Ask the Advisors: When Employees Unknowingly Violate a Policy
Question:
Two employees in the last week have violated a company policy, but they say they did not know about the policy. What should we do?
Answer:
I would recommend redistributing the policy to all employees so everyone is aware of it and understands your expectations; that might mean posting the policy in the breakroom, sending it out by email, or distributing a whole new handbook. This may be a good time to review or redistribute all of your policies. As to these two employees, I would give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they really didn’t know about the policy. Let them know that further violations may result in discipline.
