If I could find a word to sum up the best way to deal with employees, I think the word would be consistency. It’s a lack of consistency that often gets employers in trouble with discrimination laws, even if they didn’t intend to discriminate.
Picture this: Aybeesee Company hires its first employee (Jim, a 22-year-old college graduate) and, because they’re so excited about the new hire, the owners generously give him four weeks of vacation… although they later realize how costly it is to be paying for an employee who’s not there to work. So the company decides to give less vacation time to any other incoming employees. Six months later, business picks up, and they hire Natishia (a 42-year-old African-American returning veteran). Given the lessons learned with Jim, they offer Natishia two weeks’ vacation. Jim and Natishia are shooting the breeze at the water cooler… and guess what Natishia learns? Things just get uglier from there.
Similarly, as Melissa Nicefaro’s article, “Sex in the Workplace,” points out, consistency is also key in dealing with dress code issues, gender issues and office romances. Be sure to check with counsel in your area to make sure your employee policies don’t run afoul of local laws.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 4th, 2008 at 12:16 pm and is filed under Employees. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.One Response to “Dress (Code) for Success”
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May 22nd, 2008 at 11:00 am
Discount Wedding Dress
I found your site on technorati and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you.