My middle son is beginning his professional career. He posed a question to me the other day, “If it is your company’s culture, is it OK to add on more to your expense account than the amount you actually paid?” I was flummoxed that the question even had to be asked. My son is a highly educated young man who is concerned about what is right and cares about people. Yet, he was nearly seduced into believing theft from his employer was acceptable because the grapevine information he was receiving from his fellow employees made it seem just fine.
My son’s question caused me to give some thought as to why employees rely more on their peers, than they do on the employer’s official policies. He is far from alone. Many times in my private practice I received calls from people who had been fired for violating a company policy. It was common for the employee to complain, “But everyone does it and the company knows it!” It is usually true that everyone does violate the rule; what is not true is that the company knows that everyone is violating the rule. It is certainly not true that the rule does not exist and that the company doesn’t care if employees follow the rule or not. But the fired employee truly believes otherwise.
Employers draft, publish and distribute handbooks in order to inform their employees of the policies, guidelines and rules to be followed. Unfortunately, a new employee may be given an employee handbook and rarely look at it again. If there is a conflict between the handbook and what other employees are doing, the employee most likely will assume that the handbook is outdated and is not the real policy of the employer. To avoid the problem of violations of rules becoming the norm, it is important for the employer to be pro-active in teaching, enforcing and educating employees on the real expectations of the employer.
Even if you are not having known problems with your employees, your employees might still be laboring under false assumptions. In this case, you may benefit from a preventive measure of re-educating employees about your expectations and rules. For the benefit of all the trial courts in their role as employers, I can prepare and present a customized seminar for your employees on the “Fundamentals of Court Employment.” The seminar would be conducted on-site in your courthouse or government building and would last approximately two hours. Topics to be covered can include such areas as:
- That employees work at “the will and pleasure” of the Judge
- The importance of avoiding the appearance of impropriety
- The difference between court and private employment
- Basics about what is and what is not legal harassment
- How to handle and report harassment
- Discrimination
- Dealing with difficult people on the job.
In addition, the presentation can be individualized to cover your specific rules and policies. For example, a general section on dress code would be revised and reviewed by you in advance to teach the employees what you consider to be acceptable. The slides’ content would be changed to match your rules.
Because the seminar is tailored to your court, you can also use the seminar to address particular concerns you may have about an employee without having to confront the individual employee. I attempt to present the seminar as a positive teaching tool for the employees, rather than a disciplinary measure. Another potential benefit for you is the prevention of discrimination claims. When an employee believes that the rule is not enforced, and then that employee is disciplined for violation of a rule, the offending employee is more likely to believe that the real reason for the discipline is discrimination.
The presentation can be given to all the court’s employees at once, or if the staff is large or several courts in one county wish to have the presentation, multiple sessions can be scheduled in one day. The presentation can include all staff, including probation and juvenile detention staff, if applicable.
If you are interested in having this seminar presented to your staff, please contact Brenda Rodeheffer directly at (317) 234-3926 or [email protected].