Requiring employees to work a shift not assigned.

bsims · July 2003

Scenario:

An employee has completed their shift for the day. However, coverage is needed for the next shift which the director has not been able to fill. Can the person who just completed their shift be required to stay and work and if employee refuses to stay, can they be written up? This person is a flex employee generally working one 8 hour shift a week. No overtime involved.

I know that you can require a person to work overtime if needed.

Parabeagle · July 2003

Assuming there are no prohibitions in a CBA, I don't see why the manager can't order the employee to stay. To refuse to stay would then amount to insubordination.

bsims · July 2003

This was my thinking too!

sandra_d · July 2003

I might be blasted for this, but here goes...

I think it is often ok to ask/encourage/plead and at times even require an employee to stay later than their shift in order to cover an open shift. With that said, I also think it is imperative to know the reason that someone is refusing to work late ... do they not want to miss their favorite tv show? Do they want to hit the bar before happy hour ends? Or, do they need to get their child from daycare before the doors are locked for the night, or before they start tacking on late fees (I've seen employees charged as much as $5 per 5 minutes late!) As much as we need to manage the workplace issues, I think we can't forget these employees are people who have lives and commitments outside of our doors! If we want our employees to do a good job for us, and to be dedicated to us, we need to treat them with respect, understanding, and appreciation as well.

Just one opinion...

bsims · July 2003

Thanks for response - I agree with your answer.

Parabeagle · July 2003

I generally agree with the sympathetic approach. However, it depends on the industry. In our industry (hospitality), you can't just let the day shift desk clerk go home if the afternoon shift hasn't shown up. You can't leave the front desk unattended or you lose customers. In that situation, or any situation where coverage is imperative, a manager needs to be able to require an employee to stay until appropriate relief arrives.

sandra_d · July 2003

I too work in an environment (a nursing home) where staff must be on duty and cannot go home if nobody else is there. However, it still seems appropriate to recognize that at times an employee will have valid reasons that they cannot stay. Would you really make your front desk clerk stay until someone else got there, if that person could not find someone to pick their child up from daycare, for example? I do think such urgent issues occur in far fewer circumstances than our employees lead us to believe, but there are those times that they happen. It seems to me that one of the roles for the supervisors/managers is to be that last line of defense -- if nobody else can do it -- maybe the manager needs to (whether it is greeting guests at the front desk of a hotel, or answering call lights in a care center, or any number of other scenarios). As a side note, we are doing some cross-training between different departments so that, if absolutely necessary, we can have employees with at least a minimum amount of knowledge be able to cover non-medically related duties such as answering phones, assisting with meal delivery and service, etc. This broadens the staff pool we can pull from when we need to ask people to stay late.

Rockie · July 2003

Beagle: It's the same in healthcare. If someone doesn't show up for their shift or is late, it is imperative that an employee stay until their replacement shows up. Generally, people understand this when they go into health care and have contingency plans for such things. I have found that day cares, especially in our area, are not very accomodating to people who work odd hours or who have emergencies. In large metro areas, you find daycares that are open 24/7, but unfortunately not in our area.

HRQ · July 2003

In my former life (hospitality) we would often need employees to work double shifts at the last minute. It's amazing how helpful the offer of a free dinner can be. We'd also have the supervisor cover while the employee leaves to p/u child, whatever, then return to work the next shift.

We have rarely required someone to work a second consecutive shift without advance notice. (Usually happened from evening shift to graveyard shift, which was particularly fun for tired employees) We always knew what team members were willing to drop everything and come in, to earn some extra pay. (Well, and sometimes it was one of US who would stay to cover the shift.)

Requiring employees to work a shift not assigned.

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