5. Ask the employee for his thoughts or ideas for going forward.

6. Offer professional counseling or addiction treatment if the
employee believes that would help. Here is a suggested way to
broach the subject: “I’ve told you today how valuable you are to this department and to me. The pressures of work cause all of us to let off steam in different ways. I want to help you solve this and be as successful as I know you are meant to be. If counseling would help, we would like to work with you to get it. Just let me know or let Susie Thomas in HR know. Here is the card if you choose to call her confidentially. We can set something up to help you with this.”

7. State that although you are documenting this session, you are
confident that the problem will never recur.

8. End by thanking the employee for something he has done or a trait
he has demonstrated that you appreciate. Mention an upcoming
project or meeting that you can both look forward to. The tenor of
these concluding moments should be forward-looking.

In short, email has offered us great opportunities for communication
and efficiencies in business. Conversely, it has offered a few employees one of the most versatile tools for slacking off that business has ever seen. If you think you have no problem in this area, I urge you to monitor your employees’ email for a while. You may be very surprised.

Taken From: 201 Ways to Turn Any Employee Into a STAR Performer