What is Oral Reprimand? | Meaning & Definition | Akrivia HCM

An oral reprimand is a supervisor’s or manager’s verbal warning to an employee for engaging in inappropriate conduct or behavior. This type of reprimand is used for several reasons. It allows supervisors to express their concerns respectfully, and issuing the warning is respected by both the person receiving it and by other employees. It also allows the manager to attempt to correct a problem without formally documenting it so that an incident does not go on an employee’s permanent record.

A written reprimand is supported by a document that is given to the employee. Your Department Head must approve a reprimand before providing it to an employee.

Things you should remember during an oral reprimand: 

• When an employee has committed multiple violations during a single incident, cite all the violations in one reprimand. Do not write separate reprimands for an employee who violates company policy several times during the same incident. 
• Please provide the following information about the incident: date, time, place, names of those involved, and a description of what happened. If there were witnesses to the incident, obtain witness statements identifying what they observed. Include dates and times, and location of occurrence. 
• Indicate any previously documented misconduct, the instructions you have provided to the employee, and the consequences that resulted from those previous instructions.
• When you give a reprimand, you should let the employee know where the reprimand will be filed. The employee should be informed of this before the reprimand is sent over to Employee Relations.