As a result of the naira scarcity, some of my employees could not find funds to come to the office.

I usually pay salaries on the 21st of the month, but there is an issue.

Employers, in general, are required to pay their workers for the time that is spent under the employer's control and for the benefit of the employer.

Did you pay complete salaries to those staff who did not or could not show up? If yes, why.

Did you pay salaries pro rata to the number of days they managed to show up? If yes, why.

In other news, I overhead on Beat FM Abuja today the story of a guy who was stuck in Abuja for 2 weeks due to cash scarcity. He came all the way from Niger State to work for someone but could not return to base as a result of his inability to obtain physical cash to pay his way back to base.

One of my employees is asking for a loan to address an urgent family emergency a few days ahead of payday and I wanted to wait until payday to address this issue.

Over to you.

FEGEITOK:
As a result of the naira scarcity, some of my employees could not find funds to come to the office.

I usually pay salaries on the 21st of the month, but there is an issue.

Employers, in general, are required to pay their workers for the time that is spent under the employer's control and for the benefit of the employer.

Did you pay complete salaries to those staff who did not or could not show up? If yes, why.

Did you pay salaries pro rata to the number of days they managed to show up? If yes, why.

In other news, I overhead on Beat FM Abuja today the story of a guy who was stuck in Abuja for 2 weeks due to cash scarcity. He came all the way from Niger State to work for someone but could not return to base as a result of his inability to obtain physical cash to pay his way back to base.

One of my employees is asking for a loan to address an urgent family emergency a few days ahead of payday and I wanted to wait until payday to address this issue.

Over to you.

i would say the first question is what are the terms in the employment letters and you may want to consider updating them accordingly.

my second question would be by discretion - is the worker in question a serious, committed guy, or one who dodges or under delivers? you want to keep your star performers happy - your chronic under performers - not so much.

one could pay complete salaries as a one off. however, if this cash situation continues or becomes the norm, then amendments in payment of salary will also have to become the norm.

people will find a way if they realize their income is threatened

GloriousGbola:


i would say the first question is what are the terms in the employment letters and you may want to consider updating them accordingly.

my second question would be by discretion - is the worker in question a serious, committed guy, or one who dodges or under delivers? you want to keep your star performers happy - your chronic under performers - not so much.

one could pay complete salaries as a one off. however, if this cash situation continues or becomes the norm, then amendments in payment of salary will also have to become the norm.

people will find a way if they realize their income is threatened

Pay the salary in full.... Please ... People are going through a lot now...

GloriousGbola:


i would say the first question is what are the terms in the employment letters and you may want to consider updating them accordingly.

my second question would be by discretion - is the worker in question a serious, committed guy, or one who dodges or under delivers? you want to keep your star performers happy - your chronic under performers - not so much.

one could pay complete salaries as a one off. however, if this cash situation continues or becomes the norm, then amendments in payment of salary will also have to become the norm.

people will find a way if they realize their income is threatened

Beautiful answer!

Is this not why the likes of Facebook, Amazon, and Twitter are laying off employees?

They have huge cash stashes and yet at the first sign of an economic meltdown, they start firing left right and center.

How should business be run? strictly business or as a social enterprise.

That is an issue here.

As you said, I am mulling paying but revising the contract of employment, since this was a totally unforeseen, taking both employer and employee by surprise

If I worked onsite and couldn't make it to work but still found a way to deliver on my job, then I'd expect full payment...

But I saw you bolded the part about paying employes "for the time spent under the employer's control..."

Which smells like you've made up your mind to prorate.

Two sides of the coin;
As an employer, business is ruthless and business is business; they either show up or they don't get paid in full.
As an employee (at least my type of person), moment I feel that my welfare doesn't really mean anything to the business, I'll jump ship for even a 2k increase.

It depends on the kinda workforce you wanna breed, to be honest.

Kaycee54321:
If I worked onsite and couldn't make it to work but still found a way to deliver on my job, then I'd expect full payment...

But I saw you bolded the part about paying employes "for the time spent under the employer's control..."

Which smells like you've made up your mind to prorate.

Two sides of the coin;
As an employer, business is ruthless and business is business; they either show up or they don't get paid in full.
As an employee (at least my type of person), moment I feel that my welfare doesn't really mean anything to the business, I'll jump ship for even a 2k increase.

It depends on the kinda workforce you wanna breed, to be honest.

Thank you. Additional facts

Gave the employee relocation funds

Issued the employee a used iPhone one month after resumption

Issued the employee a tablet and a laptop ( she returned both [keeps them in the office] because she said her place is prone to robberies, so she cannot work remotely)

Paid last month's salary on the 11th of February when she was expecting a different sum for something else she did for the office, I decided to pay her that money and the salary at once

Even though I wanted to pay her, I also wanted her to know that if I actually paid when she showed up at work just 5 days in the last 30 days, it was not because she worked for it, it was because of other considerations. I just wanted her to realize and admit to me that even if she got paid, it was not a right, but a privilege that should not be abused. And that such an arrangement cannot be permanent.

I don't want her to assume or act entitled to all the privileges when she is unable to contribute to the magic that makes all the above possible.

Now to the issue that was raised by @GloriousGbola, she has not completed any of the online courses that I have enrolled her in. This is a major minus

Yes, in no other sphere of human endeavor is the expression truer:

This is a ruthless world and one must be ruthless to cope with it. Charlie Chaplin

To be successful in business, you have to be ruthless. Burt Reynolds

The issue here is balancing ruthlessness with niceness.

So you decide what kinda workforce I was trying to breed.

Jobgetter1:
Pay the salary in full.... Please ... People are going through a lot now...

For your info business owners are also going through a lot now!

FEGEITOK:


Thank you. Additional facts

Gave the employee relocation funds

Issued the employee a used iPhone one month after resumption

Issued the employee a tablet and a laptop ( she returned both [keeps them in the office] because she said her place is prone to robberies, so she cannot work remotely)

Paid last month's salary on the 11th of February when she was expecting a different sum for something else she did for the office, I decided to pay her that money and the salary at once

Even though I wanted to pay her, I also wanted her to know that if I actually paid when she showed up at work just 5 days in the last 30 days, it was not because she worked for it, it was because of other considerations. I just wanted her to realize and admit to me that even if she got paid, it was not a right, but a privilege that should not be abused. And that such an arrangement cannot be permanent.

I don't want her to assume or act entitled to all the privileges when she is unable to contribute to the magic that makes all the above possible.

Now to the issue that was raised by @GloriousGbola, she has not completed any of the online courses that I have enrolled her in. This is a major minus

Yes, in no other sphere of human endeavor is the expression truer:

This is a ruthless world and one must be ruthless to cope with it. Charlie Chaplin

To be successful in business, you have to be ruthless. Burt Reynolds

The issue here is balancing ruthlessness with niceness.

So you decide what kinda workforce I was trying to breed.

To be successful in business, you have to be ruthless. Burt Reynolds

I agree completely with the above statement!

FEGEITOK:


Thank you. Additional facts

Gave the employee relocation funds

Issued the employee a used iPhone one month after resumption

Issued the employee a tablet and a laptop ( she returned both [keeps them in the office] because she said her place is prone to robberies, so she cannot work remotely)

Paid last month's salary on the 11th of February when she was expecting a different sum for something else she did for the office, I decided to pay her that money and the salary at once

Even though I wanted to pay her, I also wanted her to know that if I actually paid when she showed up at work just 5 days in the last 30 days, it was not because she worked for it, it was because of other considerations. I just wanted her to realize and admit to me that even if she got paid, it was not a right, but a privilege that should not be abused. And that such an arrangement cannot be permanent.

I don't want her to assume or act entitled to all the privileges when she is unable to contribute to the magic that makes all the above possible.

Now to the issue that was raised by @GloriousGbola, she has not completed any of the online courses that I have enrolled her in. This is a major minus

Yes, in no other sphere of human endeavor is the expression truer:

This is a ruthless world and one must be ruthless to cope with it. Charlie Chaplin

To be successful in business, you have to be ruthless. Burt Reynolds

The issue here is balancing ruthlessness with niceness.

So you decide what kinda workforce I was trying to breed.

I and my partners have been running a project for a new client. Deliver a prototype. If successful, this would be repeated nationwide. I personally recommended the guy we engaged as site engineer because we wanted good finishing and the client is the kind that likes that sort of thing. A complete error of judgement on my part.

Turns out the guy is mentally lazy, a get it wrong fix it three times person and one who cannot push a vendor. It got to a point where I asked him what his role was if I was the one doing his thinking for him. We had engaged a vendor who was delivering a totally shoddy and lazy cladding and our site guy was just allowing all the nonsense. At a point I simply told my partners, we need to sack this cladding guy, engage someone else and take the loss.

This is what we did.

The only reason we have not sacked the engineer is because the project is almost done. Just this afternoon he was certifying some shoddily done work and I asked him if he would be willing to have the corrections backed out of his salary.

In the end, we delivered a project the client was happy with and it looks like repeat work is guaranteed. As for the engineer, he came this close to fking up the project for us. If you don't sack that kind of worker, then you give him the barest minimum consideration. At the start of the project we advanced him because he was broke and seemed distracted. No difference in his performance.

GloriousGbola:


I and my partners have been running a project for a new client. Deliver a prototype. If successful, this would be repeated nationwide. I personally recommended the guy we engaged as site engineer because we wanted good finishing and the client is the kind that likes that sort of thing. A complete error of judgement on my part.

Turns out the guy is mentally lazy, a get it wrong fix it three times person and one who cannot push a vendor. It got to a point where I asked him what his role was if I was the one doing his thinking for him. We had engaged a vendor who was delivering a totally shoddy and lazy cladding and our site guy was just allowing all the nonsense. At a point I simply told my partners, we need to sack this cladding guy, engage someone else and take the loss.

This is what we did.

The only reason we have not sacked the engineer is because the project is almost done. Just this afternoon he was certifying some shoddily done work and I asked him if he would be willing to have the corrections backed out of his salary.

In the end, we delivered a project the client was happy with and it looks like repeat work is guaranteed. As for the engineer, he came this close to fking up the project for us. If you don't sack that kind of worker, then you give him the barest minimum consideration. At the start of the project we advanced him because he was broke and seemed distracted. No difference in his performance.

I have also learned the concept of a useful idiot, and that even if someone should be fired, you have to choose the date of the firing very carefully to protect the business. I guess that is why you had to keep that guy till the project was delivered.

She was due for a salary review upwards. Zero intention of any upwards review.

I will keep her for now, until I can find and groom a replacement.

She begged to work remotely, and I said fine, draft a letter to so so and so. Sent all the materials, but 2 weeks later, I haven't seen the letter, and other than the initial excuse of power troubles, not a word.

After one week, I drafted the letter and sent it out myself.

FEGEITOK:


I have also learned the concept of a useful idiot, and that even if someone should be fired, you have to choose the date of the firing very carefully to protect the business. I guess that is why you had to keep that guy till the project was delivered.

She was due for a salary review upwards. Zero intention of any upwards review.

I will keep her for now, until I can find and groom a replacement.

She begged to work remotely, and I said fine, draft a letter to so so and so. Sent all the materials, but 2 weeks later, I haven't seen the letter, and other than the initial excuse of power troubles, not a word.

After one week, I drafted the letter and sent it out myself.

Your last two posts really added context to the situation.

I think the niceness is even tipping the ruthless on the scale. I mean, you had to draft a letter for an employee to change status from on-site to remote?

If said employee doesn't turn up to work on some days and still expects full payment (knowing every opportunity the business has thrown to her, which she isn't even fully utilizing), then she has a problem with the content of her character.

Best case would be to get an intern (someone bright, young and hungry) to understudy her; if this doesn't keep her on her toes and makes her sit-up, then she's going to be deadwood sooner than later.

Kaycee54321:


Your last two posts really added context to the situation.


I think the niceness is even tipping the ruthless on the scale. I mean, you had to draft a letter for an employee to change status from on-site to remote?

If said employee doesn't turn up to work on some days and still expects full payment (knowing every opportunity the business has thrown to her, which she isn't even fully utilizing), then she has a problem with the content of her character.

Best case would be to get an intern (someone bright, young and hungry) to understudy her; if this doesn't keep her on her toes and makes her sit-up, then she's going to be deadwood sooner than later.

No, she begged to work remotely. She suggested she can even write letters to clients. So I gave her a client's contact details and samples of previous letters to other clients to study so she can write to this client (what I called so so and so).

This letter has not been written over 2 weeks later.

If I shared her outburst here which she later apologized for you would certainly not side with her.

Pay them what you both agreed upon