Management Flexibility

LindaS

For those of you who are in retail or other businesses that work with the public (or have remote locations) I have the following questions...

How flexible are you with your management staff? What I mean is if you have a manager with a "set" schedule and something comes up - business or otherwise - do you allow them to make the decision regarding changing their schedule (this would only be for the day)?

Do you require all schedule changes to be approved by the supervisor?

What happens if a manager is changing their schedule, even though the location is doing well?

NaeNae55

It depends.

A manager who is responsible for a location and its sales knows when they should be there. They must decide if being off at certain times is more important. After all, everyone has times when things come up and they must take time off. When sales fall, they are the ones responsible. They are also responsible to see that their staff is well trained and able to function the place without them.

A manager who is responsible for a specific department should be able to get [I]their [/I]manager to cover for them. In this case, the supervising manager would approve the schedule change.

A manager whose location is doing well should have the most flexibility of all. Either they are managing so well that the place will run without them (which is what happens when you have excellent management and staff), or the place will start to fall apart and be a wake up call for the manager and whoever supervises (or manages) the manager.

Just my 2 cents.

Good luck!

Nae

Paul in Cannon Beach

We are definitely on the flexible side. Most of the time that is a good thing. Sometimes our exec director has to question a a manager about their schedule and whether they are present for the key times (check ins, high workload times, etc).

On the other hand, if your team is well trainied and capable, they should be able to function in your absence. When a person's schedule affects their ability to do their job or the morale of other employees, then I think it needs to be evaluated.

So, generally our management staff have a lot of flexibility with their schedules up until the point where there appears to be some negative impact. Many of us have been here 10 plus years and have families. So we lead complicated lives that don't always fit into a 9-5 schedule. I personally appreciate the control (and trust) that I have.

I hope that is helpful.

Dutch2

I thought we were flexible, but not as much as the others. We allow our managers of outside faciliteis, etc. to pretty much come and go as they feel is necessary but we also require them to first let thier immediate suuperivsor know any time they are not at work during their normal working hours...just as a matter of professional courtesy.
Experience will tell you that the one time you are not at work during your normal work hours and you did not inform your supervisor that you would be out - is the one that that there will be a major problem come up. Then when the "home office/powers that be" try to contact the facility, they discover the manager is no where to be found and their supervisor is unaware of them not being at work....

Paul in Cannon Beach

I have also seen that the staff under the managers are very aware of the hours the managers put in (or they think they are) and if a manager is not present at key times, its a blow to their crediblity.