don't bite the apple…work is not a fairy tale!

In a Jewel Mine in the middle of the forest are six dwarfs whistling while they work. In the mine office is Doc, pacing trying to figure out the vacation schedule for the year. He has seven employees and each get two weeks vacation and three sick days. Do the math, that’s 91 days he’ll be short-staffed this year. That’s three months. The problem is that some of his employees burn through it right away and then want to borrow from next year, some want it only around the holidays (like the other dwarfs) and some complain how they don’t have time to take it off. It’s hard to mine for diamonds when you are worried about how to handle that time and everything else.

Vacation is a great benefit, but it complicates things. You are a small mine, times are tough, so you’re at bare minimum for staff. When a dwarf is out it becomes a hardship, so employees like Bashful feel guilty taking off and you are grateful to him. But it’s a benefit and you have to let them take vacation. Times are tough for your employees too. Grumpy wants his vacation paid out because he doesn’t have money to go anywhere anyway! Happy wants to wait and take a really long vacation next year.

Please keep in mind that vacation doesn’t have to be a PAID benefit. You can have an unpaid vacation/sick policy. Not paying for days off does not give employees unlimited time off of work. Anything above those days off become attendance issues. That’s another fairy tale.

I’m going to say it again, you need a policy! First you need to remember why you gave the dwarfs vacation and sick days in the first place. Sneezy was not getting paid to stay home, so he was coming into work sick and passing germs on to everyone else. Do you remember a time when you were working for a long period without a break? Which Dwarf did you become? Did you start the year as Happy and around July you are tired and people are calling you Grumpy? The definition of vacation is “a respite or a time of respite from something”. We all need a break from time to time. Employees need the time off.

Making the time for vacation. Look at your business calendar. Is there a time that you cannot afford to have anyone gone? That’s ok, make that your blackout period. Put it in writing and make sure it applies to EVERYONE. If staffing is a huge concern, make a policy that only so many people can be off from each department at a time. Implement a sign up period and have a first come first served policy. If you don’t sign up you can’t be guaranteed your requested time. You can give a limited rollover into the next year or have a use it or lose it policy. It’s important that you examine that policy thoroughly. If just half of these dwarfs roll over one week Doc will need to schedule 108 days off next year.

Paying out vacation. I do not believe in paying out vacation. It’s my blog so I can say that. If you do, I recommend only paying out half. People need time off to recharge. If you wanted to give bonuses you would have done that, but you didn’t. When people are worn out they become nightmare dwarfs…Grumpy, Sleepy and Sneezy. They are more apt to have accidents, make mistakes and get sick. When you pay out vacation people call in for things that they scheduled and should have used vacation days for, leaving you short dwarfs without notice. If you decide to pay it out, make sure you budget for those extra weeks. The annual salary is not your bottom line cost, you will have to add that time. Did I mention I don’t believe in doing this?

Time off is important! Implementing it is tricky. Every Dwarf is going to have a reason to ABSOLUTELY need this day off, paid out, extended etc. But you need a policy to follow. If the dwarfs know everyone in the mine is treated the same, they will be appreciative for the vacation and work within the rules to take the time off. Don’t be discouraged by Grumpy, there is always one (sometimes he’s you)!

In a village far far away….there was a lovely girl named Belle. She wandered into a dark forest and found herself in a castle with a Beast. She thought it would be an incredible journey, she was wrong. The Queen met Belle at networking event and the topic of sexual harassment came up. In my world it always does. “So when the Beast asks Belle ‘Doesn’t that girl have a great @#&*’ or ‘My, you smell fabulous’” Belle asked me, “Was that sexual harassment?” Well I can honestly say there is no grey area with that Beast. But unfortunately, there is always gray area in the forest.

I asked Belle if she reported it to HR, and she explained that there was no HR department and she didn’t know about a procedure to report such things. In the world of employees you must have a policy. It’s my second blog, are you tired of hearing me say that yet? If in your Kingdom you don’t tell your employees how to report something and they don’t, it’s your fault, not theirs. You may think, “I would never do that” so it’s not a problem. What about the touchy guy that you order supplies from? Or the client who loves to call Belle “Sweetie”? What about the delivery person who loves off color jokes? Sexual harassment isn’t about just sex. It could be about anything that makes someone uncomfortable. If someone feels they are in a “hostile work environment” and they tell you about it, you need to address the situation. If you don’t have a policy, they can leave and report it to different governmental agencies or their attorney. You can answer “They didn’t report it”, but if Belle doesn’t know how to report it IN WRITING, it’s on you. If you can show your policy with instructions on reporting and your “no retaliation policy” with HER SIGNATURE, you are in much better shape.

Sexual Harassment is like a line made out of an evil snake. It moves around, back and forth and changes each day. Something someone has been fine with for years may change. Once Belle decides that she is not comfortable, it is your responsibility to stop it. The Beast has to conform, within reason. Once that line is drawn, it cannot be crossed. The Beast has been notified and if the complaint has been found to be valid, changes need to be made. Some complaints you will find not valid, but you have to investigate all of them and be able to prove that you were thorough, fair and consistent. You should have forms (there I go again) for complaints so you follow the same procedure each time you have a situation. This will be important if you need to prove you tried to rectify a situation.

Some things you will find ridiculous, it doesn’t matter. Once Upon a time …I was called into a castle to discuss a “Naked Picture” that this princess was being forced to look at each day on the evil ogre’s desk. I went in with my forms certain Shrek had a picture of Fiona in all of her glory. What I found was a picture of Shrek’s naked one month old baby girl being held by Fiona in the air showing her naked shoulders and arms. The princess was so offended, when Shrek went to meetings; she put different outfits on the baby and Fiona. A turf war began between the two. What started as funny became World War III. Everyone took sides between the princess and the naked baby! Sometimes common sense doesn’t prevail! I had to ask Shrek to please take his picture down, because it was bothering the princess and had become an uncomfortable situation for all at work. Never mind in the back, donkey had been working at that blacksmith for 30 years and the pictures he had around made even the Queen blush and no complaint was made. We took the opportunity to wipe clean all the offensive material and rolled out Sexual Harassment Training for the entire castle and had everyone sign the new policy. The princess felt validated and the workplace was able to return to a non-hostile environment.

The Forest of Business has so many twists and turns. You need to make sure you are prepared for all situations. Policy Policy Policy is my mantra, you don’t want to develop one in reaction to a bad situation. You want to have one to prevent a bad situation. You are never too small to protect your Kingdom!