Allowing flexibility in policies

junebug · June 2001

How does one legally write a policy that will allow management flexibility in handling employees? Employees are different, and we should be able to treat them accordingly. For example: I have an older exempt employee (who puts in exactly 40 hr weeks) who feels cheated because she receives only two weeks vacation per year while another employee who consistently works extra hours is allowed three weeks. Also another employee (myself) was given additional weeks not allowed in the policy manual as a condition of hiring. Simply stating that management has total discretion will probably not fly if sued. Any suggestions?
By the way, this is not just about vacation, but also about accounting for differences between employees in implementing policy.

Down_the_Middle · June 2001

The absence of "responses" suggests to me that alot of people are out there scratching their heads over your question. Having worked in exactly the environment you're mentioning I can share some personal experience about this "flexibility" issue. I have found it extremely difficult to adopt this type of flexibility w/o crossing over the line of disparate treatment or unintentional discrimination. Wide latitudes of flexibility frequently mean that "managment wants to do it on a discretionary basis" and that is often interpreted by employees as inequitable, inconsistent and unfair. These are the perceptions that will aggravate your employee relations climate and will lead to mistrust and invisible loyalty. I can't tell you how many times a mgt decision was made for the right reason, but becuz the policy lacked structure there was too much room to speculate discrimnatory impact and consequently, the employer was found to be at-fault for unintentional reasons. The flexibility issue evolved into a conclusion that most employees find consistency and uniformity to have more value than tailoring the situation. This employer saw the light and changed its practice (after incurring (2) labor union attempts)and began to develop an atmosphere of being predictable and trusted by its employees. Unless your employer is a Mom N Pop operation that can operate with minimal structure, I think your pursuit of "flexibility" as you describe, is myopic and self-destructive.

Margaret Morford · June 2001

I think that you should write some flexibility into your policies to permit managers to manage the business and to reward good employees. I also think that a few employees can be permitted to negotiate additional vacation as a part of their salary package when they come to work. A few is not a problem, but when it becomes a significant portion of your work force, you no longer have a few exceptions. You still need policies or you will have the types of things happen that Middle-of-the-Road describes. Exceptions to those policies should require approval of HR and very senior level management.

Margaret Morford
theHRedge

junebug · June 2001

Thanks for your reply. So then, if I place a statement at the bottom of each policy that reads something like "Exceptions to this policy are to be made only with the approval of senior management" (the owner in this case) we should be OK? Or should we find other, usually more cumbersome, ways to accomplish the same goal to keep policies intact? Such as, in this case, give the employees who should receive an additional vacation week a "bonus" and allow them to take the week off without pay.

Gillian · June 2001

This is a classic dilemma which always generates opposing viewpoints. I have had side work teaching HR for many years and this issue always comes us and my students are HR professionals. This is my take - flexibility is necessary because no issue is exactly the same as another. We get into trouble, however, when exceptions are made without thinking through the ramifications or when flexibility is exercised by too many people - creating too many inconsistencies. Another problem is that if we operate with no flexibility allowed, invariably the policy is written at the lowest denominator, to control some sort of problem situation. When we do that, of course, we create a situation where everybody has to follow a policy created to resolve some issue that we want to control. A classic example is attendance - every organization has employees who have attendance problems and sometimes the solution is to write a policy to hopefully force them to fit the standards that are desired. Usually this is not successful but we are managing to the exception- the employee with a problem - and this is a disservice to everyone else.

The key is exercising common sense when exceptions are made and whether or not there are rational reasons for making the exception.

dhnyct · June 2001

In addition to the previous postings, there is another issue that stood out with me. If I understand your situation correctly, it sounds that your vacation policy is based on "hours worked". I'd make certain there are valid and approved needs for the overtime hours. You may find some people are riding the clock for personal benefit. Not only is that not fair to employees working their regular 40-hour weeks, but allowing unnecessary overtime pay and accrual of additional benefits could be unconsciously promoting a form of employee theft.

CuriousG · June 2001

I think your employer is overlooking something here. You are "flexing" to give an employee who works over time "extra" compensation for that act, above and beyond the overtime premium pay they already received. Such a deal, I work overtime, and I get paid twice for it, and one of those times, I don't have to work!?!

Do you begin to see why some of your employees might find your "flexibility" to be unfair? I see nothing wrong with rewarding an especially hard working and productive employee with an occasional "day off with pay", but to call that "vacation" only confuses the message you are trying sending to others.

On the other hand, your policy should include some level of flexibility to be able to recognize special documented and verifiable circumstances. For instance, I have 23+ years of work experience in Human Resources. When I joined my current employer, I negotiated an extra week's vacation entitlement, based upon that experience level. As the HR Manager, I would encourage my employer to consider vountariliy offering anyone with a like experience level in their field, the extra week's vacation in the future, should the situation arise. The key thing here is that a) I negotiated this benefit with the President of the company, 2) we documented the circumstances, and 3) we will use it as precedent in the future. Even I can not unilaterally offer a prospective employee "extra" vacation even with similar circumstances. I must go to the President and obtain approval before acting. Your policy and practice should include the same sort of controls.

Allowing flexibility in policies

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