What are you doing with the lazy employees the other 259 working days?

Lazy employees abuse vacation, sick, FMLA, OFLA and disability benefits as well but nobody suggests getting rid of those as a reasonable solution. I think of optional days along the same lines. What do you do with lazy employees that abuse these other policies? People that abuse optional days should be treated the same. Managing up or out lazy employees during the year would be optimal. The best employees should not feel like they have to “keep up appearances” and take unnecessary risks to prove to management that they are dedicated. Their work the rest of the year should be sufficient.

As for necessary employees, it depends on your facility and customer needs really. The management should figure out what they would need in order to operate under inclement weather where employees and customers might be limited. Most of the time though, operating under inclement conditions is a short term status. Just because all we need at our facility during inclement weather is security personnel doesn’t make everyone else expendable. Ultimately, somebody has to make money and make products to keep those security people employed.

1) people who live down the block, with chains and four wheel-drive say it’s “too dangerous” to come into work; while those who live four towns away and have cars with bald tires and no four-wheel drive come in and say the “roads are fine”.

2) Who decides what jobs are “important”? If my job isn’t “important” enough to need to come to work during bad weather, should I be surprised if I’m on the top of the next layoff list?

In my experience, when work attendance is “optional” dedicated employees take risks and try to come in while lazy employees use the “optional” day to avoid deadlines and responsibilities.

Our mass transit options are sketchy to nonexistent. Many production workers drive 4×4 trucks. Heck, a couple of them even snowplow for the extra cash. AWD vehicles for the rest of us is very common.

The HR Guy, that’s me lives nearly furthest out. Two other employees live deeper into the woods than I do, but they have quicker access to turnpike. That being said, I still nearly beat my boss in this morning. That after getting up at 4 AM to snowblow the driveway.

Bottom Line – we treat our loyal & dedicated employees like the adults they are. In turn, we have exceptionally reliable attendance.

Winter here in Maine is about ten months long, summer is the day we play baseball.

‘What I find most amazing was how many emails were going back and forth on an HR list-server I belong to about whether or not to cancel production plants in RI. People were like, “We’re closing at 4 today to let our workers get home safe.” Oh really? The storm gets heavy at 2 and plows won’t do much until 6 or 7 – how does that help?

People (employers… HR, specifically) need to just do the right thing and close down plants when the whether is dangerous. A dead or critically injured work is far less productive than one who misses a day of work due to a snow storm!

- Chris