Not so much great expectations, as clear expectations

If an employee is given any form of company property to use, what are the expectations around that use? Photo / Amos Chapple

I'm a common sense kind of a girl. Perhaps that is why I enjoy the practice of employment law so much. Because, put quite simply, it works best when we all employ (pardon the pun) a bit of common sense.

Working for a large commercial law firm, our clients are most commonly employers and senior employees. Accordingly, a lot of my work is raising issues with employees: allegations of misconduct, serious misconduct and poor or non performance.

Let me tell you, those letters are much easier to draft where I can turn to the employee's employment agreement or the company handbook and point to a clear expectation or obligation which the employee has allegedly failed to follow or comply with. Something to 'hang your hat on', if you like.

The allegation is therefore: these are our expectations, you knew what they were (or ought reasonably to have known) and you appear to have failed to comply with them. And then: please explain.

The employee's knowledge and understanding of the obligations and expectations goes to the reasonableness of the expectation that they comply with them. On the flip side, if the employee wasn't aware of the expectations (and couldn't reasonably have been expected to have been aware of them) there is a question as to whether it is reasonable to expect them to comply with them.

The latest employment related news story to hit the headlines is the issue of MP spending on parliamentary credit cards.

A number of issues arise out of this: the appropriateness of the items they have put on their credit cards; whether such cards should be used for personal expenses in the first instance and then reimbursed (which may raise tax issues) but most importantly - what did the employees know about the use of parliamentary credit cards? Were the expectations clear?

Taking this from the hallowed halls of Parliament, to the corridors of offices nationwide, and applying it to 'Jill and Joe Bloggs' employee, the principle is still the same.

If an employee is given any form of company property to use, what are the expectations around that use? So that if there is an issue with the employee's usage, the employer can clearly point to a part of their policy and say - your conduct appears to be in breach of that, and further - please explain (the please explain is also a vital part - an employer can't just reach its own conclusion).

Mr Jones it seems is unlikely to be too popular amongst his colleagues at the moment, with his spending habits lifting the lid on the spending habits of his colleagues as well. Perhaps a reminder for Parliament that it needs to ensure that its expectations of its parliamentarians are clear, particularly in relation to the expenditure of taxpayer funds, which will always be a contentious and attention grabbing issue.

For some employees the lure of the lucre may always by too strong, but employers can best protect themselves when it comes time to investigate potential disciplinary action, by making sure that their expectations are clear.

Having read Dickens, some may say that Great Expectations isn't necessarily clear, but in an employment context it isn't about having great expectations - expectations can be modest - the key point is that they're clear.


Bridget Smith