce new pertinent policies to improve behavior. This way, the company can constantly improve its workspace with a detailed description of what actions are unacceptable in the environment.

Now that you know what a corrective action form is and why it is vital for any business, it is time to start building your template for corrective action. Be sure to follow each step carefully to guarantee the best results out of it.

Various different aspects may impact your template, from the suggested methods to the number of warnings in the previous history. Be sure to consider all aspects of the situation when building your written notice template.

Here are the main steps for creating your template for corrective action:

Employee Information

The first item of your template should be a field for filling in information about the employee that committed the violation. Some of the most important categories are:

• Name

• Job Title

• Date

• Supervisor

This way, you can quickly identify to whom the corrective action is destined. It is indispensable that your action form is clear and objective for both the employee and the manager.

Cause of the Corrective Action Form

After writing down the employee’s information, the following key item of your template for corrective action is to write down the violations committed by the employee. You must write even the specific details of it.

This way, the employee can clearly understand why they are receiving a corrective action form. Some of the essential things you need to write down are:

• Title of the Violation

• Description of the Problem

• Root Cause of the Problem

Previous Violations

Another essential part of an employee corrective action document is to provide details about previous problems and violations. Such an approach will also help to select the best procedures and encompass suggested methods of solution.

If you are dealing with the first problem regarding an employee, a verbal warning should be preferable instead of a corrective action document. On the other hand, if you are dealing with a second or third violation, the verbal warning will not be enough, and the course of action will need to be revisioned.

The employee corrective action must be directly related to the scale of the problem and the number of previous warnings. A measure regarding the second violation should be rougher than the previous one.

Corrective Action Plan

The next step of your corrective action template is to write down the corrective action determined. This decision must be made considering all the previous information.

Everything will impact the corrective action chosen by the company owner, from the number of previous violations to their seriousness.

Moreover, the employee corrective action plan is the most critical part of your template. It is a long-term course of action to prevent further problems with the same employee.

Preventive Action

This part of your corrective action form is just as important as the previous one. Preventive action dictates measures taken to eliminate the root cause of the problem. More than the employee review of what they must do to avoid future problems, the preventive action of your form will guarantee that the problem won’t happen again to any team member.

Signature

The corrective action plan's last part is adding a field for the employee to sign the document. This guarantees that the employee is aware of the problem and the procedures they must follow.

Moreover, the signature makes it an official document that can be used in case legal action is needed. It is very important that after being read by the employee, the corrective action plan gets signed.

When it comes to the creation of a corrective action plan template, there are tons of different options available. Among all the tools and software, we highly recommend using Microsoft Word for this task.

Word has one of the best tool sets available and is also an industry standard. This way, you can create the perfect employee corrective action form without the need to pay for specialized software.

If you don’t have a Microsoft Office activation key, you can buy one at RoyalCDKeys for a considerably lower price. By doing this, you guarantee access to all the necessary tools and still save money.

If you don’t want to create your corrective action forms from scratch, there is no problem. Here are some free corrective action forms that you can download and edit using Word. The templates contain the most essential information about the person the corrective action refers to as well as other crucial elements that should not be left behind.

Template #1

Here’s the first example of a preventive report template that’s a simple corrective action document with space for the employee’s signature.

Get this template

Template #2

Project corrective action plan template. Indicated when corrective action is needed regarding a specific project. The template is divided into introduction, project overview, and the essential elements of corrective action plan.

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Template #3

Corrective action plan spreadsheet template. Perfect for issues regarding the workspace or the organization in general.

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Template #4

College corrective action plan. It is indicated for the universe environment and businesses involving educational institutions.

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The corrective action plan is one of the most important tools for maintaining a business's work environment. Almost every problem can be solved with a corrective action, from a company policy violation to a problem with safety procedures.

The corrective action form is a tool that can help company owners worldwide take these measures in the best possible way. For the document to work, it’s vital to create an optimized template that fits all your needs. It will help you undertake the actionable steps to increase the employer responsibility as well as may be a helping hand in the improvement of discipline in a given work department.

Now that you know everything you need about corrective forms, it is time to start creating your own template. Be sure to follow each step carefully to build a template that positively impacts your business.

Everything must be well thought out, whether when creating your own template or using a ready-made one. To optimize your template and edit any of its details, Microsoft Word will be the perfect choice. Not only is it intuitive but also guarantees nobody would have any issues with opening it.

Now it is time for you to start making your own action form. This powerful tool will definitely make your workspace better for all employees.