Are they employees or associates?
Many years ago, it became fashionable to
refer to employees as “associates.”
Associates sounds warmer and fuzzier, and
the word suggests that the individual is part of a
team, rather than “just an
employee.”
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I have been thinking a lot lately about
employees and human nature. Don’t get me wrong. I am
grateful for bad employees, employees with attitudes, and
employees who need rules. That’s how I make my living,
representing employers with such “associates” who
cannot conform to the basic rules of the workplace.
Actually, my thoughts have been drawn more
to the mediocre or average employee whose contribution to the
company is measurable, but not extraordinary. This is also the
same employee who does not violate work rules with evil intent,
but looks at rules and production goals both as minimum and
maximum standards.
I often give seminars on hiring and
firing, and I concentrate on avoiding the hire of bad employees
and discharging the bad eggs who get through the screening
process. A couple of weeks ago, however, I picked up a book by
James Collins called Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the
Leap… and Others Don’t.
This book discusses how companies achieve
greatness, overtake their better-placed competitors, and create
an enduring company. Collins emphasizes early in the book that
one of the keys to greatness is not necessarily having good or
great employees, but having the “right
employees.”
So, what does this mean? It means that
companies need to hire employees who fit into the culture of
the workplace and need to weed out those who don’t,
regardless of their performance. It makes perfect sense to me,
having worked in law firms with intelligent, productive
attorneys that I could not stand. The baggage that these people
brought along with their great numbers was too much to
tolerate. These same super lawyers drove away other associates
in droves, putting the long-term future of the firm in doubt.
My thinking now is that I need to
fine-tune my seminars to take into account those companies
unwilling to remain good because “good is not
enough.”
There will always be employers willing to
hire competent, but not excellent, employees to get the work
done. I absolutely understand the concept, especially when
there is more work than the workforce can handle. There are,
however, companies that want to achieve greatness, while at the
same time insuring that the workplace is harmonious and
dedicated.
Our federal and state labor laws make it
difficult to use attitude as a selection criterion. Also,
unions want to standardize work performance, not encourage
individual excellence.
Courts, juries, and government agencies
find it difficult to understand terminating a productive
employee who does not “fit in.”
Given the legal climate, are we stuck with
gimmicks such as calling employees “associates” in
the hope that that warmer, fuzzier term inspires loyalty?
I certainly hope not. I am already tired
of dealing with bad service, bad attitudes, and airport
security. I want to work in a place that encourages excellence
and I want to patronize companies with the best employees.
I recommend that companies take the time
to hire employees who fit in, trying to use as many objective
standards as they can to weed out employees who will not make a
significant contribution to the company.
Further, I recommend that companies come
up with performance standards that can measure devotion to the
workplace, culture, and goals.
For example, are employees training
co-workers, are associates expressing ideas to improve
productivity, are employees concerned more about the company
than individual performance? If companies will do this, they
may just find that employees who do not “fit in”
can be terminated, or they will leave because they themselves
conclude that they do not fit in.
Companies can become great with the right
employees, associates, or whatever you call them. Employers
just need to dedicate some time to achieving greatness. Who
knows? If you get a workplace with the best employees that fit
your workplace culture of excellence, you may find that you can
reduce the number of rules in your employee handbook to one:
Use good judgment.
Frank Kollman is a partner in the law firm
of Kollman & Saucier, PA, in Baltimore, MD. He can be
reached by phone at (410) 727-4300 or fax (410) 727-4391. His
firm’s web site at www.kollman-law.com has articles, sample policies, news and other
information on employee/employer relations.
