How does an organization ensure valuable employees are taken care of?

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biboy2012

Should an organization accommodate an employee's personal situation so that he/she can continue to do work? Or personal life shouldn't mix with business totally?
 

somashekar

Leader
Admin
employee's personal situation
A lot has got to do with the personnel selection process. The rest is a chance and future cannot be predicted.
Leaves, Medical insurance, certain perks that are offered to employee takes care of the basics.
It is very easy to make a club environment in an organization and so much more difficult to get back to work environment. A good balance must be maintained with respect to personnel and respect to organization goals.
personal life shouldn't mix with business totally?
It is best to keep both separate, and keep both good and healthy. Else they begin to mix without ones knowledge.
 
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Wes Bucey

Prophet of Profit
Obviously, in some jurisdictions, there are laws regarding things like maternity leave, physical handicaps, jury duty, military service, etc. In other jurisdictions or cases where the law doesn't apply, it is simply a matter of balancing the worth of the individual to the cost of the accommodation the organization has to make.

If we are talking about "temporary" accommodation versus "permanent" accommodation, organizations need to check applicable laws before making a decision. If the laws don't apply, then the powers that be in the organization get to include moral conscience into the "temporary" situation.

In the permanent situations, my feeling is that after the law is satisfied, then the primary obligation is to the value to the organization, which may be tempered by the public relations value and the general morale of other employees in the organization for making the accommodation - after all, other employees often get their noses out of joint if it appears one employee is granted an advantage denied to the others.
 

Jen Kirley

Quality and Auditing Expert
Leader
Admin
It depends on the employees' needs and what you mean by "accommodate."

Many organizations put Human Resource policies, programs and services in place to help employees with situations that can distract or disrupt them. Such policies can include flexible schedules, child care (on an emergency "drop in" basis, or even an on site child care center that employees can access with a fee) work-sharing programs, bereavement leave and/or "personal days" or access to Leave of Absence. Services can include confidential personal finance counseling and family crisis counseling.

I think it is good to help employees in times of need, but to avoid fostering a sense of favoritism the available help should be available to everyone. This means policies, programs and services should be designed to cover a range of needs, such as personal days or leave of absence. The best way to find out what would be most appropriate is to simply ask the employees.
 
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biboy2012

My officemate notified his supervisor that he will be taking emergency leave of absence without pay and try to find some sort of way to get some money because his mother was sent for an emergency treatment of an ailment. The COO told the CEO that he (officemate) didn't show up for work.. he said he didn't have enough money. The COO said however he did show up for his paycheck and bought some smokes even though the COO knew that he was a smoker (COO is a smoker too, they usually see each other at the smoking area) so not surprising if he bought some smokes. But it doesn't erase the fact that there was an emergency, and therefore, he shoudn't be penalized for taking personal emergency leave. There was a conflict between the COO and my officemate. Unfortunately, instead of just try to get over it my officemate is resigning.

What should I advise him?
 

Statistical Steven

Statistician
Leader
Super Moderator
Should an organization accommodate an employee's personal situation so that he/she can continue to do work? Or personal life shouldn't mix with business totally?

Depends on what mix means...should you bring your personal life to the workplace? No!

Should a company make exceptions for acute short term issues....definitely! The caveat is what you do for a job...if you work in a lab then taking work home or flexible schedule might be hard. If you can flex schedules, work remotely or other accomodations than of course they should.
 
J

JBDU010969

I THINK THERE IS SOME VALUABLE EMPLOYEES IN SOME SENSES THAT THERE IS TECHNICAL AND NON TECHNICAL BUT IT HAS TO BE DEFINED IN THE ORGANIZATION'S ADMINISTRATION NOTES IN HR DEPARTMENT:yes:
 

Jen Kirley

Quality and Auditing Expert
Leader
Admin
My officemate notified his supervisor that he will be taking emergency leave of absence without pay and try to find some sort of way to get some money because his mother was sent for an emergency treatment of an ailment. The COO told the CEO that he (officemate) didn't show up for work.. he said he didn't have enough money. The COO said however he did show up for his paycheck and bought some smokes even though the COO knew that he was a smoker (COO is a smoker too, they usually see each other at the smoking area) so not surprising if he bought some smokes. But it doesn't erase the fact that there was an emergency, and therefore, he shoudn't be penalized for taking personal emergency leave. There was a conflict between the COO and my officemate. Unfortunately, instead of just try to get over it my officemate is resigning.

What should I advise him?
Problems happen to most of us at some time or other. The lack of a policy to allow emergency time off to deal with urgent issues can result in conflicts like this one, where specific actions are called into question as though he is a defendant in a trial.

So, my advice is as I stated in my earlier post: learn what type of general policy would address a range of issues (such as unpaid leave up to a certain defined amount of time) then draft and deploy the policy in an equitable manner so as to avoid a sense of favoritism or double standard.
 

Wes Bucey

Prophet of Profit
My officemate notified his supervisor that he will be taking emergency leave of absence without pay and try to find some sort of way to get some money because his mother was sent for an emergency treatment of an ailment. The COO told the CEO that he (officemate) didn't show up for work.. he said he didn't have enough money. The COO said however he did show up for his paycheck and bought some smokes even though the COO knew that he was a smoker (COO is a smoker too, they usually see each other at the smoking area) so not surprising if he bought some smokes. But it doesn't erase the fact that there was an emergency, and therefore, he shoudn't be penalized for taking personal emergency leave. There was a conflict between the COO and my officemate. Unfortunately, instead of just try to get over it my officemate is resigning.

What should I advise him?
How did office mate [or ANYBODY] learn of snide comment by COO to prompt resignation?
That dynamic of transmission is critical to whether office mate is justified in leaving or whether he was "pushed" to resign by someone.

Without going into a long harangue, the snide remark by the COO to the CEO about the cigarette purchase should have remained private between those two. The fact both you and office mate are privy implies a bad work atmosphere where things which ought to be private are grist for the rumor and gossip mill - not generally a place where folks are happy working.

There are other items in this specific post copied above which are confusing:

  1. If the guy takes leave without pay, where is he going to get money for mom's treatment? rob a bank?
  2. Did office mate not showing up to work, only to retrieve a check, mean he was out at pawn shops selling possessions? at blood bank selling blood? looking for better paying job?
  3. Is the COO the office mate's direct supervisor? If not, maybe he only knew part of the story - the part where the guy collects a check.
  4. Depending on the total size of the organization, it may be understandable there are no standing policies for dealing with an unpaid leave of absence. Small organizations typically operate ad hoc as situations arise.
  5. Some responsibility for current situation rests with office mate who appears to have panicked in presenting his situation without making his needs and wants clear. Major responsibility falls on supervisors who seem to have displayed zero empathy for the plight of office mate, seeming to consider office mate "disposable."
 
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