Danger: Is your workplace too fun?
September 10, 2008 by Bill MeltzerPosted in: Company culture, Employee education, Our best management idea, Recognition programs, Special Report
From Girl Scout cookie drives to workplace birthday clubs, non-work fundraisers have become a part of many company cultures. Should management be concerned?
There are no simple answers to this question. Most employers want to encourage a family-friendly company culture, but employee (and supervisor) solicitations often have a way of spinning out of control. Left unchecked, onsite “selling” can go from a harmless activity to an unwelcomed one that causes tension and can actually hurt morale.
No-soliciting policy?
In one recent survey, 22% percent of employers said they have a policy against soliciting. In most cases, the policy limits the times and places (e.g., break rooms only) where employees can engage in the activity. Some employers have created bulletin boards where workers can post their fundraisers for interested co-workers. According to the survey, about one employer in 10 has banned unapproved fundraisers entirely.
Another thorny issue: In some cases, the one doing the selling is a supervisor or an executive, even if the company bans rank-and-file employees from doing it.
Unfortunately, this leaves HR/benefits in a real tough position. How can you be expected to enforce a policy that managers themselves ignore? It sets you up to be the bad guy, and also shows employees that the powers-that-be either don’t take the policy seriously or don’t think they need to follow the same rules.
Office sports pools: Harmless or harmful?
Odds are pretty high (pun intended) that your employees and/or supervisors have an office football pool going right about now and/or a March Madness pool during the college basketball tournament. If not, they’ve probably worked somewhere in the past where such activities have had the tacit — or open — approval of the top brass.
Is that a good or bad thing for your company culture?
Never mind the fact that the pools are rarely used for “entertainment purposes only.” Although wagering in office pools (and fantasy sports leagues) is technically an illegal activity in some states, the laws are rarely — if ever — enforced. In most states, the typical $5 to $20 office pool is legal.
A bigger, more practical concern: presenteeism.
Easy to spot, hard to stop
If you were to take a random walk around your office and glance at people’s computer screens, chances are you’d find more than a few folks who have game reports open in one Window and their work in another. Want to guess which screen the employee pays more attention to? Yup.
One estimate says March Madness costs employers nationwide $1.7 billion each year in lost productivity. During that time of year, many employees (and supervisors) are paid to do little more than check on how the teams in their office pool are doing in the NCAA basketball tournament.
Truth be told, even if your organization bans office pools, many employees will sneak glances at the scores, anyway. But people are more open about goofing off — and spend longer doing it — when they participate in a pool at work. Many supervisors simply look the other way.
Morale builder?
The typical reason given for allowing office fund-raising solicitation or sports pools is that the activity boosts morale and employee bonding. In reality, the morale-building advantages depend on your company culture and the demographics of your workforce.
One survey found that 30% of professional and business service employees eagerly look forward to participating in an annual March Madness pool at work. On the flip side, only 13% of employees in the hospitality industry expressed interest in the activity.
Gender also comes into play. Roughly 24% of male employees said they’re likely to participate in an office pool, while 11% of women do.
Bottom line: Some workplaces wouldn’t miss such activities if they disappeared. In others, the long-term morale boost cancels out the short-term productivity hit.
We’d be interested to see how you handle this challenge in your own organization. Do you have a policy banning solicitation and/or office pools? And if so, how has it gone over?
Tags: Company culture, morale, policies, presenteeism, productivity
September 10th, 2008 at 1:39 am
This is indeed a touchy subject. I have found that employees are more reluctant to solicit from fellow employees than managers and supervisors. At a prior employer’s office, the president would solicit his daughter’s girl scout cookies and I knew of many individuals who would buy just to get noticed by the top guy. What they didn’t realize was that the president never looked at the order sheet to see who had ordered.
I agree that the only way for it to be fair is for any solicitations to be posted to a bulletin board or located in the break room. And, with the economy being in the state it is, I know that I already am solicited too often and work is the last place I want to be “hit up” for money.
September 10th, 2008 at 8:58 am
We have a non-solicitation policy here at work. To allow employees to get co-workers involved in their fundraising activities, we have a section of our Employee Bulletin Board dedicated entirely to Fundraising & Charity postings. We also have a “For Sale” section for those selling their car, house, boat, Mary Kay, etc. This has worked very well for us so far.
(As a side note, I’ve never understand why girl scouts didn’t sell their own cookies.)
September 10th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
Permitting employees to solicit for and distribute girl scout cookies or for other fund raising events during employee work hours or in work areas can be problematic should employees want to start soliciting fellow employees to join a union or provide them with union literature. If employees can solicit other employees to buy cookies or donate money during work hours, for example, then prohibiting another employee from soliciting union membership under similar circumstances could be construed as an unfair labor practice.
It is a delicate balance between providing an employee/family friendly work environment while still protecting the organization from beng organized. From my experience those employers who have a solid employee relations foundation are successful at permitting employee solicitations without fear of it backfiring.
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September 10th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
We allow selling for things like girl scout cookies, church groups, boy scout popcorn and other not for profit entities.
September 10th, 2008 at 6:13 pm
Bravo. Outstanding blog. We’ve had these sorts of policies, but they were tough to enforce. The biggest problem, as I see it, is when supervisors totally ignore the policy when it comes to selling for their own kids when we’re telling other employees they can’t sell for theirs.
You describe the situation perfectly.
September 11th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
We allow it during non-working time (breaks, lunch, before or after shift), mainly because a lot of employees really look forward to buying some of the stuff. As was noted in the article, it does create a more friendly work environment and most people enjoy it, especially if food is involved. It does have to be for a not-for-profit organization such as Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, a school, etc. We also have a bulletin board where employees can post items for sale (after approval).
Additionally, we have several people who “sneak around” and run unofficial sports or lottery ticket pools. As long as it doesn’t cut into work time, we don’t make a big issue out of it.
On the other hand, we prohibit any kind of coercion by the seller. Haven’t ever had a problem in this regard, but the policy is there in case it’s needed.
September 11th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
Several years ago we had to reign in solicitations in our office. We had difficulty with an employee who had an unrelated side business selling her products on our sales floor. We now allow employees to sell the standards…cookies, subs, pizza etc as long as they display their info in the lunchroom.
September 11th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
We’re a small, close-knit firm. We allow office solitations and limited office pools; i.e. one big game or lotto pool. Never a long-series like March Madness. I don’t think the infrequent pool is a problem, however, the constant selling for children’s schools, Scouts, Churches, etc., can embarrass some employees who want and/or need to use their funds for their own family. Also, the merchandise is frequently something that a co-worker does not want or have need of. (How much wrapping paper or pizza kits can one use?)
Our senior staff is discouraged from solitating for charities because we feel other employees might feel pressured to participate. The owner of the company never sells anything or participates in pools, therefore, making it clear that individuals are welcome to follow their personal inclinations.
September 17th, 2008 at 11:51 am
It has never been an issue here, thankfully. We allow employees to leave the brochures for whatever they are selling on the breakroom table. We’ve had things from Avon to flowers to cookies to straight-up donations and if people are interested, they buy or give, otherwise, they don’t. I actually look forward to seeing what’s new on the table each week! One employee in the plant makes and sells pastalillas for $1 and she always sells out. She has never even offered it to anyone in the office and I have to beg her to make them for me
February 5th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
I think the girl’s name is Cinderella, but i haven’t found any info about her.
She either might have changed her name or she is out of the biz.
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February 15th, 2009 at 4:34 am
Hello.
I’m new there
Nice forum!
February 18th, 2009 at 1:58 pm
Up until December 2007, permitting employees to solicit for and distribute Girl Scout cookies or for other fund raising events during employee work hours or in work areas could be problematic should employees want to start soliciting fellow employees to join a union or provide them with union literature. If employees can solicit other employees to buy cookies or donate money during work hours, for example, then prohibiting another employee from soliciting union membership under similar circumstances could be construed as an unfair labor practice. NO LONGER TRUE! Read-on….
If you have a non-solicitation policy in place and enforce it, the NLRB will generally uphold your ability to prevent unions from being on your property to solicit support from employees. If you don’t have that policy or, more common, don’t enforce it, the NLRB will likely allow unions to come on your property to solicit employees, since you are allowing others to solicit your employees on site as well.
To remain union-free, employers must be aware and be proactive regarding pro-union solicitation. However, employers that are overly zealous in their efforts to deter employees from joining labor organizations may be in violation of the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”). To paraphrase Clint Eastwood “you gotta know your limitations”.
The National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”) has developed a set of highly technical rules regarding their enforceability. For instance, a rule that prohibits solicitation by employees during “work” or “working” time and is consistently enforced is presumptively valid and will be upheld. A rule that prohibits solicitation during “company time,” however, is unlawful on its face. The Board has held that the expression “company time” does not clearly convey to employees that they may lawfully solicit while on breaks, lunch, and before or after work.
The Board has issued similar rules regarding distribution of literature policies. A policy that prohibits distribution during “work” or “working” time is valid. Because literature and other materials may create a hazard if discarded in a production area, the Board also upholds policies that prohibit distribution in “work” or “working” areas. Examples include the shop floor, production areas, and other places where employees perform their jobs. Again, the Board has found a distinction between “working areas” and “company property,” however. According to the Board, the latter could include lunchrooms, locker rooms, and parking lots, where employees are permitted to distribute written material. Thus, precise language must be used when drafting these policies.
Additionally a policy will not be upheld if it is not consistently enforced. The rules on consistently enforced were changed by a Board decision in 2007.
In the past there were limited exceptions. An employer could not, for example, allow employees to sell Girl Scout cookies during work time and in work areas while prohibiting employees from circulating a petition demanding increased wages or more vacation time. The one exception is the so-called “United Way” exception for charitable solicitations when employers were allowed a small number of charitable solicitations without invalidating an otherwise lawful no-solicitation policy.
(Remember that employees can solicit for things like unions, Girl Scout cookies, sub-sales, etc. during non-work time, i.e., on their breaks, and in non-work areas, e.g., lunchrooms, locker rooms, and parking lots).
The NLRB decided in 2007 that employers may limit pro-union communications under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). The case arose after a company disciplined an employee for sending emails to other employees regarding union activities. One email asked employees to wear green to support the union’s bargaining proposals and another email solicited employees’ participation in the union’s involvement in an upcoming parade.
In this case the NLRB decided that the NLRA protects the communications themselves; however, the Act does not give employees the right to use work time or the employer’s equipment to communicate. The NLRB held that employers own their email systems like they own their walls and bulletin boards. Therefore, the NLRB ruled, there is no inherent right protecting employees’ pro-union email communications. Employers therefore may ban email communications for non-business related solicitations.
Although employers cannot prohibit employees from discussing pro-union sentiments on the employer’s property during non-work time, employers may require employees to limit union activities to non-work time. Employers are also permitted to ban employees from soliciting each other for non-work purposes during work time.
Under this new rule, if the employer prohibits solicitations on behalf of third party organizations (unions, political groups, insurance salespersons, etc.), then the employer may prohibit union solicitation as well, even if the employer tolerates personal emails that do not contain solicitations.
In the decision the NLRB has also expressly recognized that an employer may make other distinctions, so long as the lines are not drawn to disfavor unions over other similar groups. For example, the employer may allow solicitations by charitable organizations and ban solicitations by everyone else. In that way, the employer would not “discriminate” against solicitations protected by the NLRA, but rather would “discriminate” (lawfully) against all solicitations except for charitable ones.
The NLRB’s decision applies to union and non-union employers alike. Employers may wish to review their non-solicitation and distribution, bulletin board, and email policies to ensure it conforms to the 2007 opinion standard. It also bears noting that this case was decided by a bare majority of three NLRB members, with two members dissenting. Once the Board membership changes (as it generally does with a new administration), the applicable legal standards may once again change.
February 21st, 2009 at 9:50 am
cool blog, I like it.