I am sure there are endless upon endless threads but seriously we have a new ETL-HL and He is making everyone's lives miserable. One guy comes in 2 mins I tell you 2 mins late and boom he wants to write him up and he has a excuse he was dropping his wife off at the airport and took extra time but got caught into a accident and he made into work but was seriously 2 mins late and he said I honestly do not care you are supposed to be here on time traffic or no traffic you are supposed to be here I was going to write you up but consider this a warning. Seriously?? Today at work lines were piling up all over the place and I said I'll be right up...... The ETL comes up and says where are you going?? I said they need back-ups....... They can find someone else you need to finish that pull I am sorry. Other ETLs have never been like that and other ETLs have never been so hard on us like him. I almost want to scream and throw in the towel and quit but I remember this is my only job and I do have to pull my own weight and quitting isn't a option right now. Why do certain ETLS want to be so hard on everyone and some ETLS are so relaxed you know? ETLS that tend to go by corporate rules are the ones that tend to make lives miserable....... While the others are who are relaxed and do their own thing make it fun you know??
Work isn't all about being fun. I'm sure you know that. But you also shouldn't be miserable. Try asking this ETL what they expect of their team and what their priorities are. Make it clear that you want to do good by them, but you're unsure what they see as priorities and you want to make sure that you are getting your priorities to match up with theirs. Don't be snotty about it, but instead be authentic. If you are accomplishing what they think is important then they should be happy and treat you better.
As far as the late thing goes...company policy is that you aren't late unless you are over five minutes late. That said, I'm of the camp that if you're five minutes early, you're on time; if you show up on time, you're late; and if you're late, don't bother coming at all. It's not hard to be at work on time. I can't imagine any reasonable person would be upset over someone being two minutes late unless they were habitually a few minutes late for their shifts. Any decent leader should understand that things happen and everyone runs late once in a while. Then again, I work with people who have never called out or been late for a shift in their entire tenure with Big Red, so...
If he is new, give him a week or two to settle in. He might just being trying to establish that he is a hard ass and expects his team to meet high standards. The no back up thing is confusing. Is he new to the company? he might not understand the company's position on backup cashiering. If things don't cool down in a week or two, and you've already voiced your concerns and frustration to your this ETL in a civil manner, then approach HR and/or your STL.
The TL's are supposed to go by policy; policies are there to keep order. However, strictly adhering to policy with no flexibility isn't good either. I wonder if he's just out of college; many of the TL's at my store are young and tend to go on power-trips. I am a leader at another company (this is my second job; I would take an ETL position if I didn't have to relocate. I have been offered a position 150 miles away, but I prefer to stay local as my parents are getting older. My current position pays slightly less; if I could commute less than 60 miles, I will likely take an ETL position) and I have high expectations for my team. I make it clear to my group; however, I do not play power politics with them. Some of our TL's are nothing more than glorified baby-sitters. The TL's in my work center (flow/logistics) expect a lot, but they utilize common sense as well (one fellow TM's wife gave birth to a baby, and he came in the next day; our TL allowed him to go home). We are expected to move quickly; they do not tolerate any lolly-gagging; however, if someone is a couple of minutes late, they won't say anything unless it's habitual. Leaders who consistently threaten or routinely use corrective action for even petty issues are really not leaders at all; they just merely have a couple of extra words on their name badge. I will use corrective action and will and have used termination; however, I try to rarely use them; instead, I look to correct the issue, solve the problem. If my efforts don't work, or the offense is serious, then I will use corrective action. As a leader, I am expected lead my group; achieve optimal productivity, and enforce policy. However, I view policies and procedures as GUIDELINES; this means, we are to follow P&P unless special situations arise. When common sense dictates that we deviate slightly from P&P, I will. Also, good leaders are also good servants, and they are learners; they are always looking to improve. In my opinion, a leader is willing and able to do five things: Direct, motivate, product, train, and mobilize.
I'm in the camp that all leaders should be the first ones there (leadership by EXAMPLE); all TM's need to be respectful to everyone else; this means being prompt, working with great effort, and being a team player. Being consistently late is disrespectful to the team. I am also in the camp that being a couple minutes late is much better than not showing up (we are the O/N, early morning flow team at Target). I do not tolerate truancy. I understand that extraneous situations do arise; however, they are to be EXTRANEOUS, and not constant. Some people just don't care, or respect their team enough; those people need to go somewhere else. As a flow team member, I have been late (one minute) just once, and have never called out. Both of my TL's have been at least one hour late and have left early on at least one occasion. I am often laughed at for "taking the job too seriously and working too hard". However, none of them have ever been in leadership.
