Within the United States and in the absence of an employment contract a manager may request employees to engage in any activities that are legal. This is a frequent practice which is adopted, though managers are advised to refrain from asking employees to engage in any activity he or she pleases.
A workplace should be treated as one and managers must consider that accidents can happen within the location. Copy machines can break down along with the Internet, and water leaks can occur leaving the office in a mess. Problems like these can create an unhealthy environment and interrupt working conditions which need a cleanup. In the circumstances prevailing, what are the things a manager should be trying to avoid? Let us look at some of the things a manager should never do with his or her employees.
Managers Should Never Ask Employees To Do Something They Wouldn’t
Cleaning up a dirty mess is unpleasant and most organizations have maintenance services or building staff to handle them. However, it’s highly possible that one could be caught up in an unpleasant situation during the day when the building staff or even maintenance services are unable, to take care of the situation. If someone is around to clean up the mess it can certainly be handed over to the individual but if not, it has to be assigned to someone who is in the office. Before assigning the job, managers are required to consider whether they are willing to get involved in the job themselves. It is well-known that small businesses face a problem when everyone needs to participate in unpleasant activities. It is the job of the manager to lead by example, without which he or she should not be demanding anything from the employees.
Managers Should Never Ask Employees To Cancel Vacations
Canceling A Vacation Is Disappointing For the Employee
On many occasions, the world comes to a standstill when managers need a staff that can manage it all and such problems are usually a result of lack of planning. In such cases, managers should never ask employees to cancel vacations, particularly when the employee may have planned the vacation with family and friends. They should prefer to talk to an employee who may have requested for a day off for some other activity and ask him or her to postpone it by a day or two. Managers will be displaying a sense of understanding by adopting a different approach rather than telling someone to cancel their vacation.
Managers Should Never Ask Employees To Work Off the Clock After Office Hours
Working Off the Clock Should Be Discouraged
It’s obvious that managers cannot ask employees to work off the clock because it’s an illegal activity and employees need to be paid for every hour they are working. Managers may come across situations when they have to finish a certain assignment and may ask employees to log off but continue working until the assignment has been completed. Not only is this activity illegal but it also leaves the employees angry and bitter. Therefore this activity should be avoided at all costs.
Encourage Falsifying Records
An Honest Policy Works Better With Employees
This is a habit which should not be encouraged by managers at any cost, despite this being a common occurrence in most businesses. These things may not relate to falsifying records for embezzling millions of dollars but they are usually little things that couldn’t be considered highly important. Rather than encouraging the falsifying of records managers, along with their employees, should strive to have an honest policy. The manager should never ask employees to lie for him or her and maintain a similar theory on their part as well.
The Employees Are Not Always at Fault
Employees can make errors, some of which may well be unintended but it does not mean that the manager has the authority to report the incident to his superiors. Most managers adopt the self-preservation rule and pass on the blame to the employee. It would be a lot better if they understood they had assigned the task to the employee without understanding whether he or she will be able to manage it effectively. When the manager commits an error by assigning a particular task to an employee, the responsibility of the consequences also rests at his doorstep regardless of who made the eventual error. The managers, in this case, must be prepared to accept the responsibility without blaming it on the employee.
Managers Should Never Ask Employees To Continue Working When Sick
Sick Employees Can Make The Entire Workplace Sick
Employees may report for work with infections despite being sick, fearing a reprimand from the manager for reporting sick. These situations must not be overlooked by the manager because the employee could be spreading the infections in the workplace, especially if the employee is struck by a contagious virus. The manager should consider sending the sick employee home because it would be a wise decision and prevent them from making the entire workplace sick.
Dealing with employees is never an easy task for any manager because they will always come across tricky situations which may not be liked. However, if they are prepared to learn how to deal with the situation, they will not just have a set of satisfied employees but will also find it beneficial to succeed in employee retention without a lot of difficulties.
