We have some fairly rigid discipline rules. Sometimes we want to bend them for a special employee. But then we’re not being “consistent,” and consistency has been drilled into us by every expert. Can we bend the rules and still maintain integrity in our system?
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Here’s what you had to say:
- Once you relax the rules for one employee, the next employee will say, “You didn’t fire Steve, you can’t fire me.” Or, worse, “Since you didn’t fire Steve and you want to fire me, it must be because I am (name a protected class).” And there’s no really good answer to that logic. Stay consistent unless you can document good reasons for deviating. — H.N.
- Think of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s quote, “a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.” We learned about the foolish part the hard way. We fired two otherwise exceptional employees for what were, in retrospect, minor problems. But we had to be consistent, so they had to go. Later, we realized that we had better options, but we couldn’t get the two back, and their replacements are nowhere near as good as they were. — S.J.
- If an employee has exceeded an established guideline or done something that would normally require termination and we want to deviate from our rules, we clearly state the reasons in this way: “You have violated X rule, which would normally result in your dismissal. However, for the following reasons, we have decided to administer a lesser punishment:
- You are a long-term employee
- You have an exemplary record
If it were not for the existence of both of these factors, the stricter discipline would have been imposed. — N.B.