Labor discipline is the observance of the rules established in this work collective, at the enterprise, company, etc. No manager will doubt the need for labor discipline. This is a guarantee of the quality work of the entire team and the achievement of its goals. Do all industries need it? The vast majority.
The most interesting thing is that most workers are interested in the need to maintain labor discipline, even if some of them do not understand this. Labor discipline is, first of all, a set of rules that gives the company stable work, and some confidence in the future for employees (a big plus for the emotional state of any person). After all, any uncertainty is always stress.
The concept of labor discipline
Any rule of behavior is always a restriction on the freedom of an individual, but aimed at the benefit of the whole team. For this rule to work, it must meet two basic requirements.
Each employee must understand the need for restrictions. For this, it is necessary to periodically explain the work among employees so that they consciously go to some restrictions, understanding their relevance and benefits.
All rules should not have exceptions for anyone and never. One exception that does not receive a proper response from the leader will entail an avalanche of such violations. Therefore, some kind of necessarily firm reaction must be to any, most innocent violation of discipline.
Who sets the rules?
Each company and each company has its own document regulating the internal rules. But this document in any case should not go against the current labor legislation, should be understandable to all employees and not allow a double interpretation of any points. It is clear that even the best document will not solve the problem. For labor discipline to be at an appropriate level, the leader should be interested in this. And to monitor the implementation of all the requirements of the relevant document is his immediate responsibility.
What is the discipline?
Conventionally, two types of restrictions can be distinguished: coercive discipline (executive) and self-discipline (conscious). The ideal leader gradually transforms the first into the second. By what means? Starting with the strict guidelines governing all types of activities, ending with explanations, beliefs in their rightness. Thus, step by step, employees develop a habit aimed at observing labor disciplinary standards. Such a habit gradually turns into automatic actions and leads to conscious self-restraint.
Labor discipline and punishment
This is a very interesting point. One cannot do without punishment at any stage. The main thing here is not to go too far. Punishment must be fair and adequate violation. It is not so important whether this will be a financial penalty or some kind of moral impact (in different cases and with different people, the effectiveness may be different). It is important that the employee understands that he is punished for the case, and not at the whim of the boss.
In no case should punishment be an end in itself. It makes no sense to apply serious sanctions to an employee if:
- he seriously repents;
- committed a violation for the first time;
- his misconduct did not have serious consequences.
Another thing is if the violation is repeated or even worse - it becomes a habit. Labor discipline should be in the first place and you need to respond immediately, regardless of the value of the employee. In any production, a reliable responsible employee is always better than a good specialist who can let you down at any time.