Workflow Template
Disciplinary Action Workflow
Handles employee conduct or performance issues consistently: intake of the report, HR case assessment, employee response, decision (no action, warning, or formal action), approval for formal actions, decision recording, employee notification, and case closure. Includes a path to gather more information before deciding.
It usually starts with an awkward conversation — a manager flags a conduct issue or a missed target, and suddenly HR is scrambling to figure out what happened, what's fair, and what to do next. This workflow takes that mess and turns it into a clear, repeatable process: it logs the case, walks HR through assessment, gives the employee a chance to respond, routes bigger decisions for approval, and records everything along the way. The result is a team that handles every case the same way, with a paper trail that holds up if anyone ever asks questions later.
Business Outcomes
- Every disciplinary case follows the same consistent process, reducing inconsistency and bias claims
- Complete audit trail of decisions, approvals, and employee responses for every case
- Faster case resolution with automatic routing for additional information or approval
- Reduced legal and compliance risk through documented, defensible decision-making
- Managers and HR always know the current status of a case without chasing emails
Workflow Steps
Steps
- 1Create Disciplinary Case Recordcreate record
Registers the reported issue as a case record.
- 2Set Initial Case Statusupdate record
Marks the case as Open on creation.
- 3Acknowledge Report Receivedsend email
Confirms to the reporter that the issue has been received by HR.
- 4HR Case Assessmentcreate task
HR reviews the reported issue, evidence, and dates, and determines if more information is needed.
- 5Mark Case Under Reviewupdate record
Updates the case status to reflect HR is actively reviewing it.
- 6Route on Additional Information Need
Determines whether more information must be gathered before proceeding.
needs_more_info: "Yes"→Mark Awaiting Additional Informationneeds_more_info: "No"→Request Employee ResponseDefault→Request Employee Response - 7Mark Awaiting Additional Informationupdate record
Updates the case status while additional information is gathered.
- 8Gather Additional Informationcreate task
Assigns a task to collect the additional information required before a decision can be made.
- 9Request Employee Responserequest external input
Gives the employee an opportunity to respond to the reported issue before HR decides.
- 10Record Employee Response Receivedupdate record
Persists the employee's response onto the case record.
- 11HR Decides on Outcomecreate task
HR reviews the case, evidence, and employee response, and decides on the outcome.
- 12Persist HR Decisionupdate record
Saves the HR decision and rationale to the case record.
- 13Route on HR Decision
Routes formal actions for approval, and handles no action or warning outcomes directly.
hr_decision: "Formal Action"→Mark Pending Approvalhr_decision: "Warning"→Mark Decision Recordedhr_decision: "No Action"→Mark Decision RecordedDefault→Mark Decision Recorded - 14Request Approval for Formal Actionrequest approvalrequires approval
Routes the proposed formal action to a manager for approval before it is enacted.
- 15Route on Formal Action Approval Outcome
Branches based on whether the formal action was approved or rejected.
approval_status: "approved"→Mark Decision Recordedapproval_status: "rejected"→Downgrade Rejected Formal Action to WarningDefault→End - 16Downgrade Rejected Formal Action to Warningupdate record
If the formal action is not approved, the case defaults to a Warning outcome and rationale is updated.
- 17Mark Decision Recordedupdate record
Updates the case status once the final decision has been determined.
- 18Notify Employee of Decisionsend email
Informs the employee of the final HR decision on their case.
- 19Close Caseupdate record
Marks the case as closed once the decision has been communicated.
- 20Mark Pending Approvalupdate record
Updates the case status to reflect that the formal action recommendation is awaiting manager approval.
Fields
- Employee Name*
- Employee Email*
- Reporter Name*
- Reporter Email*
- Issue Type*
- Reported Issue Description*
- +10 more fields
Forms
Report a Conduct or Performance Issue
9 fields
Data Views
All Disciplinary Cases
employee_name, issue_type, case_status, hr_decision +1 more
Dashboard Widgets
Recommended integrations
Setup the following integrations to extend workflow capability.
Send email in the workflow
AWS SES
Similar Categories
FAQs
Do I need HR or legal expertise to set this workflow up?
No — the template comes pre-built with the standard stages of a disciplinary process, including assessment, employee response, and approval for formal action. You publish it and it's live immediately, so you can adjust wording, roles, or approval thresholds to match your own policy without needing legal or technical help. It's designed to give structure to teams who don't have a dedicated HR function, as well as those refining an existing process.
Can my team customise the decision options or approval steps?
Yes, every step in the workflow — including the HR decision outcomes (no action, warning, formal action), the approval routing, and notifications — can be edited directly inside assess.one. You can add extra approval layers, change who's notified at each stage, or adjust what happens if a formal action is rejected and downgraded to a warning. There's no need for developer involvement; it's all configured in the platform.
Who needs access to run a disciplinary case through this workflow?
Typically HR handles the case assessment and decision stages, while managers or the reporting party trigger the intake, and a senior approver signs off on formal actions. You control exactly who sees what by assigning roles and permissions within assess.one, so sensitive case details stay restricted to the people who need them. The employee themselves doesn't need platform access — notifications can be sent externally by email.
How does the workflow handle cases that need more information before a decision?
There's a built-in routing path for exactly this — if HR marks a case as needing more information, it moves to an 'awaiting additional information' status and pauses until that's gathered. Once the information is added, the case picks back up at the assessment stage, so nothing gets decided prematurely or falls through the cracks.
What happens if a formal action gets rejected during approval?
If an approver rejects a request for formal action, the workflow automatically routes the case to downgrade it to a warning instead of leaving it stuck. This keeps cases moving to closure even when the initial recommendation doesn't get sign-off, and it's all recorded so there's a clear record of what was proposed versus what was actually decided.
Is this suitable for small teams without a formal HR department?
Yes — the workflow gives smaller teams a consistent, fair process to follow even without a dedicated HR person running it. Because it's a ready-made template, you don't need to build a disciplinary process from scratch or figure out the right steps yourself; you just publish it, assign roles, and start using it for real cases straight away.
How long does it take to get this workflow up and running?
Publishing the template takes minutes, not weeks — there's no implementation project or software installation involved. Once it's published, your team can start creating disciplinary case records and running them through the process immediately.
Does this workflow help with compliance and record-keeping?
Yes, every stage of the case — from initial report to final decision and employee notification — is logged automatically, giving you a defensible record if a decision is ever challenged. This is particularly useful for demonstrating that cases were handled consistently and fairly, which matters for both internal policy compliance and employment law considerations.
Can employees see the case details or only the outcome?
By default, the workflow is set up so employees are asked for their response during the process and then notified of the final decision, without needing access to the full internal case record. You can adjust exactly what's shared and when within assess.one, depending on how transparent your policy requires the process to be.
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