Disciplinary policies are a necessity and must, in every organization, be it for-profit or non-profit. No establishment whatsoever has ever withstood the test of time without having these policies in place to check its administration.
Disciplinary policies are guidelines, rules, and standards that pronounce the procedure for responding to employee misconduct and indiscipline towards discharging their various roles and duties.
In simpler words, they are rules that state the dos and don’ts in a company and the possible consequences that come with flouting company policies.
With over 9,021 outlets spread across 50 states in the USA and a workforce that comprises more than 255,000 workers, it is highly pertinent that Walgreens will have a disciplinary policy guiding the conduct of its employees.
What is the Walgreens disciplinary policy?
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The Walgreens disciplinary policy is a very stringent and strict one compared to that which is found in other big American corporations.
Walgreens’ disciplinary policy serves as a response to employee performance, behavior, and conducts.
As a top-rated major organization in the American retail market, Walgreens’ disciplinary policies make it easier to set a straight line for its staff and let them know the path to thread to achieve the desired organizational goals.
When an employee misbehaves at work or conducts themselves in manners that are not acceptable to the company, the powers of the disciplinary policy are put to use, and penalties are meted out. Usually, before any harsh penalty is given, a series of warnings must have preceded.
Stages of Walgreens disciplinary actions
In Walgreens, there are four stages to disciplinary actions being carried out.
The first warning is the Oral warning which is given to the defaulting staff as a call to order.
It is followed by a second which will be written and addressed to the employee this time, a third warning which is also written, and finally a fourth and final written warning.
If after the fourth warning the staff still doesn’t check themselves and try to become better at their job, their employment at the company will be terminated immediately.
However, in some very serious cases, the employee is not given the privilege of this number of warnings but gets fired immediately.
It is also worthy of note that when a person is fired from a Walgreens outlet they can not work in Walgreens anymore even if they apply to another outlet of a different state.
The disciplinary policy provides employees with everything it’ll take to work and remain at Walgreens and the possible consequences that comes with not diligently following those standards that have been set by the company.
What are the major components of the Walgreens disciplinary policy
Walgreens’ disciplinarian policy is quite a very unique one and as such contains several components that are particular to it.
Some of which includes:
Company’s policy overview
The policy overview briefly states actions that are considered as misconduct and against the company’s rules for employees.
At-Will employment
Some organizations have it that before an employment contract can be terminated, a period of notice must have been given and termination must have been as a result of a possible breach of contract.
However, Walgreens’ policy is quite different as all employees of the company work at will and can be terminated whenever the company so wishes, with or without cause.
Disciplinary actions for every possible infraction
This portion of the Walgreens policy explains clearly and in detail the company’s rules guiding employee behavior and performance. It states the steps and actions to be taken to address each infraction.
Right to appeal a disciplinary action
For every disciplinary action taken on an employee, there is a process for appealing these actions if the employee feels they have been wrongly accused and hopes to overturn the company verdict.
This is one of the main components and occupies a portion of the Walgreens disciplinary policies.
Agreement to terms
Lastly, there is a section that requires signatures to be appended by the employee to show they have read and agreed to the terms included in the disciplinary policy.
14 offenses as staff at Walgreens and the likely penalty for this
All that said and done, you must wonder what offenses you have to commit to be faced with these disciplinary actions. If you are thinking about working at Walgreens, you should pay attention to this bit:
Low Workrate
As an employee at Walgreens, you are expected to put in your best at carrying out your duty efficiently to avoid disorganization in the productivity of the company.
An employee with a low work rate is a liability to the organization as the inefficient productivity of one worker affects the general output of the workplace. Walgreen does not condone this and has in place policies to address such.
Penalty
For this, the employee will be given an oral warning and the misdeed will be well communicated to them so they understand the gravity of the incident and not let such occur another time.
This warning is then entered into their files. Should the employee default again for this same offense or something closely related, another warning will be issued but written this time.
After this second warning, two other written warnings will be issued should the behavior reoccur. After the final warning comes the penalty which is termination.
Spending more than the allowed break hours
The typical break hours allowed for Walgreens outlet workers vary. The typical break time allowed is 15 minutes paid break for every 4 hours and if you’re working for 5 hours or more you get a 30 minutes break for which you will not be paid for.
However, there are sanctions given for overstaying any of the breaks as Walgreens is very intentional as to adhering strictly to time.
Penalty
The action taken for this is similar to that of low work rate only that this is handled less harshly. After the final warning, the employee will get an unpaid suspension rather than termination.
Should this behaviour however continue, another series of warnings will be issued followed by a much longer suspension and after that a termination.
Conflicting Interests with the company
This is a very broad policy but the brief of it simply is that no employee should engage in activities that will not sum to the benefit of the company.
One of these activities includes engaging in any sort of business whatsoever with another competing company.
Penalty
This offense is a more serious one to the company as it is seen as a test of the employees’ loyalty, showing where it truely lies.
This offense can come with an instant suspension without warning or termination. The company’s at-will policy is often exercised in more serious cases like this.
Inaccuracy in duty handling
Walgreens is a retail company that deals majorly in health products and as a result, utmost accuracy in carrying out duties is required here.
This policy applies to everyone, not just those in the data entry and medicine dispensing departments.
Penalty
The penalty for this offense will come after an oral warning, a first written letter of notice, a second letter of warning, and finally the third written warning.
After the fourth warning comes termination. The company believes in accuracy is inefficient.
Clock-in Attendance
As an employee at Walgreens you are required to sign in at the time of resumption and also clock out time correctly.
Penalty
Failure to sign in means the employee was not at work that day and will not get paid. However if they do sign in, but sign in at an incorrect time, the penalties applicable to SPENDING BREAK OVERTIME will also apply here.
Stealing
The act of stealing is in no way condoned at all and it is considered a serious crime by company policies and government law.
Penalty
This is an offense considered as first-degree in the books of Walgreens and it calls for immediate termination and as the case may be, probably handing them over to the authorities if it is an offense linked with a case already been investigated by the police.
Accepting gifts from a Business Representative
Employees are prohibited from seeking or accepting loans, payments, services from individuals or business representatives concerned with doing or seeking to do business with the company.
This is directly considered as receiving bribes with the hope of doing a favor for the giver and which the employee might or might not even be in the capacity to do.
Penalty
In cases like this, the employee will be given not be given an oral warning not written warning but their employment will be terminated immediately ad Walgreens Co. Consider that as a fraudulent act.
Sharing of false information
Employees are forbidden from misleading the public with false information about goods or services reimbursable by the federal or state government.
Penalty
The penalty for this offense is that the employee will receive formal written warning which will likely be followed up by a suspension from work during which they will not be receiving any form of wage or bonus from Walgreens company.
Mismanagement of company property and resources
No company resource, property or services are to be used to support and fund a political party, ideology or candidate without the prior approval of the General Counsel of the company.
Penalty
Just like the penalty for low work rate, the employee will be given an oral warning and the misdeed will be well communicated to them so they understand the gravity of the incident and not let such occur another time.
This warning is then entered into their files. Should the employee default again for this same offense or something closely related, another warning will be issued but written this time.
After this second warning, two other written warnings will be issued should the behavior reoccur. After the final warning comes the penalty which is termination.
Information sharing/selling
It is illegal for an employee at Walgreens to share or sell confidential information to the press.
Penalty: Termination
Lateness to work
Lateness to work at Walgreens is not condoned and therefore employees are warned against this. Failure to comply with this rule will attract disciplinary actions being taken against the employee.
Penalty
Should an employee come in late to work, they would be given half a strike(or point).
Calling in for a day’s absence from work
When an employee intends to be absent from work for a day and he/she calls in to inform the manager, they will be penalized.
Penalty– This would earn the employee 1 point and this will be entered into their record.
A 2-day absence from work
If an employee doesn’t show up for 2 days at work, their penalties will be added to.
Penalty
This would earn the employee 2 points.
Clocking out of duty before shift ends or working half a day
When the minimum required hours to work is not met a day, the employee will get penalized because that singular act of clocking out earlier than supposed will affect the day’s productivity.
Penalty
A half-point will be given and recorded in the defaulting employee’s name.
*note: the maximum point that can possibly be amassed is 5 points after which comes termination. That does not mean anyway that one can not be fired even before it gets to 5 points should the employee do something that the company considers unforgivable.
This Walgreens disciplinary policy has left the company with thousands of disgruntled employees and ex-employees who feel the policies are too harsh and are not made with the employees’ interests at heart.
This can be seen from the tone of their social media uproars in the last recent days concerning how the company not only doesn’t care for the wellbeing of their staff but also the satisfaction of their customers.
However, an argument can at the same time be made in the favor of Walgreens as a company that deals majorly in pharmaceuticals and products for daily living, hence the need to have really strict disciplinary policies will always keep their workforce in check and make them give the best service to their customers.
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