A Scenario for our Readers to Ponder…
Sep 9th, 2007 by roberta
Here’s the scenario:
John is a very valuable employee at your company. His efforts have largely been responsible for the company receiving very lucrative contracts on a regular basis. Recently, it came to the attention of management, that on many days that John says that he is out of the office on business, he is really not working. Sometimes he’s on the golf course with personal friends; at other times, he’s out and about with his girlfriend.
As a member of the management team, how would you handle John’s behavior? What are the factors that you would consider, in determining your approach?
I am hoping that some of our readers will share their ideas with us. You can comment by clicking on the link that is directly at the bottom of this post.
As an employee in a professional environment I see many colleagues who take care of personal business during work hours and thereby diminishing their overall productivity. If I was in a management position I would seriously question my employees bottome-line feelings towards his/her job. Is there something else going on at home? Are your responsibilities for your job too mediocre..do you feel valued enough. Do you realize your contribution and role in the company? All of these feelings can unknowingly suck the life out of any great employee. I would imagine that if an employer was able to level with an employee on a personal interest level rather than just as a piece of the puzzle in a the company…a clearer solution might be possible.
There is more than one way to catch a fish and if John is able to hang out with his buddies/girlfriend and catch more fish than the people hanging out at the pier during the day, then so be it. Who’s to say that John isn’t working at 11PM, when the rest of his fellow fishermen are sound asleep?
As a manager, however, I would make it very clear that deception is not the way to go when it comes to building a relationship with one’s management team. I would also make it clear that his excellent performance has not gone unnoticed and I wouldn’t want his performance review to be dilluted because of his failure to be honest regarding his during the day where-a-bouts.
Depending on what motivates John, I would give him an incentive to increase his sales by x percentage, e.g. an extra week off, dinner w/ his girlfriend on the company, etc.
…my 2 cents…