business articles business management businesses Marketing sales Technology Business finance Lean Manufacturing small business Investing articles employee health

Dealing With Employees That Are Late Or Abusing Policies

businesscouple_14146399.jpg
Dealing with employees who are late or abusing policies is a tricky task for any manager. How does one go about fixing these two problems? Tardiness and policy disregard damage the reputation of the employee among his peers and cost the company immensely. This article will address how effective managers deal with tardiness and the abuse of company policies.

A good manager will keep a company policy manual on hand at all times. When someone is late or abuses a policy, the manager will look up the particular policy in the company manual that pertains to the violation at hand. The manager, after a while, will know these policies. If such a policy manual does not exist, a good manager will help develop one for the company.

When the violation occurs, the manager should point it out to the employee immediately. The manager should identify the policy violation, coach the employee, and then provide suggestions to improve future performance. This type of coaching action is informal and will not go on the employee's record unless the supervisor chooses to take note of the situation. This type of intervention early on will help the employee realize why the particular behavior in question violated a particular company policy. An intervention that is progressively oriented will help the team and employee in question realize that such behavior is intolerable in the working environment.

It is very important that the employer avoid a confrontation with the team member in question. A confrontation may only irritate tensions in the workplace further. When an employee sees that a supervisor is trying to help them, that employee will react in a calmer manner. A confrontation will ultimately result in that employee's dismissal or a human resources intervention. Both situations are ultimately undesirable.

When an informal verbal coaching fails, it is time to follow the guidelines in the company manual. Make sure that the employee knows why the discipline is being applied. Also, provide some feedback for what the employee needs to do in order to improve. Remember that the employee required training, an investment upon the company's behest. The policy manual exists to protect the company's interests. Up to a certain point, keeping an employee is in the company's best interest.

The manager should be respectful of the employee. They should find out why the situation exists as it does. Why is the employee burning through their copy allotment? Why is the employee taking excessively long lunches? If a manager asks such questions, isolating the root cause of the undesirable behavior may result in performance. More often than not, a supervisor will not identify the cause of the problem. Such a mistake will not help the person improve and will ultimately lead to their transition out of the company.

Sometimes, a supervisor may have to show the employee the door. This unfortunate situation is a fact of life. If such a situation happens, the employee should be told why they are being released. The supervisor should also provide as much documentation to the human resources department about the situation as possible. Terminating an employee should be done only when the rules within the company have been thoroughly exhausted.

Most employees do their best at work. For some people, attendance, timeliness, and rules are a fact of life. Other employees have a hard time following rules, but are well-intentioned. The smallest group of employees, less than a percent, will not follow rules out of contempt for authority. Whatever the outcome, make sure that your company has a set of rules in place to deal with tardiness and policy abuse. When the situation arises, make it so that the company manual for dealing with such procedures is followed as closely as possible.

FREE: Get More Leads!
How To Get More LeadsSubscribe to our free newsletter and get our "How To Get More Leads" course free via email. Just enter your first name and email address below to subscribe.
First Name *
Email *


Get More Business Info
Sponsored Links
Recent Articles

Categories

Copyright 2003-2020 by BusinessKnowledgeSource.com - All Rights Reserved
Privacy Policy, Terms of Use