Reference no: EM132904523

When the pandemic hit last year, some high-risk workers were sent home with pay leaving our already short staff section in much more of a strain. Thus, having just 8 workers to manage patient care and process covid samples. Unfortunately, our new supervisor has noticed a handful of my coworkers that has predictable patterns on abuse of sick leave. Naturally, she reiterated our leave policy and expressed her expectations and asked for our expectations of her. As time went on, we continued to see the same coworkers call out. Some of those coworkers received verbal and written counseling on their inconsistencies and one of them appeared to have none. This caused tension in our workplace and an investigation was eventually initiated. Frustrated myself, I decided to put together a conversation dialogue between myself, my supervisor and one of my coworkers. My coworker with the pattern is the only other person with the set skills as myself to do a certain job in our section and we are periodically rotated out. When we are rotated out, we are tasked to do other functions. It is frustrating having to leave one section unfinished to cover someone with a predictable pattern.

Conversation: Our section needs more people with the same skill set as my coworker and I. Providing training to my other coworkers will enable more flexibility for our section and counteract any disruptions in service should any emergencies arise, or annual leave is needed. My coworker did not receive my message as I intended and became defensive. My supervisor agreed with my idea, however.

The Organizational Behavior 3-step approach to the above dilemma would be to first 1) define the problem: if I was an outside person looking in, I would define this problem lack of motivation on both management and subordinates. 2) Identify potential causes; given the overwhelming demand of work and personal life situations, workers are burnt out and perhaps management felt the need to be extra lenient during this time of crisis. 3) make recommendations and or take action: if it was up to me I would reward those who remained committed time off so they can rejuvenate and it'll also extend appreciation for their dedication. I would also recommend management to be more consistent with implementing policy in hopes of defusing the ongoing pattern of absenteeism.

Do you agree or disagree with the discussion?

PS: add reference and please, no plagiarism. Thanks.