Discipline and Punishment
Discipline and Punishment
Personally, I have been disciplined at my current job before, and generally at least once at most other positions I have had. This isn't to say that I'm a bad employee, necessarily, but I have made some mistakes that many others can say they have also made. last year, and the year before that, I worked at the campus recreation center, more specifically the ARC. I was shifted for 6am shifts, and there was a shift that I completely missed due to oversleeping. This is clearly unacceptable, however the management was fairly understanding as I am a college student and I am up late a fair amount of nights. My manager called me in the morning, at least once, to figure out where I was. I missed the class, of course, because I was still sleeping. The best that I could do was to call when I woke up and apologize for missing the shift. I wasn't suspended or anything, and showed up on time for my next shift. I even attempted to pick up other shifts as well to compensate for a missed shift. This happened at the ARC all the time, as the managers are always using the group email to find people to cover shifts that someone either missed, or couldn't make. During my next shift, I had to speak with my manager. He didn't take me into an office or anything. He simply visited me at my post, said that I needed to do better and that I can't be missing shifts, and I apologized. I was then told that if I missed another one, I would be fired. This seemed fair to me, as an organization can't have people working for them that don't show up for work. I believe that this also turned the relationship into a productive one, as I respected my manager more for being calm with me, and I worked harder and showed up early from there on out in order to keep my job. I acted calmly while being disciplined as I knew I was in the wrong and I wasn't getting fired. I also wasn't getting yelled at, which may have caused my experience to be much worse and I wouldn't enjoy working for my manager anymore. All in all, I think that the situation was handled very well by the authority figure.
If I was the person in authority here, I probably would've acted similarly as I liked how it was handled when I was the one being disciplined. If anything, I may have either suspended the employee, or quite the opposite and ask if they can pick up a shift or two to compensate for the lost time. I did anyways, but some employees probably wouldn't have acted the same. Overall, I also know that these things happen, and would treat my employees with respect, as that is the only way they would respect me. This will help them out when someday, they may reach a position of authority in their careers and would act similarly. I learned a lesson about timeliness and taking work more seriously, but I also learned how to Han die situations when I am in that position. I do not work there anymore, but I was always happy with how I was treated there. However, now that I think about it, I'm not sure if I witnessed anybody get fired when I was working there. It was a pretty easy-going job, and the management cared more about giving people second chances and teaching us a lesson than losing employees. I understand that some organizations need to fire people for various reasons, such as not pulling their weight in their position or not showing up to work in jobs where attendance is extremely vital to the proper functioning of the company, but I always believe in giving people second chances and allowing them to learn from their mistakes.
So, I want to take a couple of steps back before addressing directly what you said. I believe students often initially make commitments that they think they can manage, but ultimately find too difficult to do so. Also, sometimes student go entirely without sleep or get very little sleep, because there isn't enough time in the day to do otherwise. If that's right, the question is why students get themselves into this sort of bind in the first place. I wish I knew the answer to that one. If you have any insight on this, please fill me in.
ReplyDeleteGetting to your post, it would help to know how many times a week you had a 6 AM shift. If it was every weekday morning, I'd think you'd have to adjust your schedule to go to sleep earlier to make that work. If it was only once a week, it might be harder to have your schedule different the night before than it otherwise is. But perhaps you can comment on that.
There is a related issue that you didn't talk about, which is whether the ARC had trouble getting anyone to staff that early slot or not. One reason not to punish you more severely for missing the shift is that if you got upset and quit, as a consequence of a hard punishment, they might not have had anyone to staff the slot in the future. I don't know that, but practical realities of that sort can matter in how stern the discipline is.
Giving somebody a second chance probably depends on the nature of the transgression. Committing a felony probably doesn't warrant a second change. Something more minor does. But here is a different angle to think about this. Do you burn up goodwill with people when you commit that minor transgression? Suppose that sometime in the future you need some help from one of them - you have to miss a shift for a good reason. Does that work as well if you have no history of transgressions compared to the alternative you described? Can you be forward looking to think that way?
Students get very little sleep either due to school work, or quite honestly, their social life. I find myself up very late most nights of the week, either studying for an exam (that I may or may have procrastinated for), finishing homework, or because I went out on a night I admittedly should not have. In the case of this post, any one of these may have been the reason for missing work.
ReplyDeleteIn reply to your comment, the 6am shift was only once a week. I do not remember exactly what day of the week it was, but it was either a day that I had a lot of work to do, or a night all of my friends usually went out on, and sometimes, the temptation got to me.
I believe you are right in the difficulty to fill the slot. This was when I was still new to the ARC, and they usually gave these shifts to the new employees. I think after one quits, it would be difficult to fill the spot unless hiring another new employee.
If I understand your last comment correctly, you are asking whether or not I would be more likely to receive help later on if I had to miss the shift for a legitimate reason, seeing that I didn't miss this one for an unimportant reason. I think the management would certainly be more lenient if I had a clear work history. With that being said, it may have been wise to plan better for the shift before making this mistake.