Every successful workplace culture should include consequences. Win together. Fail together.
As a mom of seven children, I have used a variety of methods which work at home to improve employee performance at work. In fact, I turn to my days as a recreation coach for assigning consequences.
My limited time is valuable and it was important to me that my athletes arrived on time. Every minute of tardiness resulted in five rounds of conditioning for the whole team.
As a manager, some things are out of your control. However, you can create a culture of trust by quickly and fairly addressing employee mishaps.
It’s important to develop a workplace culture providing guidelines and boundaries for appropriate behavior throughout the organization. Here are a few Seeker Solution tips for increasing productivity.
FLEXIBILITY IN WORKING HOURS
Some industries require strict adherence to precise hours of operation while others are more flexible.
Recently, a client came to me concerned about an employee working from home while recovering from an illness. The client was concerned the employee was only working 6 hours a day – down from the usual 8 hour workday.
I asked my client if his employee was getting the job done. He said, “Yes!”
Then I asked my client if the employee was exceeding his expectations. Again, “Yes!”
I use this scenario as an example of the value of flexibility. If an employee is completing the assigned tasks and exceeding expectations, then it’s time to shift a leader’s thinking about punching in and out on time.
It will be more productive for my client to raise the bar during the employee’s next evaluation.
The American workplace needs to end old school thinking about the clock. More emphasis needs to be placed on productivity and meeting/exceeding deadlines and expectations.
I always say, “If you can’t manage your time, I’ll manage it for you.” Employees should be given some slack to manage their time whenever possible.
CONSEQUENCES FOR TARDINESS
While we want to believe the best in our employees, but a pattern of tardiness should be addressed as quickly as possible as to avoid confrontation and micro-managing.
Forty-one percent of employers say they’ve fired someone for being late. 1 in 4 workers admit they’re late for work at least once a month. That according to a 2017 CareerBuilder survey.
My philosophy is this; Give someone a fish and feed them for a day. Teach someone to fish and feed them for a lifetime.
Early explanation of how tardiness affects your business is helpful. “Quantify it. When you’re 10 minutes late to a meeting with 10 of your teammates, that is 10 minutes times 10, which is 100 minutes of unproductive time,” inc.com.
Discipline to correct the issue may be necessary. Talk about starting the meeting on time, not waiting for late arrivals and have a sidebar conversation with the employee who has shown a pattern of arriving to the meeting late.
As for employee shifts dependent on time such as retail, food industry, customer service based roles, etc., discuss the relationship between wasting customer time and the resulting loss of business.
