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November
2006
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Show Up or Slow Up?
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Earlier this month, Wal-Mart introduced a new
tardiness policy for its employees that: (1) reduced the number
of tardinesses allowed employees before disciplinary action
would be taken and (2) centralized the reporting of tardinesses
to a 1-800 number with the objective of eliminating store managers'
abilities to subjectively handle employee tardiness on a case-by-case
basis.
The TV news reports and articles that covered this "hot
topic" were focused on shaking up the listener and get
reactions going, which it succeeded in doing.
The responses were two-fold. One group was irate that Wal-Mart
has eliminated the "hands on" management approach
to reporting attendance and question why employees who have
legitimate reasons for absenteeism or tardiness should be tracked
or penalized. The other side is wondering: what really is the
issue here? Here's a quote from a Wal-Mart employee:
"The debate is absurd. I am a Wal-mart associate and believe
me the policy is not strict enough. Everyone that is complaining
about it is the one's that are to lazy to get up and come to
work on time, and I for one will be glad when they are gone.
It only makes it harder for those of us that do come to work
when we are scheduled. If you don't like the rules find you
a new game and make it easier on us that do work."
Okay - beyond the grammatical errors, I'm with the employee.
Let's say you are in a Wal-mart timeclock-punching, large employer,
retail type of setting, and all your cashiers decided to arrive
late, who would service your customers and ring up your sales?
While my scenario is an exaggeration, the fact that employees
would not be held accountable for regular or timely attendance
concerns me. This is a cultural and professionalism issue even
more than a policy issue.
Copyright (c)
2006 Arlene Vernon, HRx, Inc.
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What
About Accountability
in Your Organization?
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The reality is
we're not all Wall-marts. Some of us work in 8-to-5 cultures,
where there's a mad dash for the door at 5:00. In these more
"hourly" environments, monitoring attendance closely
is more common and may be more necessary. But many of us work
in smaller, non-retail organizations with higher-touch cultures.
If you have more exempt employees than non-exempt (hourly)
employees, there is likely to be more flexibility in your
attendance rules since exempt employees are paid for the week
of work not the hours they work.
But my real question to you is: Does your culture hold its
employees accountable for attendance, showing up on time,
meeting deadlines, work productivity, negative attitudes,
respect in the workplace, etc.? Over the years, I've assisting
many clients with disciplinary actions that have resulted
in terminations where the coworkers' reactions are "what
took management so long to act?" rather than "why
are you terminating this person?" It's our responsibility
as managers to act swiftly to address and eliminate small
problems before they reach termination stage. But this isn't
always what we do.
Frequently our quality performers know what's going on in
the workplace better than we do, especially when it comes
to understanding who is stretching the rules, taking advantage
of circumstances, and violating policies. Our employees spend
more time dealing with the ramifications of someone's failure
to follow policy than we do. They are doing dual duty for
the absent or slacking employee; they are the recipient of
the poor attitude. And many of them have the same response
as the Wal-Mart employee I quoted above, asking: "What
about me?
While we don't want to create "police states" in
our organizations, it is important to define acceptable and
unacceptable behavior and hold every employee accountable
consistently for those standards. Before it's too late. Read
the list of questions on the left column to see whether you
need some assistance addressing the issue of accountability
in your organization.
Copyright
(c) 2006 Arlene Vernon, HRx, Inc.
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| About
Arlene Vernon |
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Arlene Vernon,
PHR, partners with small businesses as their Human Resource Xpert
to create their HR systems and solve their HR problems.
If you have gaps in your HR operation, have an employee problem
to solve, or want to enhance your managers' skills, call Arlene
today. Learn how HRx can save you time and help you avoid costly
HR mistakes. HRx, Inc., Eden Prairie, MN 55344, 952-996-0975,
www.HRxcellence.com.
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