Why Unproductive Days at Work Are Necessary
It’s not the devil we think it is
The past two years have been tough.
I remember my last unproductive day at work all too well. I decided to work remotely instead of coming into the office.
Then I received a dreaded email that sent shockwaves through my body—a resignation. Our new employee I trained started working for two days and then bounced.
Already short-staffed, this was a blow to our team. What exactly went wrong?
I canceled my meetings to schedule a reluctant exit interview on her part. It wasn’t an exit interview as it lasted a total of two minutes. I referenced why she felt like this wasn’t the right position. Was it something the company did wrong? I immediately jumped to conclusions as to what could our team have possibly done to piss her off in two days?
It turns out it came down to our company not covering her dependent insurance premiums of $200/month. We cover the employee 100% and provide a fully funded HSA that employees can use on their qualified medical expenses (deductible, prescriptions, eyeglasses, etc.) While frustrated, I couldn’t stay mad. She needed to look out for herself and her daughter and take the best offer that came her way, even if it would burn a 2-day bridge with our company.
