How Can I Handle Department Heads Not Submitting Reports Without Holding Salaries?

Hi Group :) I want a little help from all of you. I'm working in a construction company. Here, we all have to submit a monthly report. Every employee submits reports to the Departmental head, and the department head submits the report to the director. Now, my problem is: what do I do if the department heads do not submit their monthly reports? Should I link it to the salary, I mean, should I keep their salary on hold?

I do not think that it is the correct way of handling the situation. I want to find some other solution to this. Please tell me, how do I keep control of all this?

Guys, please guide.

Hi Preeti,

Holding any one salary will not be a good idea as it will give rise to indiscipline in the organization. In my opinion, you can give a deadline, i.e., a date by which all persons (including departmental heads) must submit their reports to their reporting manager. You can also put a notice on the notice board that reads:

"Please submit your monthly reports to your reporting manager by [specific date], otherwise the HR department will not be responsible for any salary delays.

OR

Please submit your monthly reports to your reporting manager by [specific date] for the timely payment of salary."

However, before taking this step, inform the company director that you are ensuring timely salary settlement for all employees. Let's see what others have to say.

dsv

Hey DSV,

Thanks for the suggestion. We have already set the deadline, but putting it on the notice board and mentioning "timely payment of salary" seems to be a nice idea. People, I'm still waiting for your suggestions and ideas.

Regards,
Preeti

Dear Preeti,

Please do not stop salary for the monthly report. It is highly unethical and unlawful (unless it is a part of the contract as per the employment letter). The other problem is that in this age of construction boom, all your efficient candidates will simply switch over to another company.

I feel what you can do is to put up a notice which may go like this:

"The Management is hereby requesting every employee concerned to submit their monthly report on the date as agreed/required. Any deviation from the above will be viewed very seriously and treated as a violation of Company Rules and Regulations.

The Management has decided that any employee, unless there is a written permission of the Director, who fails to submit the Monthly Report on time will be treated as 'absent' for each day until the date they submit their report."

Hope this will be of help.

Kind Regards, SC

I personally would never threaten employees to do anything. Threatening employees will create a massive ego problem where the defaulting employees will unite to fight the company - even if they know they are wrong. Use words that encourage excellence and good work in your notice.

Some will definitely take this on - then subtly compare the ones who are doing it to the ones who are not in your next notice [without names]. Soon no one would want to be the defaulting employee. This way you will also bypass any grudge towards the company and make the employees look at themselves.

Just my two cents.

Regards,
CHR

Hey all,

Thanks a lot for the replies. Even I was of the opinion that we shouldn't hold the salary or link this issue to the salary. Now I have got an idea as to what I need to do on the issue.

Thanks again for the valuable inputs.

Regards,
Preeti

Hi Preeti,

As everyone has already mentioned, stopping one's salary would breed indiscipline, bruised ego, and it is also against labor laws. As txtm rightly suggested, you can keep the deadline as 2 days before the actual deadline and then have a monthly huddle on that day where the Department Heads need to explain the reason for the delay.

Alternatively, a component can be incorporated in the salary which would be given one hundred percent provided all reports have been submitted on time. If not, there can be a percentage deduction of that salary component for each defaulted report. So when it comes to money, every employee would be very vigilant. We are also not stopping their salary, so we are not violating any labor laws.

Regards,
Shreejeev