[V]

Originally Posted by Sliver

BTW, I wouldn't pat yourself on the back too hard for letting people miss time then make it up at a later date. To me that's the default position and anything less would mean you're a bad boss.

I think you misunderstand. I'm not bragging, only making the point that every staff member has a situation in their personal life that will impact their work life. And it isn't within my jurisdiction to determine which personal situation is 'noble' enough to require special treatment.

And while time flexibility should be most every manager's default position (if the business allows it, areas like call centres obviously do not) you have made it quite clear in this thread that it isn't your default position.

To go back to the example of the single lady that works for me, allowing her to make up work at a later date is not helpful to her. So I let her come in on Saturday to do the work she missed while coming in late during the week, then what? She has to pay for childcare for Saturday and miss out on spending time with her kid on the weekend and decompressing from a busy week, or running errands, or doing whatever else it is that she likes to do. I think my approach is more helpful and more sympathetic than yours.

You're right, your approach is more sympathetic to child rearers than my approach. I would never claim otherwise.

My approach, however, is more equitable to the workforce than yours, and my training and experience managing people has taught me that clear and equitable policies go a long ways towards building employee engagement. I can appreciate the fact that your experiences have taught you otherwise. But I know that your approach would be met with resistance in my office, and you would be getting phone calls from HR from time to time.