If you have ever had employees grumbling about the fairness of work assignments, distribution of work, vacation approvals, or amount of shift work then you are not alone. Unfortunately for middle managers, this is not an exhaustive list of complaints that can lead to the perception of unfairness.
An employee’s perception on what is fair is all that matters, not your attempt as a manager to make things equitable. Human brains are wired to perceive the fairness of how financial rewards are distributed. It’s not much of a stretch to apply this brain function to decisions that occur around them in the workplace.
According to Psychology Today, humans have a happy response to fair treatment, and a protest or disgusted response to unfair treatment.
The perception of how work is distributed for example, is often based on feelings rather than the concrete facts. In other words, employees will have a knee-jerk reaction in their belief that something is equal or not.
For instance, it may feel like you just worked a weekend shift, and it feels like another co-worker always manages to get weekends off. In reality, it is distributed more equitably. It comes down to how the shifts are perceived to be distributed.
The perception of equality also has a significant factor that falls under the banner of things being considered fair or not. Equality is that everyone plays by the same rules and get the same punishment if the rules are not followed.
This has the potential to roll in to larger issues, particularly if that individual is an influencer in the group.
There are more opportunities for staff to assess fairness than you think
Since our brains are wired to immediately assess the fairness of our work assignments compared to our colleagues, this has an impact on business. Certain examples in business will top the list of employees considering things to be unfair:
- Compensation for work and contribution. Someone who does not work as hard gets the same raise is perceived as unfair*
- Everyone plays by the same rules. Basically, the policies apply equally to everyone with the same level of enforcement.
- The social good. Employees will general perceive something to be fair if someone disadvantaged is able to receive additional help. For instance, if an employee broke their wrist, it would be acceptable if they received an extension on a due date because they could not type as quickly.
- There is a form of consequence if someone does not follow the rules. For instance, it is fair if someone that habitually comes late receives discipline for doing so.
*This one is interesting in a unionized environment. Everyone at the same level makes the same despite performance. The expectation is that poor performers are identified and there is a consequence, learning plan, or progressive discipline.
There are multiple opportunities to assess fairness in a generic day in the office. Everyone has to show up on time, take their breaks, meet deadlines, staff must stay off social media, etc. We have all had the feeling that our coworkers are watching us, they are assessing whether you are doing an equal amount of work as they are.
Why is fairness a significant factor in business?
There is an old adage that happy workers create happy profits. Simply put, if employees are happy and engaged, they will produce better results.
The perception of fairness is also linked to retention and how well they will perform their job.
Employee satisfaction is a significant piece of overall employee engagement. If employees are happy, they are more likely to bring positive contributions to your organization. Simple.
What is complex about this satisfaction score is that it is a moving target of sorts. It will likely go up and down as projects are assigned, teamwork is used, and kudos given for a job well done.
If you think about it, a manager needs to be very aware of their communication and actions are all times. We are constantly under the microscope. The above project cycle leaves lots of opportunities for staff members to weigh the choices made around them and assess their place in the choice and if they consider it to be fair or equitable.
Self awareness as a leader in how you make and communicate decisions to your team is a great way for you to put your own messaging on the fairness of a decision before your team is able to reflect on their own.
The most important tool that a manager has in their management toolbox is transparency in how they are making their decisions.
Taking a look at your own practices – could they use some improvement?
As a manager, do you have a favorite employee? You probably do.
My favorite employee is someone who shows up for work on time, follows policies, is nice to others, and is a team player.
I have a number of favorite employees if this is the standard. For some employees, this is a difficult standard to live up to.
See post, Giving Feedback to Staff that Lack Self Awareness here to find out how I have difficult conversations with the individuals that do not meet the base standard for favorite employees.
The employees that are identified as “favorites of management” by their peers are the ones that put in the extra work or have more frequent visible conversations with leadership.
As a Manager, if you are not sure if you have someone identified as a favorite by their peers, ask yourself these questions:
- Do others observe that you provide an increased level of mentoring to this employee?
- Is the same person always getting interesting projects to work on because you know that they can handle it?
- Do you have a ‘go -to’ staff member when you need something done quickly?
- Is there a particular staff member that appears to be in your office chatting more than others?
If you answered yes to the above questions, read on, it’s time to create some evidence of fairness to demonstrate to your staff.
Reviewing this list myself, on a team of eighty staff, I would estimate that I have three favorite staff members. I have a number of great accountable staff as described above, but there are three stand outs.
The thing that separates them from the pack is a passion for what they do. They are ambitious in their learning and always want to find out more. As someone who exhibits the same traits, I subconsciously nurture this passion in them by taking the time to teach them.
This creates the optics that they are in my office more often, visible to the other great staff on my team. As I’m self aware that this may be perceived as favoritism, I need to cover my “fairness tracks” to minimize the impact on opportunities for other staff members.
Covering our fairness “tracks” – creating the evidence
It’s one thing to say as a manager that things are equal. You need to prove it too.
The organization as a whole should have policies for all staff members. Some organizational training that contains the same messaging regarding what the organization is doing for each employee.
Transparency:
Be as transparent as you possibly can in decision making.
For instance, if you answered yes to the above question about work assignments, it’s time to reflect on your choices. Is someone getting the assignments because they are the most senior, have the best skill set, are the most enthusiastic, etc?
What would happen if you selected someone else for an assignment? Would it be a complete disaster, or could it give someone else a time to develop or practice a skill?
Try this test: when assigning a new project, sending someone for a conference, explain the choice out loud to yourself. Did the rationale sound OK? Great, because you are going to explain this decision to the rest of the staff.
It only needs to be simple. Verbally in a meeting or via email is fine. “Susan has been selected to lead the next trade show. This is a great opportunity for her to demonstrate her attention to detail when she organizes the distribution material”.
What if a staff member disagrees with the decision?
I always like to leave the door open for others to get a similar project down the road. If anyone has any questions or wants to know more details on why a decision was made, then you can tell them the following:
- The person has recently finished a relevant course or done an activity to further their learning
- Demonstrated good skills set and this is their opportunity to explore it further
- Have discussed an interest in this project or something similar during a one on one meeting.
Let that staff member know exactly what they could do to also have the same opportunity available to them when it comes up again. For instance, they may need to work on their attention to detail. Let them know that on occasion they make mistakes in their emails. Encourage them to be careful with their wording and proof their work before submitting it.
Let them know how you will be assessing if there is improvement and there will be a follow up meeting to discuss it with them. This will allow you to get a sense of what their goals are as well.
See post, Performance Review Phrases for High Performing Employees here to find out how to have meaningful performance reviews with staff to find out what their goals are.
How to improve the perceptions of fairness on the team
Zero tolerance approach
This approach ensures that all things are equal between employees by taking a hard line approach on the rules. An example would be dealing with tardiness with automatic write ups.
It is effective in the perception of fairness since everyone feels that they are being treated the same as their coworkers. Generally this approach would not be considered fair overall because there is no room for leniency or a case-by-case approach. As a Manager you would not be able to use discretion.
The person who is habitually walking in late with a take out coffee in their hand would be treated the same as a reliable person with car issues on their way to work.
With a zero tolerance approach, we are removing the equality aspect of fairness, and replacing it with an entirely different fairness problem – rigid following of the rules and eliminating rational decision making.
Progressive discipline
This type of discipline is based on the number of infractions, work quality, etc.
An example where this would be used is a learning plan. In a formal learning plan, the expectations for improvement are laid out, behaviors that need to be demonstrated as improved.
The challenge with this is that disciple is not out in the open. For instance, if employees see that a coworker is continually on social media at work, but there is no visible discipline by management. They may think that there are low consequences for such behavior and browse social media as well.
The reality is that it is being discussed behind closed doors with the staff member, where it belongs. At first it should be a conversation with the employee about the optics of browsing social media instead of working.
If they are one of the few staff that does not get the message, then a conversation followed by a written verbal warning is warranted. From there, follow your business’ HR policies about escalation and potentially termination if the undesirable behavior continues.
The challenge is that the staff around do not know anything until the email of “X person is no long with the organization. We wish them the best of luck in future endeavors” email. Even then, it is only speculation as to why they are no longer with the organization.
A great way to approach this from the get go is a general announcement to the whole team regarding acceptable social media habits while at work. The person is not singled out, but the whole team should get the message as to who is responsible for requiring a team announcement.
Middle Ground Approach
The final approach is a mixed method of the previous two. Clear rules for the whole team to abide by and the ability by management to review on a case by case basis.
Management discretion is the big factor here. Each situation needs to be handled separately on its own merits. For instance, you will likely have a different approach to the three situations below:
- An employee is late because their child was sick and they had to arrange for last minute child care
- An employee is late because of traffic, but they have called ahead and notified their manager. Willing to make up time later
- An employee comes in late with a take out coffee in their hand and hopes (or doesn’t care) that no one notices. The employee has habitual tardiness.
Employees that contribute their feedback to the policies that are created, for scheduling for instance, will perceive it to be more fair. A team agreement could also be beneficial. It is a collaborative effort by everyone to come up with the rules of engagement for the team.
It’s also a great tool for you to refer to if someone is not honoring that agreement. This way, it isn’t just management’s rules, it’s the ones everyone created and agreed to.
As a final take away, next time you hear an employee grumbling that something isn’t fair, don’t brush them off. Take a moment to reflect on what could be done to increase transparency in decision making and applying the rules as equitably as possible.