One time we had a new employee (I will call “Samantha”) who was in training for a call center position. Samantha came to human resources to complain that people in her training class were saying terrible, hurtful and harassing things about her. Concerned the training class was becoming a hostile working environment, our human resource representative asked who these people were and what they were saying.
Samantha was Clairvoyant?
After investigating the allegations further, Samantha reluctantly stated she possessed the ability to read minds and the other employees were not actually verbally speaking these terrible things but thinking the words inside their minds. Case closed.
Unfortunately, once Samantha reached her 90-day waiting period for benefits, she claimed she fell in the parking lot, filed a workers’ compensation claim and elected COBRA. We never saw Samantha again but her short tenure was very expensive to the company.
Trust Your Employees
There is no question there will be people scamming the system. Although these folks will try to cheat and steal from their employer, leaders should not create policies and practices that impact everyone just to manage a few bad apples. Trust is the main ingredient within a great workplace.
Most employees want to do a good job, perform the best they can and give you all they have mentally and physically. Sure, there are legitimate accidents and situations that prevent employees from working. However, once they recover, the majority of employees happily return to work.
Focus on the Positive
Companies with great workplaces focus on the positive and rely on the employee base to expel scammers who don’t fit the company culture. Hopefully, the few bad employees never make it past the first interview.
