Process family
Employee relations: grievance, disciplinary, PIP, promotion and leave templates
Six HR procedures for the cases that arise between hire and exit: employee complaints and formal grievances, the disciplinary process, the PIP decision tree, promotion approval and leave requests, each with its roles, hearings and appeals.
Employee relations covers the formal procedures HR runs on one person's case rather than a cohort: a complaint or grievance needing an impartial investigation and a hearing, a conduct or performance concern that may end in a disciplinary outcome, the decision on whether a PIP is the right response, a promotion case, and the everyday leave request. They share roles and documents, not an order, so they are listed as a group.
Two of the six draw one procedure twice. The complaint process is the swimlane version, roles as lanes: a complaint about the line manager goes straight to HR, then informal meeting, investigator, hearing and outcome letter with appeal rights. The grievance process is the procedural version: triage into protected disclosure, dignity at work or a live disciplinary case, a companion at the hearing, an appeal heard by a different manager. The disciplinary process is the employer's side: investigation, suspension, hearing, an outcome from no action to dismissal, appeal.
Two cases exit the review cycle. The PIP decision tree tests whether a plan is the right response before opening one: conduct goes to the disciplinary process, expectations are put in writing, a health factor goes to occupational health, coaching is tried; then objectives, reviews, and an end met, extended or escalated to formal capability. Promotion is the other exit: nomination, eligibility, an evidence pack calibrated across the peer group, budget and senior approval, pay within the band, a date against the payroll cut-off. Leave requests are the volume case: balance and cover checked before the manager approves, then payroll adjusted.
The usual failure across all six is the record, not the decision: an outcome letter that was never sent, an appeal heard by the manager who decided the case, a hearing without the companion the employee was entitled to, a PIP with no written expectations behind it. Drawing each procedure with the roles as swimlanes shows those steps before a case is challenged. Where a case ends in dismissal or resignation it hands into offboarding and the rest of the employee lifecycle family, and where the gap is one that training can close, the training and competence family holds the assignment and record templates.
Templates in this family
- Employee complaint process flowchart (grievance procedure) — Employee complaint process flowchart with swimlanes for employee, line manager, HR, investigator and senior management, from grievance raised to record closed.
- Employee grievance process flowchart (concern raised to appeal outcome) — Employee grievance process flowchart: triage into the right procedure, an informal attempt, written grievance, impartial investigation, a hearing with a companion, an outcome letter, and an appeal heard by a different manager.
- Employee disciplinary process flowchart template — Employee disciplinary process flowchart: informal stage, investigation, suspension branch, hearing, an outcome from no action to dismissal, and appeal.
- Performance improvement plan flowchart (PIP decision tree) — Performance improvement plan flowchart: a decision tree covering capability or conduct, expectations, health factors, coaching and how a PIP review ends.
- Employee promotion process flowchart (nomination to effective date) — Employee promotion process flowchart: nomination or application, eligibility, the evidence pack, calibration across the peer group, funding, senior approval, pay within the band, the letter, effective date and handover.
- Leave request process flowchart — Leave request process flowchart: submission with dates and leave type, balance and cover checks, manager approval, HR escalation, payroll and return to work.
Related guides
- How to create a decision flowchart — How to create a decision flowchart: write each decision as a question, make the exits exhaustive and exclusive, state the criteria, and give every outcome an ending. With a live bug-triage example.
- How to make a flowchart — How to make a flowchart from scratch: the four shapes that carry almost every process, how arrows and decisions work, and how to finish every path. Build one along with a live example.