1.8.2.3: Staff Corrective Improvement Plan

Early care and education programs should work to improve the performance of staff members who are failing to meet expectations, or in response to an unfavorable staff incident. The employer should work with the staff member to develop a corrective plan to achieve the necessary skills or behavior. Corrective action should be taken to improve performance, rather than punish staff.¹

The staff corrective action plan should include the following:

• Documentation of skills or behaviors that need to be improved
• Expectations for improved performance
• Timeline for achieving improved performance
• Consequences if improvement is not achieved
• Documentation that the plan was reviewed with the staff member

RATIONALE

To protect children from incompetent caregiving, early care and education program staff is expected to meet performance standards and behave appropriately in the workplace. A plan to promote improvement can help staff meet performance requirements.² While some performance problems may be resolved through coaching, more serious incidents or very poor performance may require additional actions.¹

COMMENTS

Minimum competency levels may be determined by program director/supervisor(s), state licensing, and/or state or local health departments. This standard may apply to a small family child care home that uses volunteers or substitute staff or has more than one employee.

TYPE OF FACILITY

Center, Early Head Start, Head Start, Large Family Child Care Home

RELATED STANDARDS

1.4.3.1 First Aid and Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Training for Staff
1.4.4.1 Continuing Education for Directors and Caregivers/Teachers in Centers and Large Family Child Care Homes
1.4.4.2 Continuing Education for Small Family Child Care Home Caregivers/Teachers
1.4.5.1 Training of Staff Who Handle Food
1.4.5.2 Child Abuse and Neglect Education
1.4.5.3 Training on Occupational Risk Related to Handling Body Fluids
1.4.5.4 Education of Center Staff
1.4.6.1 Training Time and Professional Development Leave
9.4.3.1 Maintenance and Content of Staff and Volunteer Records

REFERENCES

1. Employee and labor relations. The Ohio State University Human Resources. Accessed September 28, 2021. https://hr.osu.edu/services/elr/performance-improvement-corrective-action/

2. University of California Berkeley Human Resources. Chapter 7: Performance management. In: Guide to Managing Human Resources. Accessed August 26, 2021. https://hr.berkeley.edu/hr-network/central-guide-managing-hr/managing-hr/managing-successfully/performance-management/introduction

NOTES

Content in the standard was modified on 02/04/2022.