human resources corrective action plan template

Free Corrective Action Plan Templates

By Kate Eby | April 3, 2023

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We’ve compiled a collection of the most helpful free corrective action plan templates, all available to download for business owners, managers, and HR professionals. 

Included on this page, you’ll find a five-step, 30-day corrective action plan template , a corrective action plan for employees who need performance counseling , and a project management corrective action plan template .

Simple Corrective Action Plan Template 

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Microsoft Word | Excel

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When a process, person, or event has a negative impact on your business, use this simple corrective action plan template – including one with sample data – to record your action plan, solve the problem, and prevent its future occurrence. Whether you need to correct an employee’s behavior or address a supply shortage, this template can be used for any situation. Start by identifying the problem, then add the desired outcome. Fill in the action steps necessary to reach the goal. Use the status column to easily track and review the progress of each problem. Print out the template to fill it out by hand. 

For additional action plan templates, check out this collection of free action plan templates .

30-Day Corrective Action Plan Template 

Download a 30-Day Corrective Action Plan Template for  Microsoft Word | Adobe PDF | Excel

Download a Sample 30-Day Corrective Action Plan Template for Microsoft Word | Adobe PDF | Excel

This 30-day corrective action plan template lays out a five-step process to help you solve specific nonconformities within your business, including sample data you can use to model your approach. It’s a great tool to use when there’s limited time to solve an issue. Simply type each step into the pre-formatted schedule to ensure that your team is working efficiently toward a solution. This template is also printable for those who prefer to map out their corrective action plan by hand.

Employee Corrective Action Plan Template for HR 

Download the Employee Corrective Action Plan Template for HR for Microsoft Word

Download this detailed, printable employee corrective action plan template whenever an employee needs performance counseling or coaching. The template will guide you through key elements of an employee’s performance and help you map out an improvement plan. The sections include improvement goals, expectations, and progress monitoring. Once you complete the form, save it in the employee’s file for easy access. 

For additional information about addressing employee performance, check out this useful collection of performance improvement plan templates in various formats.

Project Management Corrective Action Plan Template

Download a Project Management Corrective Action Plan Template for Microsoft Word | Excel

If your project is delayed or is suffering from scope creep, using a corrective action plan template can help realign project expectations. This project management corrective action template provides all the necessary space to document the course of action to fix any problems. There are columns for filling in information about the strategic action, stakeholders, constraints, metrics, and more. 

For additional resources, download one of these customizable action item templates .

Corrective Action Form Template

Download a Corrective Action Form Template for Microsoft Word | Excel

Use this corrective action form template to address any number of deficiencies within your business. Use the Actions column to document the necessary steps your team will take to reach a solution. There are also columns to record your available resources, the planned completion date, and the actual completion date. Assign an ID number to each action for thorough recordkeeping so that your team and business can keep track of their progress.

 For additional resources about corrective action plans, see this comprehensive guide to implementing corrective actions .

What Is a Corrective Action Plan Template? 

A corrective action plan template is a step-by-step plan you can use to address, record, and resolve negative impacts on a business. It includes a problem statement, action steps, a timeline, and a desired outcome.

Using a corrective action plan template is essential for reducing and preventing negative events. If you want to strengthen business processes, boost employee performance, or improve business operations, a corrective action plan is the perfect tool. It provides an organized record of the problem and how it was remedied.

Why Use a Corrective Action Plan Template? 

If you are a business owner or a manager or work in HR, you will face business-related challenges. These can include problems with equipment, sales, safety, or employees. A corrective action plan provides the best way to tackle these issues. 

Using corrective action plan templates helps ensure that you stay organized by formally documenting your processes. By doing so, you can develop a step-by-step approach to problem solving that can be applied to all your processes or workflows. It also becomes a reference tool to show how a specific, negative situation was handled and how it was settled.

Corrective Action Plan Format

Though corrective action plans vary, most of them follow the same basic format. Usually, they include space to document key information about the plan. Sections include a problem statement, actions steps, resources, a timeline, and more. 

These are the specific elements to include in your corrective action plan:

• Problem Statement: Write a statement that defines the problem.  
• Action Steps: List the steps taken to correct the problem. 
• Resources: Document any resources used to implement the action steps or to help resolve the problem.
• Timeline: Calculate the amount of time that passes between the identification and resolution of the problem. 
• Due Date: Select a date by which the team should aim to finish the plan. 
• Goal: State the desired outcome.  
• Stakeholders: List anyone who is directly involved with or impacted by the problem.

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Employee Corrective Action Plan Template

Keep consistent records of disciplinary processes for all employees using this customizable employee corrective action plan template..

• Design Style : modern
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An Employee Corrective Action Plan (ECAP) is a written procedure that details the specific corrective action to address an employee's performance or conduct issue. The ECAP sets forth expectations for the employee to meet and outlines the consequences if these standards are unmet. The ECAP helps employees improve their performance or conduct so that it meets the standards expected by the employer. It can also document an employee's progress in addressing their performance or conduct issues. You can use an ECAP when an employee's performance or conduct falls below the standards set by the employer. You can also enforce it when an employee has been warned about their performance or conduct but has not improved sufficiently. Typically, the employee's supervisor creates the ECAP in consultation with Human Resources, tailored to the specific performance or conduct issue addressed. It should include a description of the performance or conduct issue, expectations for addressing the issue, a timeline for improvement, consequences for failing to meet the expectations, and a signature from the employee indicating that he or she understands the plan. An ECAP, when used correctly,

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Free corrective action plan template

Business owners and managers face a myriad of challenges every day. Perhaps a team member failed to close a deal with a big client. Maybe someone email-blasted all your customers with an internal memo. Or perhaps your IT network was hacked, exposing your organization to a cyberattack.

Wouldn’t it be great to have one process to solve all of these problems and more? Enter the corrective action plan — a flexible system for identifying and resolving business problems. In this article, we’ll dive into what a corrective action plan is, plus why and how to use one. We’ll also share a free corrective action plan template you can download and start using today.

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What is a corrective action plan template?

A corrective action plan is a step-by-step plan of action that an organization needs to carry out in order to change something that’s having a negative impact on its workflow  and profit margins. It’s also a place to record corrective actions taken and their outcomes.

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This might look like finding the bug or device that caused your servers to crash after installing a software update. Or it could be an employee training development plan designed to help a team member improve following a performance review. The easiest way to write a corrective action plan is to use a done-for-you template like the one the monday.com team has created for you.

It contains different sections that allow you to record:

• Root-cause analysis and risk assessments
• Problem statement
• Action steps
• Stakeholders
• Progress updates
• Metrics for completion

Why use a corrective action plan template?

A corrective action plan template provides you with a roadmap for taking corrective action across all areas of your business. Let’s take a look at four reasons you might want to start using one.

1. Correct errors in the most efficient way

When something goes wrong, the best way to correct it is to follow a logical, step-by-step process that minimizes the time required to resolve the issue while mitigating any other potential risks.

2. Improve your processes

Business processes  are standardized ways of working that are constantly repeated. Accounting, recruitment, sales, and customer service follow the same processes day in, day out. If you want to make your business processes more efficient, you can use a corrective action plan template to analyze them and identify ways to improve them. You can also measure the results to determine the success of your corrective action plan.

3. Streamline workflows

Workflows are a series of actions that must be completed in a specific order to achieve a task. A corrective action plan template can help you identify which aspects of a workflow can be improved or automated . Automating your workflow increases efficiency, reduces the risk of errors, and improves collaboration across teams and departments.

4. Improve efficiency and effectiveness

Since a corrective action template can be used to address problems in any area of your business, it increases your organization’s overall efficiency and effectiveness. For example, if your employee turnover is too high, a corrective action plan template can help you discover why and improve your employee experience. Or, if your sales are dropping, it can signal that you might want to create new products and services that match your customers’ needs or improve current ones.

What are some corrective action plan template examples?

Now let’s take a look at three examples of corrective action plan templates and how you might use them.

Employee performance corrective action plan template

Corrective action plans can be applied to employee performance reviews . If an employee receives a complaint from a customer, a corrective action plan can help you identify and address the issue. It could be that the employee doesn’t fully understand organizational processes or objectives, in which case they may need you to explain them again.

Or perhaps they lack key skills in some areas and require training to meet company standards. A corrective action plan template like the one below allows you to record the proposed employee development plan’s objectives, success criteria, schedule, and outcomes.

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Systems failure corrective action plan template

Let’s say your organization’s servers crash. You can use a corrective action plan template to identify whether it’s a network problem, a hardware issue, system overload, or a configuration error. Once you’ve carried out the root-cause analysis, you can then plan and test action steps to correct the error. Keep a record of the outcomes in your corrective action plan template that you can refer back to if the problem arises again.

Audit corrective action plan template

You can use a corrective action plan template to carry out audits — for example, if you want to carry out a health and safety inspection to ensure compliance with rules and regulations. A corrective action plan template for audits like the one below has a column for recommendations and their proposed corrective actions. It also has space for the person responsible, completion date, and status, so you can easily follow up on progress. The priority column helps you organize your work — this is especially helpful if you have a large number of recommendations to implement.

monday.com’s corrective action plan template

The team at monday.com has created a fully-customizable corrective action plan template to suit all your needs. The sections in our corrective action template allow you to include your analysis of the problem and proposed steps to correct it, as well as recording progress and final outcomes.

You might want to consider a Work OS — like monday.com — as a powerful alternative to a corrective action template. monday.com enables teams to build and track customized workflows that allow for the completion of tasks. It also facilitates the sharing of information across teams and departments, making collaboration easier.

Our integrations let you pull data from other apps straight into monday.com, and you can upload and store documents such as audit reports or employee performance reviews for easy reference. Plus, with monday.com, you can visualize your data however you need to with our Dashboard and Board views. These features allow you to get a quick overview of progress on your corrective action plan. For example, you might use the Chart view like the one below to create a visual progress report.

Or, you could use the Timeline View to determine whether your corrective action plan is on track.

All of these features make monday.com the perfect place to create, monitor, and report on your corrective action plan.

5 steps to implementing a corrective action plan

If you’re ready to get started, follow this five-step process to create, implement, monitor, and evaluate the success of your corrective action plan template.

1. Use a corrective action template

Use a customizable corrective action plan template like the one the monday.com team has created just for you. It will save you time compared to creating your own corrective action plan from scratch.

2. Identify the problem

Corrective action requires you to identify problems and their root causes. Gather all the data you can compile from reports, interviews, and other documents so you can identify the responsible party, as well as any related issues.

3. Create a corrective action plan

Now it’s time to write your corrective action plan. Make sure to include:

• A problem statement
• The proposed solution
• A step-by-step plan detailing each action item
• Risk management procedures
• Metrics for completion of the action plan
• Team members and their roles and responsibilities
• Due dates for completion of each of the action steps

4. Implement the corrective action plan

Start by training your team, so they know exactly what the objectives of the corrective action plan are and understand the corrective action process. Once everyone knows who’s responsible for carrying out each of the action steps, your team can start to implement corrective actions.

5. Monitor and report

Monitor progress throughout the implementation of your corrective action plan and make adjustments as necessary. At the end of the defined time period, compile a corrective action report detailing how the plan addressed the problem and any areas for improvement.

FAQs about corrective action plan

How do you write a corrective action plan.

The easiest way to write a corrective action plan is to use a template like the one provided by monday.com — or use our customizable workflows to create and monitor your corrective action plan. Follow the steps outlined in the previous section to fill in each part of the action plan template.

What is an example of a corrective action?

A corrective action is one that addresses the root cause of a problem and prevents it from happening again. For example, if there’s a fire in your office, putting out the fire is a correction, whereas reviewing and improving the health and safety measures would be a corrective action.

How do you write a corrective action report?

When you create your corrective action plan, make sure to include key indicators of success, a defined time frame, and metrics for completion. This will make it easy to measure the success of your corrective action plan and compile a report. Alternatively, use monday.com’s Dashboard views to automatically generate visual reports.

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University of Washington Human Resources

Hr operations, corrective action.

Table of Contents

“Just cause” standard

Informal counseling, formal counseling, final counseling, additional resources.

Last updated: October 31, 2023

The objective of corrective action is to correct and resolve employee performance problems in order to retain the employee as a productive staff member.

Whenever possible, the corrective action process should be a positive collaboration between the supervisor and employee to achieve necessary improvement rather than a punitive action against the employee.

Supervisors can encourage employee job success by:

• Establishing and communicating clear standards for successful performance
• Identifying job performance or behavior that does not meet standards and offering feedback in a timely manner
• Creating clear action plans to help employees achieve successful performance

This corrective action guide helps supervisors:

• Understand the “just cause” standard for corrective action
• Make fair and equitable decisions regarding corrective action
• Apply the corrective action approach when addressing employee performance concerns

Employees covered by this guide

The progressive corrective action process applies to all contract classified and classified non-union staff.

Employees not covered by this guide

Professional staff are employed “at will” and are not covered by this progressive corrective action process. Professional staff appointments can be modified or ended for any reason that does not unlawfully discriminate against the employee or violate public policy. Even without required progressive steps, good performance management principles encourage timely, appropriate feedback and documentation. Contact your HR consultant when considering professional staff corrective action.

Classified employees still in their probationary or trial service period are not covered under the progressive corrective action process. Contact your HR consultant regarding probationary or trial service performance concerns that are not resolved by counseling and coaching.

Corrective action for classified non-union and contract classified staff must meet the “just cause” standard.

Use the following six factors to assess whether there is just cause for corrective action in a given situation:

• Adequate notification of performance or conduct issues

Reasonable expectations and standards

Fair and objective investigation, substantial evidence, consistent treatment, appropriateness of corrective measures.

Failure to meet these six just cause factors can result in a corrective action decision being reversed or appealed if challenged.

Adequate notification

An employee must be:

• Adequately notified that their performance or behavior is unacceptable
• Advised of the potential consequences for failing to meet performance or behavioral expectations (including possible corrective action)

For example, notification of unacceptable conduct could be provided through making employees aware of published performance or behavioral standards (such as a University policy or departmental procedure) or through previous counseling or coaching regarding that behavior.

However, some behaviors are so unacceptable (such as theft or violence) that corrective action, including dismissal, may be warranted even without prior notice.

The department’s policies, procedures, practices, standards, and work rules must be reasonably related to efficient and safe operations.

The performance or behavioral issue must be properly investigated prior to taking corrective action.

A fair and objective fact-finding investigation includes gathering some or all of the following information:

• Date and time the incident or problem occurred
• Location of the incident or event
• List of other people who may have been involved or who witnessed the event
• Statements from witnesses or participants, as well as from the employee under investigation
• Documents or records related to the incident
• Assessment of the impact of the employee’s unsatisfactory performance or behavior on other people, the department, and the University

The investigation must reveal substantial evidence of the employee’s responsibility for the performance issue or offense.

Performance expectations, standards, and corrective actions should be applied evenhandedly. Employees in similar situations should be treated comparably. Be sure to review past practices so that you can remain consistent in your response to performance issues with all of your employees.

A corrective measure must match the seriousness of the offense. Additionally, you must take the individual’s employment and performance history into account. In other words, minor offenses and first occurrences typically warrant less severe action. Major offenses and repeated occurrences typically warrant stronger action.

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The first step in correcting performance is usually informal counseling. In most cases, it is appropriate to see if coaching, counseling, and retraining can bring performance up to a satisfactory level.

Feedback is typically given by talking directly with the employee. You should follow up with a simple written action plan or an email summarizing the discussion and action items.

Consider the following questions early on when an employee is not performing satisfactorily:

• Does the employee clearly understand their job duties and responsibilities?
• Does the employee clearly understand behavioral expectations?
• Does the employee clearly understand University and departmental policies and procedures?
• Does the employee have the skills and knowledge necessary to meet the competencies required for their position?
• Have the employee’s job-related concerns been considered (if such concerns have been expressed to you)?

If the answer to any of the questions above is “no,” work with the employee to clear up any confusion. If necessary, help the employee find training or education to develop the required competencies needed in their job. Turning the “no” answers into “yes” answers may be all it takes to get the employee back on track to meeting performance expectations.

Formal counseling is appropriate if:

• Informal counseling did not resolve the performance issue
• The issue is serious enough that it warrants skipping informal counseling

Steps of formal counseling

• Identifies each performance and behavioral problem
• Specifies the desired performance or behavior
• Outlines the actions necessary to correct the problem(s)
• Provides a reasonable time frame for correction
• Prepare a  Formal Counseling Memo Scheduling Notice (MS Word) for the employee that confirms the meeting and informs the employee of their right to representation at the meeting.
• Send the notice to the employee and schedule the formal counseling meeting. Your HR consultant must also attend this meeting.
• Focus on the specific performance or behavioral issue(s) rather than the employee’s attitude or personality.
• Summarize the findings of the investigation (if an investigation was conducted).
• Review any policy that has been violated.
• Explain clearly why the behavior or performance is a concern, including how it is impacting operations and other employees. Use direct and descriptive examples.
• Explain clearly the expected performance or behavior.
• Describe what will happen next if the performance is not corrected.
• Allow the employee an opportunity to respond to your comments.
• Review the drafted action plan and allow the employee to give input on the action plan. Revise the plan as needed.
• Schedule regular check-in meetings to provide feedback during the action plan’s timeline.
• Follow up the formal counseling meeting with a  Formal Counseling Session Follow-Up Memo (MS Word) and finalized action plan. The memo and plan should be reviewed by your HR consultant prior to sending them to the employee.
• Review the employee’s action plan continually and give feedback on the employee’s progress toward performance improvement. Document all feedback.

Final counseling is the last corrective action step prior to dismissal. Final counseling may be appropriate if:

• Formal counseling did not resolve the performance issue
• The issue is serious enough that it warrants skipping formal counseling

Steps of final counseling

• Review the employee’s formal counseling action plan (if this final counseling meeting is a follow-up to an earlier formal counseling meeting). Identify any continuing performance concerns and the actions required to correct them.
• Develop a final action plan — or revise the formal counseling action plan (if there was one).
• Prepare a  Final Counseling Memo Scheduling Notice (MS Word) for the employee that confirms the meeting and informs the employee of their right to representation at the meeting.
• Send the meeting notice to the employee and schedule the final counseling meeting. Your HR consultant must also attend this meeting.
• Explain clearly the behavior or performance that continues to be a concern.
• Review the action plan and allow the employee to give input. Revise the plan as needed.
• Provide a reasonable time frame for the employee to improve their performance or behavior, if applicable. (Some behavior must simply not be repeated, so the time frame is “immediate and sustained.”)
• Explain clearly that if the employee fails to meet expectations within the designated time frame, the next step is dismissal.
• Draft a  Final Counseling Follow-Up Memo (MS Word) and final action plan. The memo and action plan must be reviewed by your HR consultant prior to finalizing and sending them to the employee.
• Review the employee’s action plan and give feedback continually on the employee’s progress toward performance improvement. Document all feedback.

Dismissal is appropriate if the employee’s performance or behavior:

• Doesn’t improve with progressive corrective action
• Is so severe or unacceptable that progressive corrective action is not appropriate

Contact your HR consultant when you determine that dismissal may be appropriate. Work closely with your HR consultant through every step of the dismissal process.

Steps for dismissal

• Prepare a  Recommendation for Dismissal (MS Word) letter, stating the reasons you are recommending the employee be dismissed. Your HR consultant is responsible for obtaining appropriate legal and internal review of the dismissal recommendation letter.
• Bring representation with them to the meeting
• Present information orally or in writing as to why they shouldn’t be dismissed
• Send the predetermination meeting memo to the employee. Be sure to follow any notice timelines required by the employee’s collective bargaining agreement, if applicable.
• Forward the recommendation for dismissal letter to your appointing authority (dean, vice president, vice provost, medical center CEO, or delegated official).
• Conduct the predetermination meeting. You (or your appointing authority or designee), your HR consultant, the employee, and the employee’s representative of choice should all attend. During the meeting, allow the employee or the employee’s representative to provide any information the employee believes the appointing authority (or designee) should consider prior to making a decision on the recommendation to dismiss.
• Review the employee’s written or oral response to the dismissal recommendation after the meeting. With your HR consultant, determine whether to proceed with dismissal. If the decision is to dismiss, your HR consultant prepares an action letter. An action letter is the official notice of dismissal and must be signed by the appointing authority.
• Deliver the action letter in person to the employee. Arrange to have another individual present to witness the delivery of the letter. Document the names of both the person who delivers the action letter to the employee and the person who witnesses the delivery, as well as the date and time of the delivery. If an in-person delivery is not possible because the employee is not at work, the action letter must be sent by certified regular mail to the employee’s most recent address of record.
• Work with your HR consultant to complete all remaining steps related to the employee’s separation.

UW policies

• APS 43.16 Corrective Action Policy for Permanent Classified Non-Union Staff Covered by State Department of Personnel Rules
• APS 43.13 Probation and Trial Service Policy for Classified Non-Union Staff
• APS 43.14 Performance Management Policy for Classified Non-Union Staff
• Performance management supervisor guide
• Employee work performance

Civil service rules (classified non-union staff)

• WAC 357-40 (discipline)
• WAC 357-19 (trial service and probationary periods)
• WAC 357-37 (performance management)

Collective bargaining agreements

Professional Staff Program

Employees needing support regarding corrective action can contact their HR consultant or the Office of Ombud .

Benefits-eligible employees having personal issues affecting their job performance can contact the WA Employee Assistance Program , which provides confidential counseling.

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