It's All About Choice

Last summer I vacationed with my mom, sister, brother-in-law, and 14-month-old niece. My niece has a plastic booster seat that attaches to a dining room chair, then you strap her in so she can eat at the table with the rest of the family. When she was done eating there was nothing she wanted more than to be out of that seat. Someone would clean her up, unstrap her, put her down, then sit the booster seat on the floor. Since she wanted out of it so badly, you'd think she'd keep her distance right? On the contrary, on more than one occasion she would pick it up, carry it out to the balcony, sit in it, and try to strap herself in! Why would the same child that just wanted out of that same chair do that? Simple. It's a matter of choice. When the chair wasn't at the table, how long she sat in it was entirely in her control. She could get up at any time.

She's a baby you might say. What's that got to do with me? Adults really aren't that different. My boss was telling me Friday about a local company that's experiencing a slowdown and only working a few days a week. They are making anyone with available paid time off take it to get up to 40 hours. Those without are taking the hours at no pay. People were not happy about this. While I understand that the company is trying to reduce the amount of paid time on their books, I think they could probably achieve roughly the same result by giving people the OPTION of using paid leave. Most people like to have a predictable paycheck and would probably use the time. However, it's their CHOICE. There would likely  be a few people who would take the shutdown hours as unpaid and save it for later. We see this in our short term disability leave program at work. For noninjury leaves such as pregnancy or planned surgery, there is a 7 day elimination period. People can take vacation time for this or not. Do we see both cases? Yes. But it's their choice. Therefore less whining, meaning happier employees and HR people.

Giving people options can often be an easy way to make them feel more empowered, even if they'll likely choose what you would have dictated to them. It's all about choice.