Employee Conduct Case Study
The problem:
Recently a client came to us with concerns about one particular employee who was causing problems and negatively affecting organisational culture and affecting the bottom line. This particular employee had disconnected their home phone line and was solely using their company mobile for all calls, both business and personal. This went unnoticed for a short period of time, by which stage the employee had significantly gone over their mobile cap and had incurred a bill for over $700 for this small business (in one month). The employee was verbally reprimanded and told not to so do again.
The following month, the employee used their work laptop to download a series of mp3 files, illegally pirated blockbuster movies, and pornography. A fellow employee made a sexual harassment complaint, and additionally the employee caused the business to exceed their broadband download allowance, creating a bill for over $600 that month for the company. Again, the employee was verbally reprimanded and asked not to do so again (the sexual harassment issue was not dealt with any further either).
After several more similar instances, this employee was let go. Intending to poach a few key accounts from the company, the employee stole several vital hard copy files and deleted soft copy records on a particular customer; all correspondence and history for that customer were lost.
The solution:
Most businesses do not think this will happen to them. And when it does, there is usually a band-aid patch-up applied to the situation; surely the company would not be so unlucky again? Without clear boundaries and guidelines set, it can be difficult for small businesses to make their expectations of behaviour officially known. Once one breach is seemingly overlooked, often the effect can snowball.
Businesses are opened up to a raft of potential issues – it creates friction within your team, can cost plenty of time and money, and can also leave you legally liable. It is a legislative requirement that all companies have sexual harassment and bullying policies in place as a minimum, and that these are communicated and educated to employees.
In this case, we drafted a clear, concise and easy to understand code of conduct manual for our client, tailored specifically to their business and industry. This outlined policies on all areas of work, from sexual harassment and bullying through to use of company equipment and dress code to name a few. We then held a 90 minute training session on the new policies for all existing staff and offered the opportunity to discuss, ask questions, and talk about examples of the types of behaviours that were and were not appropriate.
We coached managers on how to deal with problem staff members, and instituted a process of written warnings, to deal with behavioural issues as they arise. We also conducted a cultural survey with the existing staff to assess who was happy in their jobs, what they would like to see improved and what they liked most about working for the organisation. Armed with this information, our client was able to effectively and cheaply improve working conditions, increase the morale, motivation and productivity of their staff, and has not experienced any behavioural incidents since.