Boss might be reason workers ‘pull sickies’

Q: I have caught an employee ‘‘pulling a sickie’’. What is a reasonable punishment for this?

A: Team is key to any small business. If your staff are ‘‘pulling sickies’’ I’d suggest you want to know why, rather than be jump straight for the rattan.

With scarce resources available to you, you need everything you have to play with fully engaged – equipment, capital, systems and, most importantly, people.

If you’re looking to punish your employee, an employment lawyer or the Labour Department will help you understand what your rights are. There are processes that are important to stick to when disciplining employees, and if you digress from these, you provide ample ammunition for a personal grievance, should it come to that.

If you’re looking to build (or even rebuild) a team into a welloiled engine driving your business, I suggest looking into the motivators for them and why one of them feels the need for a ‘‘mental health day’’.

We often see young businesses hiring on a whim, without knowing who they are hiring. Sometimes the need for talent is desperate, but if we hear one thing from the startup community, investors and founders alike, it’s that people are the fundamental instruments in startup success.

Clear communication and open channels are crucial to get both sides singing from the same songsheet.

Steve O’connor is CEO of Creative HQ, Wellington’s entrepreneurship and innovation centre. A: First, investigate sick leave usage across your organisation to check whether this is an employee or employer problem. People taking sickies is usually an indication of either: a bad employee, poor communication between employee and manager, or an indication of poor morale and culture of the organisation. I would examine yourself as an organisation and leader first before dishing out a punishment.

As a leader, it’s your job to create a motivating and stimulating environment where people want to come to work.

If it’s a rogue single employee, jump on the issues quickly and, after a discussion, issue a formal warning of misconduct. Start creating an audit trail in case things go sour and you need to fire the person.

Mark Robotham – SME business adviser. His website is: growthmanagement.co.nz.