I recently read somewhere that the most admired leaders had one thing in common: they treated everyone fairly. Now, I know that fair and equal have gotten confused in the past. I’m here to clear up the myth that they are one in the same. They are not.
Treating employees equally implies that all employees are the same. We all know that is not true. I am no more alike to my married co-workers with children than they are to me. That’s why it would be difficult to treat us equally.
Let’s say that one of them needed to come in late to work because they had to take their child to the doctor. And let’s say, I also needed to come in late, but it was because I kept missing the bus and couldn’t get up in time to catch it. Those are two totally different reasons for coming into work late and should be treated as such and not equally.
On the other hand, if I needed to come in late because I was the sole caregiver for an aging relative and needed to take them to the doctor, a manager who treated everyone fairly would take that into consideration. Although, my situation is not the same as my above co-worker, it still merits being treated fairly, independent of my co-worker.
Think about it
Are you treating your employees equally or fairly? I bet if it’s the latter then you are seeing more productivity and less animosity between employees. If not, then why not take the fairness route the next time an employee needs to take some time off?!
