We rolled out a new paid time off policy today that we decided not to do several years ago.   I am expecting a mixed reaction with a portion of the company being very happy and another portion being upset.  We had the tradition policy of x number of vacation, personal and sick days based on years of service.  Under the new policy each employee will have a total number of hours to use at their discretion regardless if it is vacation, personal or sick.  In order to do this we reduced the number of sick days that went into the calculation based on the 3 year average of sick days used.   So what this means is that the people who don’t use every sick day, every year will get a couple of extra days, those who use sick days as vacation days will lose a few days.

 

This ties back to our company values and walking the talk.  We avoided this a  few years ago because we thought it would upset people who were potentially going to lose a few days.  One of our core values is “do what is right”.  By not doing this a few years ago we were rewarding the people abusing our sick policy at the expense of those that were doing what was right.

 

By leveraging the drama triangle and not rescuing people not aligned with our values, as well identifying an area that we were not walking the talk I am willing to make a decision, confidently and unapologetically that I wasn’t  3 years ago.

 

The paid time off policy in itself isn’t that big of a deal, but recognizing the unintended consequences of our decisions and actions is a major step in driving the culture we are striving for.

 

 

 

Jim McCarthy President + T 315 671 6222 + F 315 671 6322 + jmccarthy@northland.net + www.northland.net

DATA + VOICE + EQUIPMENT SOLUTIONS

 

I agree totally with Anthony.   I’m glad you’re able to see the fruits of your turn-around plan but regret the amount of daily issues/chaos/victim-mindset/red-land/unconscious communication that you have to manage in order to get there.   Good thing you’re a blackbelt!    

 

 

Brian thanks for sharing this post.  I am sorry that having to handle this individual made you feel manipulative but it sounds like this person is toxic and that you did your best to diffuse the situation. Congratulations on your results. After reading your posts now for many months I am always taken by how you persevere in a very tough environment. They are lucky to have you!