Bad Attitude Policy

Zoo Keeper

Management wants an attitude policy included in our revised Employee Handbook. What pitfalls do you see in the following policy:

"...expects its employee to maintain a positive, professional demeanor/attitude at all times and to refrain from negative behaviors; such as malicious gossiping, defamation of company character, and speaking negatively about he company to fellow employees. Employees displaying attitude that are contrary to this policy may be subject to disciplinary action up to and including termination of employment."

Mike Maslanka

The NLRB may view this as a violation of the law.Look at articles from the texas employment law letter in novemebr 2001 and january 1999.We discuss the isse.Also,look at an nlrb case,LaFayette Hotel which talks about this.Good luck,mike maslanka,214-659-4668 or email,michaelmaslanka@akllp.com

Jim Watson

I would at all costs talk management out of enacting this policy as written. Your company is setting itself up for more problems than it needs in defending this polciy when it is forced to discipline and eventually terminate employees. Certainly stating in a mission or values statement that the organization expects its employee to maintain a positive, professional demeanor/attitude at all times and to refrain from negative behaviors is appropriate and worth establishing.

Besides being a possible violation of labor law, employees should have freedom toexpress themselves. Attitutes are subjective by their nature. Your company should concentrate on addressing performance issues which can be quantified, measured and used by management to hold employees accountable. This is safer than disciplining for attitude. Good luck.

Rodney

My immediate reaction is that there is a management problem. No one or organization can dictate someone elses "attitude." I do think it can be said that professional behavior (with a definition - no outbursts or negative comments or behavior in front of a client) can be a statement within the policy.

I would recommend doing some OD work & assessing where the core problem is. Is there a trust issue? ... If these items improve than maybe the environment & culture will improve & management won't be concerned about employee behavior becuase it will be above reproach. Also, are they doing a very good job of prescreening candidates to get a good match?

M. Bresnahan - Wheaton, IL

Gillian

Ditto to all of the above. Employees exibit negative behavior when there is a reason for doing so, generally provided by management which is less than professional. The type of policy statement will exacerbate the problem, not get rid of it.

Don D

Not only is such a policy violative of the NLRA, but, even if legal, would literally work somebody (probably you) to death trying to figure out how to administer the policy. Old dress codes used to say something like, "Ee expected to use good taste and sound judgement in manners of dress and appearance and doing otherwise will subject Ee to discipline up to and including termination of employment". What hollow policies those were, but, lots of us had them in the past. Another similar violation of the NLRA is the frequently stated policy of "Ee's are prohibited from discussing their pay or paycheck with other Ee's".