Most organisations train managers on policy slides, then expect them to run live disciplinary, grievance, return-to-work (RTW) and performance conversations without rehearsal. When something goes wrong, ER teams inherit the fallout — companion rights missed, welfare and conduct blurred, notes that do not match what was said in the room.
Before you sign off a manager to run a live meeting, this checklist helps L&D and ER leads confirm readiness. It references the principles in the ACAS Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures — as training context, not legal advice. Your policies and internal procedures remain authoritative.
1. Conversation type mapped to policy and ACAS stage
Confirm the manager can name which pathway they are on: informal discussion, formal disciplinary, grievance hearing, capability/performance, or welfare/RTW. Each has a different opening, rights briefing and documentation expectation. The ACAS Code expects reasonable investigation before formal action and clear communication of concerns — managers should not improvise process order under pressure.
Go-live gate: Manager can explain in one sentence why this meeting is informal vs formal, and which internal policy section applies.
2. Right to be accompanied — briefed before the invite
For disciplinary and grievance meetings, employees have a statutory right to be accompanied. Managers should know when to offer it, how to respond if a companion is requested, and what companions may (and may not) do — before the calendar invite goes out, not when someone walks in with a colleague.
Go-live gate: Manager has a standard script or talking points for companion rights; ER contact named if the employee asks for a delay to arrange accompaniment.
3. Investigation neutrality and role clarity
The person who investigated should not usually chair the disciplinary hearing. Managers chairing meetings must understand what findings they can rely on, what questions remain open, and when to pause for HR advice. Blurring investigator and decision-maker roles is one of the most common sources of procedural unfairness claims.
Go-live gate: Investigation summary reviewed; manager’s role (chair vs note-taker vs welfare-only) documented and agreed with ER.
4. Scenario rehearsed — not just policy read
Reading the grievance procedure is not the same as holding the conversation. Managers need to practise the spoken flow: opening the meeting, stating concerns without prejudging, handling emotional pushback, adjourning appropriately, and closing with clear next steps. Disciplinary, grievance, RTW and performance each feel different in the room.
Go-live gate: Manager has completed at least one realistic rehearsal of this conversation type (role-play, supervised practice, or structured simulation) within the last 90 days — with feedback on tone, pacing and ACAS-shaped language.
5. Welfare, conduct and reasonable adjustment kept separate
Mental-health RTW, disability-related absence and conduct issues often arrive in the same conversation. Managers must acknowledge wellbeing and Equality Act duties without letting welfare discussions contaminate a conduct process — or vice versa. The ACAS Code and Equality Act principles both expect proportionate, fair handling; conflating threads creates tribunal risk.
Go-live gate: Manager can articulate which issues are welfare-only, which are conduct/capability, and when to involve Occupational Health or HR before proceeding.
6. Documentation expectations agreed upfront
Notes should reflect what was said, what was decided, and what happens next — not manager interpretation or performance scores. Before go-live, confirm who takes notes, whether the employee receives a copy, and the turnaround for outcome letters. Proportionate documentation protects the organisation; over- or under-recording both cause problems.
Go-live gate: Note-taker assigned; template or ER-approved wording for outcome communication identified; manager knows not to record medical detail beyond what is necessary.
7. Escalation path and ER sign-off for edge cases
No checklist replaces judgement. Managers need a clear rule: if the employee raises a protected characteristic, mentions suicide or self-harm, alleges bullying by senior leadership, or requests a postponement — stop and escalate. L&D leads should define which scenarios require ER in the room vs on-call, and how quickly a response is expected.
Go-live gate: Named ER contact, out-of-hours fallback, and a one-page “when to pause” summary in the manager pack.
What good looks like before wider rollout
A practical first step is a bounded pilot: one conversation type (often formal disciplinary or grievance), a cohort of 15–40 line managers, baseline self-assessment plus structured rehearsal, and rubric feedback managers can discuss in supervision. That gives ER evidence of readiness before every manager in the business runs live meetings alone.
KallosSim provides ACAS-shaped HR scenarios — disciplinary, grievance, RTW and performance — with fresh dialogue each session and rubric feedback for L&D reporting. Practitioners can start with free text and voice sessions at app.kallossim.com/hr. Organisation pilots include workforce reporting and information governance documentation.
Rehearse before go-live
Run ACAS-aligned manager conversations in a safe environment — training only, not legal advice.
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