Yes, you read that correctly. This is the topic covered in SHRM’s February issue of HR Magazine. The article titled “Days of Contemplation” (membership required) has the tagline “Have a problem employee? Give him a time-out to decide whether to come back fully committed or to move on.” The article discusses the use of paid decision-making leaves or “days of contemplation.” Here is the premise behind it’s use:
Adult learning theory will tell you that when you treat people like adults, they will respond in kind. Unlike formal discipline, which tends to punish workers formally for substandard job performance or inappropriate workplace conduct, decision-making leaves are much more subtle. More important, they don’t negatively affect the worker’s take-home pay, so there’s no element of resentment toward the employer or embarrassment for having to explain to a spouse or family member why the paycheck is less that particular week.
“This element of holding people accountable without negatively impacting their personnel file or payroll tends to catch people off guard, because problem employees, like problem children, are often expecting negative attention for their bad behaviors,” says Tim Field, principal of The Field Consulting Group in Los Angeles. “When thrown into this new adult perspective of responsibility and accountability, workers tend to respond, well, like adults, and their assuming responsibility for the problem or at least the perception of that problem often times works exceptionally effectively at shifting their mind-set and fixing the problem once and for all,” says Field.
“The value in this exercise is in shifting the traditional disciplinary paradigm that a day of contemplation provides,” says Field. When workers are disciplined, they’re angry, and anger is external, so the problem is someone else’s fault. When they’re held accountable without formal discipline, they’re feeling guilty, and guilt is internal. That’s always where you want to be when dealing with your subordinates because that’s where problems get fixed once and for all.
The author says that when using decision-making leaves they are best used on the Gen Y-ers, longer-term employees or executive family members to correct performance problems or conduct issues. They do not work well to correct problems arising from tardiness or excessive advertising. The article also explains how to use them effectively. So please, before you send someone home with a time-out because you read it here, check with your HR department and read through the article so it delivers the results you want.