What do you do about employee abuse?

Answer 1

Your question is very vague. You don't state what type of abuse or whether you mean the employees are abusing (who or what), or if the employees are getting abused by some other person. I'll try to answer generally.

If employees are abusing a thing such as breaks, personal time off, sick time, using the phone during work, etc., then company policies need to be clearly written and followed. Remind everyone via a memo. Or just start issuing a warning. Depending on the severity of infraction, you can quickly move to second warning or termination. Having a company policy but not following it is like trying to eat tough steak without teeth. You need to make employees follow the rules.

If the employees are getting abused by "someone" or abusing "someone", it is harder to answer generally here, without more details. As an employer, you are responsible to your employees but also your customers.

If you run a care home, for example, patient safety comes before employee safety. If employees are breaking the law, you must protect the patient and the company-- call the police and do a company internal investigation. Fire or put the employee on leave until you figure out the facts. You can't risk leaving the employee on site if they are abusing a patient.

If one employee is harassing another employee, you should have policies covering harassment. The penalty should be immediate termination of the harasser.

If a "customer" is "abusing" your employees, you have a right to restrict any customer from your property. Call the police; ask for a no trespass warning.

If "customers" are harassing or abusing employees, you might review the employees' communication skills, etc. Hold a mandatory retraining seminar about dealing with customers. If one employee isn't handling conflicts well, assign them to a mentor. Or just put everyone on notice that they need to properly deal with customers or be fired.

So generally speaking::

Make sure to follow all employment (employer-employee) laws.

Protect "consumers" first if you have a "duty of care" for them.

Notify appropriate agencies if the "abuse" occurred toward any person or group who have protected rights, examples, children, elderly, disabled, infirm. Call the police if you believe any action qualifies as a crime.

Use the police as a first line of defense to protect yourself and your company.

Use your policy book to guide employees AND protect your company.

Re-educate employees.

Consider restricting problematic customers.

Re-assign employees if the conflict is between that person and one customer/consumer. Ex. A patient doesn't like an orderly.

If your clients live on your property (example: nursing home), patients have responsibilities as well as rights. If Mrs. __ bites when angry, you can set rules for the patient and family. "If there is one more incident, you'll need to find a new care home for your mother." Make sure to report to the doctor on staff, and document, document, document. Sign and date all documentation.

* For ANY unusual situation, be SURE to document! Use employee files. Have employees sign and date your warnings to them. Use patient files. Documentation will protect you on all sides.