Peace in the Workplace

The workplace should be where business takes place, not a war zone. Yet many times workers are at odds with co-workers; those on a low rung of the company ladder feel mistreated by those on the top rungs; some workers waste time and raise blood pressures of others with soliciting funds for numerous reasons; some people use the time of others to visit or gossip, causing a loss of productivity and frustration on the part of the person trying to work.

Some things can be “fixed” only by a person changing employment, but some companies and people have found solutions for a few problems. For example, one business avoided the solicitation problem by having a benevolence fund. Any employee who wished could make a donation whether one time, weekly, or monthly. No one had to give anything, but over ninety percent did. The person in charge of the fund used numbered-duplicate-copy receipt books. The amount and amount were written on the receipt; the donor received one copy while the other stayed in the book. Therefore, a record existed for the money, but the donations were anonymous.

Guidelines written by a panel of employees and management decided what gifts would be given when. When an member of the company married, a present went from all the business (owners could and often did send something privately as did close friends); the birth of a child received the same kind of major gift. If an employee or close family member died, a plant or flowers was sent. Everything that required a gift or flowers or plants was covered. Solicitations weren’t discouraged; they were prohibited.

If an employee’s child needed to raise money for school, catalogues and brochures could be left on one table in the break room, but parents could not contact any one directly. Someone interested could and would place an order and leave it in the parent’s mail box.

A gossipy co-worker can be side tracked if told, “Mark, I’m fairly good at multi-tasking, but I can’t really give you the attention I want. Why don’t we visit at lunch (or during break)?” If the co-worker continues disrupting a person’s work, then a supervisor may need to know about the problem.

What if the time-stealer is a supervisor, though? Then hopefully the invitation to visit at lunch or on break, when used multiple times, will give the supervisor the idea that the employee really does want to work.

However, at times the only solution for finding peace in the workplace, rather than starting a war, is to move on to other employment.