Something I heard on the radio today reminded me of an incident that happened many years ago, when I first started working as an IT contractor. My then boss, who I always have rated highly, posed a dilemma to me. One of the team was a very talented female. She was extremely intelligent and a very hard worker. However, she could become emotional very easily. She always took work appraisal feedback as unfair criticism and I often saw her by the tea machine in flood of tears, over some perceived slight or comment from another member of staff. I really liked her, as she was great fun most of the time and did her job well.
However, on this day, my boss had a terrible dilemma. She had phoned in and requested compassionate leave, as she had suffered a bereavement. Normally no debate would be had about such a thing, but the problem my boss had was that the bereavement was her cat. His instant reaction was to say "Don't be so silly" but knowing the individual involved, he said "I'll get back to you, I don't know what the rules are on compassionate leave". My boss then asked me my opinion. Should someone be entitled to compassionate leave, when their moggy has snuffed it? The rules were pretty clear, moggies don't count, but he knew he'd be called a beast by her and there would be tears. The lady in question lived alone with her cat and she spoke of it, like many of us speak of our spouses.
I posed the question back "Do you really think she'll be fit to work?". His answer was unequivocable "No, she'll be in bits". I then asked "How much sick leave has she had this year?". He said "She never takes sick leave". So I said "Call her up, tell her to take off the time she needs to get herself back on her feet and tell her it won't be a problem", then sign it off as sick leave.
That was the end of the matter. She took three days off, then returned and was extremely grateful to him for being so understanding. It was pretty clear to me that a good compromise had been reached. There was however one member of staff who was most disgruntled that she'd had 'special treatment'. A few weeks later, he approached the boss and said "If my cat snuffs it do I get three days off?". My boss had anticipated this question and his reply was "Do you think you'd genuinely be in such an emotional state that you'd be unable to do the job". His reply "Of course not, but that is not the point". My boss replied "It is the point and we both know it".
Sadly as time went on, HR departments have removed all flexibility and common sense from such decisions. Everyone is different and everyone is affected in a different way by situations. I personally don't think there is anything to be gained by forcing people to work, when they are in no fit state to. In general, they will disrupt the environment and will be unproductive, let alone any bad effects on their mental health and wellbeing. But then we have people who 'play the system' and use any excuse to be lazy. That is a different situation and should be handled in a different way. Ultimately, I try and judge people by their productivity overall. That generally is the best indicator, not just whether they have a melt down when the cat dies.
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