Punishment

Workplace discipline walks a very fine line, especially in today’s society. More than ever before, as a society we are becoming aware of the discriminatory practices and taking action against them to ensure equality for all. In the last post, we talked about how to share the marbles. Similarly, how to discipline may affect how the “marbles” are distributed amongst the workplace. Take for example a young man who starts working for a company with a commission-based structure. He is outperforming everyone in the organization and in turn, receives compensation and rewards that pull away from the other workers’ pay. However, the audit staff one day finds out that the young man had been engaging in toxic business practices, terminating his employment contract. This would, therefore, restore the payment to other workers. Obviously, there are a lot of variables at play here but imagine the business was operating in one city with a fixed number of customers, businesses, and people.

On-campus, I work at The Red Lion which is a bar that specializes in selling liquor to college students. One of my good friends also worked alongside me, however, he got fired around a month ago. We both started working at the bar around the same time freshmen year, so it was pretty emotional to see him leave. We went through the entire training process together and met the entire staff through social events. He was fired for giving out a white claw without charging someone, which is definitely something he knew he shouldn’t have done. For those of you who don’t know, White Claws are hard-seltzers that the bar inventories and keeps good track of. They also turn a good profit on them, as they are sold for $6 and cost a fraction of the price. The manager took a horrible approach when firing him. Instead of going up and reminding him that he should charge people for the drinks, he fired him on the spot without warning. John had never had any past run-ins with this issue so it came as a shock that he would get canned so easily. Generally, the manager would give out a few warnings if your sales were low or saw you do something that was against the workplace conduct. This brings up questions as to whether the relationship between John and the manager that night was not in good standing. Within the workplace, I see a lot of favoritism at play that allows people to give away liquor even if the manager is aware. They are also able to get certain shifts more frequently that are of higher demand. I believe John was fired for something so petty due to their poor relationship.

I think implementing more team building within the workplace would allow for these situations to be non-existent. Ensuring that there were relationships formed outside of the workplace would allow for a more streamlined and efficient business environment. People work harder when they like the person they are performing for and receive praise. These kinds of punishments are not effective as it creates fear within the workplace. Bartenders may be slower to serve and more careful when ringing in drinks not to make a mistake. This could in turn cause profits to decrease and less of a crowd to come due to slower service. Rather, bringing it up with the employee in the wrong a few times would be the better option, aka three strikes and you’re out.

I had the chance to talk with John after he received his discipline and found him quite distressed. It wasn’t good for his mental health or his current job search. I feel bad that he now has to find another job on campus to make money that contributes towards his education all because he made one small mistake. This kind of punishment doesn’t work and is a bit cruel to the employees who give full effort for years at the business. One small slip up doesn’t warrant such a harsh punishment.