“I think we’ve tolerated this enough” , said Mr. Kirodimal the CEO of Arthik Production Private Limited . The discussion was about one of the employees who was very sincere and honest , but had a very bad track record of attendance . He would invariably exhaust his leaves for the year by the end of October , and then would be charged with ‘Leave Without Pay’ for he rest of the Calendar year .
All his colleagues liked this affable employee and his impeccable work , but now the CEO was looking to terminate his employment because of his ‘misdemeanours’ . This was brought to the notice of the Quality Director of the company – Mr. Gunavatta in whose department he worked . “Aftab is a good man . Why does he have such a bad track record otherwise ? I believe in blaming the process and not the person . There must be an underlying problem we’re not able to see . Let’s look at the data .”
His absenteeism records showed that he remained absent either a day before despatch to a major customer – or a day after . It was always the same customer ! “Now that’s a coincidence ! Why the same customer every time ?” asked Mr. Gunavatta . “Well we despatch material to them every other week as per their requirement” , said Aftab’s immediate Supervisor Mr. Khadoos .
So , in effect , Aftab was inspecting a fortnight worth of despatch in a matter of two days every single time . If some other requirement from any other Customer came in the interim , it meant that much more work and tension .
Upon digging deeper , it came to light that Aftab would be stuck at his table the whole day inspecting sampling lots of the material which was quite cumbersome . If there were multiple despatches , it would lead to boredom and fatigue , and Khadoos would not want anything to slip through – he would come down on Aftab like a ton of bricks upsetting him no end . It was then that they discovered that Aftab had a hypertension problem . It had nothing to do with his age (he was in his mid thirties) – it was hereditary . So that was it !
“Why did you not tell me of his frail health before ? People with hypertension need to be on the move and need a ‘change in scene’ regularly” , said Mr. Gunavatta . “I’ll talk to the Manager in charge of Provider-Network Design and get Aftab to visit the Providers’ premises and carry out checks at the Providers’ end . He can also improve their processes consequently . I think this is going to work” .
Aftab was given this responsibility to improve Provider Quality at source . What a transformation that precipitated ! He loved going to Providers’ end and carrying out checks there . He also trained them and improved their processes . Arthik Production no longer had to rely on incoming inspection now . The most beneficial outcome was that his attendance soared . He loved his work ! He felt important now . His family said that his attitude and self worth improved too .
Lessons Learned
Lessons :
- Never blame the person , blame the process .
- Stop robbing people of their pride of workmanship . People have a right to enjoy their work .