Marla,
For what it's worth, I concur with most of the posts above. Look at the system (hiring, training, work instructions, workload, motivation, supervision, corrective actions, etc.). If I understand correctly, those persons considered "at fault" for a problem already have to pay for part (50%) of the cost of the error. I don't recall ever seeing such a policy in any modern company. Yet still the rate of errors is going up, so why would anyone expect that making them pay more will do any good? I suspect it will only further destroy morale, cost you good employees (they will probably quit and go to work somewhere less punitive), and yet still the problems will exist.
My advice: Quit the policy of making an employee pay anything for a mistake. Put a team together to look for system problems and corrective actions. Spend some real time and effort in looking for fixes, not fixing blame. Only as a last resort assume the employees are the cause (most often they are not) and if an employee is found to be at fault by true negligence, follow traditional disciplinary avenues up to and including firing. But that should be the last resort.
For what it's worth, I concur with most of the posts above. Look at the system (hiring, training, work instructions, workload, motivation, supervision, corrective actions, etc.). If I understand correctly, those persons considered "at fault" for a problem already have to pay for part (50%) of the cost of the error. I don't recall ever seeing such a policy in any modern company. Yet still the rate of errors is going up, so why would anyone expect that making them pay more will do any good? I suspect it will only further destroy morale, cost you good employees (they will probably quit and go to work somewhere less punitive), and yet still the problems will exist.
My advice: Quit the policy of making an employee pay anything for a mistake. Put a team together to look for system problems and corrective actions. Spend some real time and effort in looking for fixes, not fixing blame. Only as a last resort assume the employees are the cause (most often they are not) and if an employee is found to be at fault by true negligence, follow traditional disciplinary avenues up to and including firing. But that should be the last resort.