Q:  My employees work from 11:00 am until 6:00 pm because that is when I need them.  I now have one employee who is getting divorced and who says she needs to get off at 3:00 because she "needs to pick up the kids from school and can't afford child care."  I like her and would hate to lose her, but fear that if I agree, the floodgates will open with similar requests.  What is the best way to handle this? -- Avery

A: Yes, it seems that you are in a predicament, but it looks to me that you also have a golden opportunity -- should you agree.

For the small business, policies, like rules, are made to be broken.

Let's examine what will happen if you agree to her request and break your own policy. First, you will create incredible loyalty with this employee. Second, other employees will consider you a great employer. Third, you will retain a valuable, nay more valuable, employee. Fourth, some kids will get to see their mom every day after school. All in all, that's a lot of plusses.

Now let's flip it around and think about what would happen if you said no. You will lose a good employee because she will find somewhere else to work that can accommodate her needs. Other employees will hear what happened and think you are a jerk. You will have to hire and train someone new. But yes, your rigid stance will remain.

Now, I am not saying that you should not have policies and adhere to them. Of course you should. But what I am saying is that there are times to be a bit more flexible and bend your own rules because the upside of doing so outweighs any downside.

For instance, recently I was in New York on business and went into a nice little shop in Rockefeller Center to buy my wife a surprise gift. She loves the clothes at this store (even if I think they are a bit over-priced), and in fact we had a store credit from a previous purchase that my wife had returned.

When I asked them to look up the credit in the computer, and even though they found it, I was told that the policy was that without the actual, physical credit slip I could not use it. I explained that I live on the west coast, that my wife had the little piece of paper at home, and that in any case, this was a surprise gift, so let's please make this work.

Sorry, I was told, our policy is our policy.

I was shocked. Even though I am a good customer and have spent a lot of money there, their policy was more important than I was. That's OK I suppose, there are plenty of other places for me to shop in New York, because it certainly won't be there any longer.

Strictly adhering to policies usually makes someone's job easier, while but it also often can damage important relationships -- with customers, vendors, employees, spouses, and so on.

We saw this played out on national television last week when Ellen DeGeneres gave away to a good home a puppy she had adopted rather than giving it back to the pet adoption agency, per their policy. The adoption agency, upset about this breach of protocol, took the dog away from the new home.

Of course they should not have bended policy because Ellen is famous -- that's a terrible reason. But in retrospect I bet they wish they had been a bit more flexible because 1) the dog was in a good home and that is the goal, and 2) They received a lot of negative publicity, which is not insignificant.

Will the floodgates open if you bend a rule to accommodate a particular customer or employee? No, they won't, they rarely do. I had a law professor once who hated the "the floodgates will open" argument because he thought it was specious, and over the years I've learned he was right.

So, while the floodgates of similar issues likely won't occur if you bend a policy, you can bet that the floodgates of goodwill, will.
 

Today's Tip: A lot of people budget this time of year for next year, but no one likes budgeting, so it may help to avoid that word and use the word "plan" instead. A budget is nothing more than a plan for where you best want to spend your money.

 

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