Calling All Jerks

“I really nailed my bosses at work today,” Lynda Lyer bragged to her friends after her shift at Dewitrite Homecare Supply Co. “My supervisor is always on my tail for mistakes. So I called my company hotline number and said that my boss told me to put down the wrong billing information. Now, not only will he get in trouble, but if they try to go after me, I'll claim that they are discriminating against me because I blew the whistle on them!”

On the other side of town, Marvin Malicious boasts to his drinking buddy. “That brown-noser Gary Goodness has bugged me for too long, so I called my company hotline and told them that Gary was stealing supplies from the warehouse. I even planted some nebulizers in his office. Best of all, I remain anonymous since I used the hotline!”

In our exploration of effective reporting methods, we must pause briefly to consider that special breed of employee, the “jerk.” Unfortunately, personnel may be motivated to use your HME's reporting mechanisms inappropriately. As with Lynda Lyer, a substandard employee might use the reporting structure to put on the cloak of a whistleblower. Others, like Marvin Malicious, may view the reporting structure as a means to get even with fellow employees, whether the alleged offenses are real or imagined.

Does Dewitrite Homecare have any recourse against Lynda and Marvin? Yes — to an extent.

Every home care company must make clear that personnel will be subject to severe discipline if they exploit the company's reporting systems to spread false rumors. However, companies must be quite careful when enforcing this rule.

Discipline should only be imposed when there is substantial evidence of false information, fabrication and so forth. Otherwise, sincere employees who report inaccurate information could be subject to unfair discipline.

None of this, however, means that you should accept bad behavior. Just make sure that the evidence supports the consequences that follow.

Overall, home care providers must accept a certain amount of improperly motivated reporting as an unavoidable consequence of the reporting mechanism itself. Some mechanisms, such as hotlines, make malicious activity more difficult. Even anonymity can be put in place using a tracking system so that the employee is anonymous but still identifiable. If there are repeated false allegations, the employee can then be tracked, and the company can take direct steps to curtail the inappropriate hotline use.

Finally, let's meet Charlie Coldcall, a marketing representative trying to improve his sales figures.