What would you do if one of your employees called in to tell you they would not be at work because the hamster died?

In this tumultuous time when you need all hands on deck…what could they possibly be thinking? In a time when firms are downsizing and looking to save money doesn’t that employee realize that they need to show a commitment to work. A commitment that is more important than a…a hamster. Heck, it isn’t like we are talking about a dog or a cat. A hamster!

Yesterday I talked about taking care of people. This conversation falls into that category. I understand this may not seem like a big deal to you but it may be a big deal to them. I confess that my ability to deal with such issues has evolved over time. When I was single I tried to understand what it was like for parents with sick kids or when the sitter didn’t show but I am not sure I did a good job. Being a parent has taught me a great deal about how to handle these situations.

Today, I learned about the hamster. Today, the family hamster died. I will not go into all the details except to tell you that today was supposed to be an office day. However, everything I planned on doing was pushed off the calendar by the need to support two children as they wrestled with death for the first time. In other words, I called off because our hamster died.

I am lucky I work for myself and even luckier I was not on the road speaking. How about your employees? Do they work in a place and for a person who will accept the “our hamster died” excuse? I hope so. I know what you want the answer to be but what will the answer really be the day you are faced with this call off (or one like it).

Take it from me, the new voice of experience. Give them the day. They need to be with their kids and if you will not support that you are a jerk. And jerks don’t win.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 10th, 2008 at 12:49 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.