Disciplining Staff

The knives seem to be out for Joe Paterno.  We are rapidly learning about all of his shortcomings; things that were known for years, but no one was able to speak up, because of  the mysterious power that he possessed at Penn State.   We now know that he used off-colour language; told the odd tasteless joke; refused to retire when asked. Wow! Forget the good things he might have done: visiting kids in the hospital, contributing to the library, encouraging athletes to study.  He's now a target.

Maybe he knew more about the child molestation scandal at Penn State than we know.  Or maybe he heard rumours or noticed that his assistant coach, Jerry Sandusky,  was too attentive to young boys.  But rumours, denied; or a coach being interested in young boys are not enough to file a police complaint.  What do you usually do in these situations?  Maybe talk to the employee, sound him out, give some advice, and discuss with your superior.  In this case, Sandusky initially left his coaching position.  Later, when more serious charges became known, Paterno referred the matter to the athletic director.  Obviously, from what's now happening, he should have done more.

We had a wellness program at my workplace.  Ideally, staff and management worked together to promote a healthy environment.  From the standpoint of physical health, it worked well.  We had little illness due to colds or flu or "calling in sick"; by far the greatest problem was stress.  Sometimes staff had personal/relationship problems at home; sometimes conflicts arose in the workplace; sometimes underlying, emotional/psychological problems were triggered. We could refer staff to an occupational health doctor, if we felt that their conduct  warranted it.

A fellow who worked at a downtown district office once complained to me that he didn't like working with social service clients; that he found it stressful.  I offered him a position in our accounting office, thinking this might suit him better.  A mistake.  John soon transferred his stress to others, who became uncomfortable working with him, because of his erratic behaviour.  He once stormed into my office just before lunch, handed in his resignation, on the grounds that he could no longer work with his co-workers, because their standard of performance was too low.  Maybe I should have accepted it; but after lunch,  he came back and sheepishly asked for his letter back, and I gave it to him.  Eventually staff became concerned whether they were safe and started to turn their desks around, so that they could watch the door, in case he totally lost it.  We sent him to occupational health for evaluation, were told that he wasn't dangerous, and that we should be more "sensitive" to his needs.  Finally, when he put his supervisor on four months stress leave, my manager drew the line, kicked John out, and told Personnel to place him somewhere else.  The point of this is that employees in public service positions have quite a few rights, and it is not a simple thing to discharge an employee without good cause, once they have passed a probationary period.       

Over the years, I saw that an employee would be charged and fired for stealing money.  Other offenses more or less had to be endured until a series of incidences indicating unsuitability for the job were established.  This  process included a letter of expectations, coaching, written reprimand, and suspension, before someone could be discharged.  Usually, the problem employee would adjust or find other employment before this played out.

Maybe we'll find out that Paterno was more interested in "protecting the Penn State brand" than doing the right thing.  The list of people I've stuck up for also includes Al Campanis, Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder, and Helen Thomas, all of whom said "dumb" things, and lost their jobs; but I thought were victims of  "political correctness" and should have been allowed to explain themselves after some reflection.