When employees do very similar work, it is easier to see who is more productive and who is not as productive. Tensions can arise among people when they feel that they are working harder than the rest of the team. When I worked at a textbook warehouse after my freshman year, nearly all the employees did the same work. There were a few supervisors, but most of the employees were warehouse associates. As warehouse associates, we had to take tubs of books and put the books in different areas throughout the warehouse. There was a computer system that tracked how productive an employee was, so in theory everyone should be doing approximately the same amount of work. Even though everyone had the same productivity requirements and this seemed like very simple work, there were people who did not do the best work.
My coworkers, let’s call them Larry and Johnson, were two people who exemplified this variety in the quality of work. Larry would always use his phone during his shift and cut corners to make the work easier. Some areas in the warehouse had empty palettes and we had to lay the books out on the palette so they could eventually be moved by a fork-lift. Larry would always dump his books there and leave it an unorganized mess. This made other coworkers like Johnson clean up the mess and straighten up the piles. This isn’t that big of a deal, but when one coworker has to consistently and specifically clean up after another worker it can become an issue. The first few times Johnson noticed these unstraight piles he neatened them up and moved on. However after he noticed a pattern and figured out who was doing it, he stopped cleaning up after Larry. During lunch and other breaks, he was asking what to do. Both were knew workers and of the same exact position, and Johnson was reluctant to say anything.
For a dozen days or so, Johnson just ignored Larry’s shoddy work and minded his own business. As the summer went on, it seemed like he couldn’t hold back his feelings anymore and one day he called out Larry. He went on about how he never had a high standard of work and how others were affected bea use of it. The whole room was quiet and Larry didn’t respond with much. I am not sure exactly what happened after because our lunch break ended shortly after, but Larry either quit or was fired. I never saw him at work after that one day.
Looking back on the situation it is clear that it would have been more beneficial if Johnson told a supervisor about Larry’s work. This could have ended in the same situation, Larry quitting or being fired, but it would have kept the whole situation in private. I think this would have also increased the likelihood of Larry continuing to work. He was exposed in such a public way that it made the entire situation awkward, but if it were kept in private a better solution could have been created.
Your text didn't wrap. I'd have thought that by this time in the semester, you wouldn't have such issues.
ReplyDeleteRegarding your story, the first question I have is whether the manager was aware of this and, if not, why Johnson didn't first go to the manager, well before the outburst. The second question is whether Johnson talked with any of the other Associates about Larry. I'm going to assume that in this story you are not Johnson. Were you aware of what was going on prior to the outburst?
This one is a toughie since it sounds like the work didn't require much human capital and the company probably could find others to replace Larry, though on that second one I'm guessing. If that's right then from the company's point of view, the turnover isn't that costly. However, as a matter of human decency, somebody should have talked with Larry earlier. Do you know why that didn't happen?