Another update from the Jungle….
Jane is the HR manager for a company with about 200 employees. The company runs a lean operation which means that Jane is the sole HR person and handles pretty much every situation that arises. Jane likes the variety of issues that she faces because it keeps everything fresh and interesting.
A major problem for the company is time and attendance. The owner of the company is obsessive and compulsive about details and it drives him nuts to see a few employees chronically showing up late. He told Jane to fix the problem.
Jane reviewed the time and attendance policy which clearly states that chronic tardiness may subject an employee to progressive disciplinary action. The policy is included in the employee handbook. Jane checks the personnel files for each laggard employee and finds that each of them has signed the acknowledgement form. That means that each employee received a copy of the employee handbook and promptly tossed it aside without actually reading it.
This week, Jane began meeting individually with each employee who is chronically late. Jane tries not to yawn as she hears the usual excuses. One employee says she was stuck in traffic due to an accident. Another says his dog got out of the fenced-in backyard and he had to find the mutt and lock him in the garage before leaving for work.
Jane’s favorite excuse of the week is the employee who says she was late due to the school zones. The employee recently moved so that her children could attend a more highly rated school. This means the employee must now travel through three more school zones on her route to work. That caused her to be late.
What should Jane do next?
- She can explain to each employee that the excuse du jour doesn’t make up for chronic lateness. She can then move to the next step in progressive discipline.
- She can encourage each employee to make a greater effort to arrive on time and let them off with a verbal warning.
- She can ask herself why she never thought up so many creative reasons for being late to work.
Time and attendance issues are a perennial problem. Perhaps it’s time to think about the underlying reasons for tardiness. Employees who enjoy their work tend to show up on time.
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the smoke cleared and the hockey pucks were trashed, Renee decided to assign an experienced employee as a mentor to train Marta on using equipment. Marta now bakes cookies using her grandmother’s recipes that are the hottest sales items in the store.
Mandy is the HR director for her division of a national company. She’s trying to understand why it’s so difficult to fill open positions in the division. The candidates she screens have the qualifications and experience to do the job but many of them reject job offers.
competing cliques.
Wanda owns a small company and she’s preparing for her next round of job interviews. She hates the interviewing and hiring process. It takes a lot of time away from running her business and the results can be iffy.
with her dinner.
Bob is the star salesman for the company and an all-around good guy. He’s an extrovert who tells good jokes. He has a way of talking to people that makes each individual feel valued. But he’s also a bit of a rebel and he’ll stretch the rules because he knows he’s privileged due to his sales ability. Cindy likes Bob and she usually cuts him some slack when he bends the rules.
Justin owns a company that has been stagnating during the past year. They make enough money to stay in business but haven’t been able to expand into new markets. At first, the lack of growth was fine with his staff because they were working through a back log of orders.
Doris is the HR director for her company. She’s studied diligently to obtain several certifications from SHRM and she goes to plenty of training seminars, and not just because she needs the HRCI credits. She genuinely wants to learn so that she can help her company avoid employee problems.
Once upon a time there was a diligent manager named Vera who decided she needed an assistant. After an arduous interviewing process, she hired Sandy who showed poise during the interview, enthusiasm for the opportunity, and who had years of experience. They agreed that Sandy’s regularly scheduled hours would begin at 8 am.
HR Compliance Jungle 