Mar 16 2009
How To Be fair to Employees
How To Be fair to Employees.
Keep in mind these basic principles:
A leader simply cannot treat everybody the same. People are different and they have different needs. As manager, you should give each employee what he or she seems to need at the time, without playing favorites. Playing favorites to meet your needs is, in fact, discrimination.
It’s usually good practice to communicate the rationale to the group when you are giving particular individuals what looks like preferential treatment. Don’t get trapped by the employee’s argument “Well, you did it for Mary. Why can’t you do it for me?” Mary has different needs, and different needs require different treatment.
When resources are limited, rotate or use the laws of probability to determine who gets a desired resource. Flip a coin, draw straws, or pull slips of paper out of a box to find out who will receive a desired assignment, who must work overtime, or who has to cover the phones on Christmas or Hanukkah.
Rules and policies are created to help make jobs easier, but sometimes you will have to change them in order to be truly fair in specific circumstances.
