The University is committed to its employees and their success. These guidelines detail the options available to supervisors to provide employees with an opportunity to improve performance and meet standards of conduct.
Employees in the University Staff classification are employed at-will and have no expectation of continued employment. The University or the employee may terminate the employment relationship at any time, for any reason, except an illegal reason.*
Supervisors are expected to assist employees in achieving acceptable performance and conduct through frequent communication, performance evaluations, and setting clear standards. Specifically, supervisors are expected to:
Whenever possible and appropriate, supervisors are encouraged to use informal or formal corrective action to address performance deficiencies, inappropriate conduct, or policy violations. Corrective actions, whether formal or informal, are not progressive and may occur in any order, depending on the individual circumstances.
When an employee's performance needs improvement, supervisors are expected to discuss the specific areas of performance that are unacceptable, and focus on performance expectations, conduct, and/or results. Informal corrective action may take the form of:
Informal corrective action may occur as needed without consultation from Human Resources, however, HR Organizational Consultants are available to provide guidance.
Supervisors are advised to follow up on informal corrective action with a written summary of the conversation to include expectations.
Formal corrective action may be taken when a supervisor determines that informal corrective action is not appropriate under the circumstances. Formal corrective action may include:
When a supervisor determines that formal corrective action may be necessary, the supervisor will consult with the college/division’s designated HR Organizational Consultant within Human Resources in advance and obtain guidance and approval for corrective action.
Whenever possible, the supervisor will issue the corrective action in a meeting with the employee. Supervisors are responsible for providing a copy of the corrective action document to the employee and forwarding a copy to Human Resources – Employee Records and the HR Organizational Consultant.
Supervisors are encouraged to use corrective action to improve employee performance prior to discharging an employee and terminating the employment relationship. However, supervisors are not required to use informal or formal corrective action options before discharging an employee. There are circumstances where an employee may be discharged without corrective action because of the severity of the conduct at issue. Separately, not all discharges are related to performance. The following steps must be taken regardless of whether a discharge is related to performance:
*These guidelines do not apply to Arizona Police Officer Standards Training certified officers below the rank of Assistant Chief (M3), who are covered by the Police Bill of Rights.