Is Safety Your Call?

It seems like an easy answer but it's not. So you're a truck driver and you're assigned tractor 32 but you believe the brakes are not working properly.

Let's back up, (sorry, no pun intended) you know the brakes aren't working properly after the last time you drove the vehicle. Another common situation is when the truck doesn't have the proper licensing which could jeopardize your Commerical Driver's license. Do you drive the vehicle?

Let's take another scenario. You're a foreman and you're told to cut rebar without training or adequate safety gear.. do you proceed?

These are just a few examples of the problems employees encounter daily across the country.

The simple answer to the truck driver is contact your supervisor and have the truck sent to the garage. Things get a little complicated when the mechanic from the garage says there's nothing wrong with the brakes or the dispatcher says the licenses ARE updated. However, the weigh station says, technically the licenses the truck has are sufficient but if you get pulled over by the police, your CDL license is at risk. The next action is to contact the owner and explain the problem. This could be problematic because the owner doesn't want to be bothered, that's why they employ supervisors- to fix the problems.

Let's tackle the rebar cutter's situation. Whatever you do, don't walk off the job and wait until the problem is resolved. If you are told to go home, come back to work at your next scheduled shift. Don't wait for your employer to call you, they likely won't. Chances are they will have found another uninformed worker to do your job and you will be considered to have abandoned your job. Has this happened to you???

Are You A Trickster?

I have been finding that since the employer has been cutting back, the employee has been devising, scheming and adapting to the new economic environment at the workplace. The employee is coming up with new ways to increase their hours for a bigger paycheck or increasing their bottom line. One way is to offer to open the business for the employer. If the business opens at 9:00 A.M. the employee may punch in at 8:30 A.M. and over a week's time that employee has added 3 hours to their paycheck. When a delivery driver receives 5 packages from one location, he/she may log them in separately over a period of time instead of at the same location. As a result, hours on the time card would be increased. And, employees are embelishing their travel and expense sheets. But beware, the employer is saavy and knows the tricks too. What ways have you come up with to adapt to the current economic climate??

Did You Lose Your Job Because You Lost Your Childcare?

Many employees across the country have problems with finding childcare and unless it is resolved in a hurry, it can cause you to lose your job. Typically employees will use up their vacation, sick time and personal days to cure the problem. Your employer is not interested in giving you "more minutes" like a cellular telephone company to help you find childcare. During these economic times, your employer is only too happy to see you use up your time in this way. Recently, an employee of the Department of Children and Families told me her supervisor recommended that she stay home to be with her children. Have you experienced childcare problems and how did you resolve it?

Who's Watching Me?

Sad to say, too often it's your employer! In this age of technology,companies have become very intrusive, creating paranoid reactions among employees. Workers worry whether the boss is monitoring their e-mails, instant messages, and virtually every keystroke and mouse click.

Depending on the nature of your work and the state you live in, many companies are well within their rights to control the flow of information coming in and out of their business. Ideally, employers are upfront about their policies, posting warnings that employees’ telephone and computer activities are being monitored. But some companies do all this in complete secrecy and even deny such activities when confronted.

Typically, employee monitoring is done on a need-to-know basis — that is, when an employer suspects a worker is doing something they shouldn’t be. This could range from innocent goofing off — watching videos, online shopping — to more serious activities that could compromise the well-being of the company or its equipment.

What many companies don’t realize is the negative impact spying has on employee morale and workflow. A happy worker is always more productive, but when they feel Big Brother is watching their every move, it casts a negative shadow over the entire workplace.