How can you punish staff?

Short of firing them, how can you punish them but let them keep their job? Any ideas? Any techniques you've found most effective?

 

You could suspend them but, really, once they've lost the respect of the membership and of the other staff it's nearly impossible for them to regain it.

 

I suppose it would depend on what they did? And are they getting paid? If they are, then a pay cut would be a suitable punishment.

Otherwise, the best you can do is potentially suspend or remove them anyway.

 

Demoting them can be a good idea, or limiting the number of forums they can moderate. You're not exactly firing them, but you're giving them less power. Sometimes that's what it takes to teach them.

 

Punishing them?

Stupid idea.

Wy not talk to them about the incident, and get it resolved. They are in most cases volunteers. They do not owe you anything.

 

It's not as easy as it sounds. I've had a few staff members that just wouldn't learn. For instance, one of the very few staff rules I had was not deleting posts. They could always hide them or split them and move them to the trash. That way we could keep track of every member who had a post removed in case they did it again. Yet there was this mod that kept on deleting them, seemingly on purpose. I PMed him several times and he always said he 'had forgotten' and that 'it was an accident' - but he kept on doing it. What do you do with someone like them when you don't think they're worth firing?

 

Explain to them why it is important to do so, and if they cannot do that in the future, you would have to remove them from staff.

Simple as that.

 

I tie them up and toss them in the cellar

but honestly.. I would talk to any staff member that is misbehaving or causing an issue on the forum, in most cases they think they are doing things correctly and it may be my fault for not fully explaining my expectations of them.

 

I agree with Maksim. It doesn't make sense to "punish" them. Either you have confidence in them, or they should not be on your staff. I don't expect people to be perfect, everyone makes mistakes. When someone on staff makes a mistake, explain it to them in private, and that should be enough. If they continue to make the same mistake, there must be a problem. The only time I've had staff make mistakes is when I have failed to give clear instructions on how to respond to a specific scenario, and that's my failure not theirs. The only time I've ever had to remove staff is when they stopped being active in the community.

 

"Punishing" comes after explaining and before firing. Like I said, some people will not learn unless you do something that makes them know their mod position is at stake.

 

A good probing has always brought them around to my way of thinking.

 

And once again.... you should be THANKING your staff... not punishing them for doing wrong.

If they did something wrong, it is your fault for not explaining your position and your expectations up front, and making sure they understand them.

The title of a "mod" may be something a 16 year old thinks is uber cool...., but to competent staff that works for living and is a mod on the forum as a volunteer to help out the community, you owe it to them, especially if your forum creates an income, and they are not getting paid for it.

It is your boat, your ship... if someone is not able to do the requirements to your abilities, either help them learn, or remove them as a mod... but by all means, don't punish the poor guy/gal.

They are a volunteer... that means they don't have to do squat..... and unless there is some explicit benefit that they would want to be a mod.... in most cases, the job does not pay for the investment they make on your forum.

For my mods, they have all the benefits of a premium membership, no ads, and most of all, ability to list items in our marketplace. They get accessories and stuff at deep discounts or cost when avail.

My buddy who helps me out, I try to pay him $100 to $150 a month as part profit sharing. It does not cover much, but it is something for the hobby.

 

Then you should just be firing them. If they wont learn and wont stop then fire them because they are not going to stop just because you want them too.

 

Like I said, this is a step that comes before firing. If you don't want something as extreme as that, because you think that, despite whatever this staff member did to deserve to be punished/fire, he's still worth keeping as a staff member, some kind of punishment can make them reconsider their actions. If then, they don't learn or don't stop, firing is the obvious solution.

Again, this is just my opinion.

 

Agreed. Punishing them will only annoy them, and you want your staff to be happy right? Punishing will probably make them quit.

 

I'd like to hear more about the circumstances, before I could make any judgement.

But on a more general note. Punishment is always part of enforcing rules or policies to keep discipline. So, you can only effectively punish someone, if it was clearly understood by them before hand, that there were rules or policies in effect and the punishment for not following those rules or policies should have also be known by them beforehand too.

Also, any punishment should be fair and inline with the dereliction, but also be hard enough to deter anyone from breaking the rules or policies to begin with.

Scott

 

I have to agree with others here. I would have a conversation with them, explaining what they did wrong so they could give me a reasoning behind what they did. Maybe they understood your rules one way, but they are written in a matter that can be confusing to someone other than yourself. I don't like the term punishing them because that is something you do to a child who does something you don't want them to. I think in many cases you need to treat them like you would if you were paying them (you may or may not be). Fairness in everything is my philosophy, and sometimes that mean giving them the benefit of the doubt the first time. The first time it happens, they need to be aware of any consequence of it happening again. So when it does they are fully aware of the what would happen, if it was repeated.

 

Maybe there's a way to disallow them the ability to delete posts. There should be some mechanism in the forum software to limit this capability by user type.

 

Punishing staff seems foolish to me. Volunteer staff needs respect and status. Once you damage that position, then damage the relation and open yourself up to various problems.
Either the staff member is functional or he/she is not. If not then try to fix that. If thats not possible then work towards stepping down or demotion.

 

I had an issue when I first started with a lot of people applying for staff and then not doing much at all. I've since had to narrow down the staff and focus on a select few I know will do something.

Not much you can do other than stating that they're there for a reason and that if they don't do anything then you'll demote them. Even if it's a voluntary position they should at 'least doing something to warrant them being there.