Choosing Fairness in the Workplace: 5 Eye-Opening Ideas

Your organization’s work environment matters more than you may think. Frontline & hourly workers are quitting en masse — and almost 20% of them cite a bad relationship with their boss and an unhealthy work environment as their reasons for leaving. 

Creating an environment that makes your employees feel comfortable and excited to show up for their shifts can boost productivity levels and employee morale. In contrast, conflict, toxic work relationships, and unfair working conditions hinder employee performance and increase the risks of litigation. 

So, how do you build a work environment that people feel genuinely excited to be a part of?

Fair treatment in the workplace is key. Yet, it can be hard to figure out how to effectively facilitate fairness in the fast-paced environment of the frontline. 

Secchi is an hourly performance management tool that removes barriers between frontline employees & management and makes it easy to meaningfully integrate fairness into your day-to-day operations. Book a demo to learn more about what Secchi can do for your organization. 

What Is Fairness in the Workplace? 

Fairness has been described as the glue that holds the employee and the employer together. From providing equal opportunities to not playing favorites, fairness manifests itself in various ways around the workplace. Yet, its core function is simple: to give all workers an equal chance to succeed. 

The first step to being fair is to be consistent. It’s impossible to build a positive and impartial workplace without leadership that consistently reinforces equal treatment. Employee morale is fickle, and inconsistencies in performance management and recognition can easily bring it down. 

Why Fairness in the Workplace Is Important for Frontline Organizations

When it comes to frontline teams, leading with fairness is now more important than ever. 

Historically, hourly workers have often felt that they are being treated unfairly and “less than” full-time employees. Combined with post-pandemic burnout, lack of professional development opportunities, and a growing disconnect between frontline employees & the rest of the company, it’s no wonder that 42% of them want to quit. 

What’s interesting is that more than half of employees who voluntarily quit their jobs say that their manager or organization had the power to keep them from leaving. This indicates that building a more fair and equitable workplace can help improve employee turnover rates and retain talent. Here are five ways to do just that. 

5 Ways to Facilitate Fairness in the Workplace 

1.Implement Strong Documentation

Supervisors and human resources leaders need accurate performance data to make fair decisions. If there’s no easily accessible data available to drive the decision making process, then it’s easy to default to emotion or even confrontation. 

Having strong documentation practices in place allows frontline leaders to consistently reward high performers and implement fair corrective action. Relying on objective data instead of subjective feelings is the first step to an impartial and equitable workplace. 

→ Implementing a consistent & reliable documentation process is significantly easier with Secchi. It generates instant performance reviews from automated data and gives supervisors the ability to make informed decisions. 

2. Set Consistent Expectations

It’s important to be transparent about the expectations you have for your team members and consistently apply them to all employees. For example, if chronic absenteeism is an issue that you want to address, start with setting clear expectations and consistently following through on them with rewards and/or corrective action. 

It’s crucial to hold all of your employees to the same standard instead of selectively addressing only a few individuals. Most importantly, start with yourself. The expectations you set in your workplace have to apply to everyone, so lead by example and don’t allow yourself advantages that your employees don’t have. 

3. Lead with an Open Mind

When it comes to managing people, fairness is nuanced. In the stressful & fast-paced environment of the frontline, things aren’t always black and white. There are times when it’s more important to listen to the ideas of others instead of insisting on following rules or expectations that don’t work. 

To treat your employees with fairness even in the most complex of situations, stay adaptable yet consistent. Leading with an open mind allows you to shift direction when needed, but having consistent expectations in place (see #2) helps everyone navigate even the grayest of situations. 

4. Build Strong Recognition Programs

Regularly rewarding your employees is key to improving performance, but it’s important to show your workers that they all have an equal chance at being recognized. If recognition is only available to a select few, it can create tension between employees and lead to co-worker resentment. 

Only 26% of frontline workers feel valued and recognized by their organization, according to a survey by Meta. Building a recognition program can help you improve productivity levels and retain talent, but don’t forget to spend additional time on creating a sense that your new rewards system is fair. Otherwise, it can have the opposite effect. 

→ Gamification is a new approach to employee recognition that increases employee engagement and can help build more fair & equitable programs.

5. Listen to Your Employees

As with most things in life, there’s always room for improvement when it comes to fairness. Implementing truly equitable practices and approaches into your organization’s daily operations takes time, and one of the most helpful things you can do to speed up the process is to give your employees an opportunity to voice their questions or opinions. 

If your employees have concerns about the impartiality of certain processes, they need to have a way to share them without fearing a negative reaction from their supervisor or management. Making your employees feel safe is one of the most important things you can do to ensure fairness in the workplace, and it all starts with open communication. 

You may also consider having an appeal process in place for when your employees feel strongly about a particular policy or expectation. 

Final Thoughts: Consistency Is Easier with Secchi

Fairness and consistency go hand-in-hand, and it’s not enough to simply understand the importance of fairness in the workplace. You need to have the right tool to consistently integrate it into your organization’s everyday. 

Secchi simplifies the hourly performance management process and makes it easy to make fair, data-driven decisions about your workforce. Book a demo today to learn what Secchi can do for your organization.