LDRDocs/Foundations and Governance/Infractions/Insubordination.md

Insubordination refers to an employee who is outright disobedient or disrespectful to a manager or owner of a business. This includes engaging in actions or behaviors that undermine authority, like spreading gossip or rumors.

Insubordination is one of the most serious infractions at our company, and the linked expanded articles explains more about it.

Examples of insubordination include:

• Refusal to obey commands of a supervisor
• Disrespect shown to higher-ups in the form of vulgar or mocking language
• Directly questioning or mocking management decisions
• Defacing posted signs or policies

Additionally, disobedience can mean gestures such as non-verbal cues showing dissatisfaction or eye-rolling.

Bad Employees

An employee might not show outward or obvious signs of insubordination. For example, an employee that gossips about others or spreads false information is being insubordinate because they are undermining authority by doing so.

When to Detect Insubordination

You can spot the signs of insubordination when:

• A directive was issued, but it was never followed through, intentionally.
• The employee understood instructions that were given but refused to comply.
• Non-performance or outright refusing to conduct a task.

Not all factors may be present when it comes to spotting disobedience, but it is best to use good judgment based on each situation.

What Is Not Insubordination

Some nuanced workplace misunderstandings or miscommunications will happen, and shouldn't be considered insubordination.

• If the employee misunderstood instructions and did not complete a task as a result.
• The employee questions any ethics or legalities of a particular directive coming from a manager and did not follow through with the command. An employee should express such concerns to another higher-up.
• If an employee engages in a private conversation conveying why a direct order was not satisfied.

Solid grounds for termination

In some cases, insubordination is solid grounds for fast-tracked termination, such as:

• The employee makes multiple excuses and will not apologize for missed deadlines or incomplete work.
• The employee blames other people for missed or incomplete work.
• The employee won't take responsibility for their actions.
• The employee is blatantly or consistently disregarding a workplace policy, like a posted sign in the work area.

Examples of Insubordination

This section includes some examples of insubordination.

Example 1: Habitual

You ask an employee to do something they clearly understand how to do, like take out the garbage before they leave. They keep leaving for the day without taking out the trash, and they don't come and tell you the reason unless you ask. Every time you ask about it they have an excuse, they try to complain about other people, or they tell you they need to be reminded.

The person is insubordinate because they are repeatedly failing to do what they're told and they aren't taking constructive steps to fix the reason.

Example 2: Direct

You ask an employee to do something specific which you know they're able to do, like unloading the UPS truck. They outright refuse to do it by saying something like "why can't Bob do it?", "fuck you, unload it yourself", or "nah, that's not my job".

Example 3: Undermining

An employee isn't directly refusing to follow orders or obey policies. Instead, they are indirectly undermining your authority in a way that causes other people to disrespect authority or feel like disobedience is acceptable.

For example, you post a sign reminding employees to take out trash at the end of the day. Then, you find out an employee is defacing the sign and joking about it to other people. They post a sign next to yours that's a parody or a joke.

Example 4: Chain jumping

This is when an employee disobeys what you've told them and tries to excuse it by asking a different person.

Here are some examples:

An employee asks if it's okay to play music over the loudspeaker and you tell them it's not okay because it causes a safety issue if other people can't hear important things over loud music. They don't like your answer, so they go ask somebody else what they think about the situation. They don't mention they already talked to you about it.

Example 5: Derailing or muddling

You're trying to talk to employees about what tasks you need them to and a person keeps interrupting the conversation with unrelated things. Despite asking them to hold any questions until you're finished speaking, they keep interrupting or distracting. For example, you're trying to explain which projects everybody should be working on, but somebody keeps making suggestions about how to do the work a different way.

Another example: you're speaking to several employees about the appropriate way to do the work. An insubordinate keeps re-phrasing what you're saying in a way that over-simplifies or twists the meaning. Like you're trying to explain to people how distractions around the packline can cause all kinds of problems, and you give a bunch of examples of distracting behavior. The person keeps making positive-sounding statements that actually conflict with what you just said. You said "no phone use in the area" and they're saying "if you get a call remember to go outside to take the call"... except that isn't what you want people to do. You want them to turn their phones off while working.

Example 6: Willful Miscommunication / Misunderstanding

You're trying to explain to employees the correct thing to do when unloading a truck. One person in particular is more focused something unrelated like playing on their phone or emptying trash. Later on, they don't unload trucks correctly. When you ask them about it, they have excuses like "I didn't know that", "I misunderstood", "I don't remember", or something like that.

In another case, you've told a person that they are supposed to clock out for break. Instead of doing that, they just text you when they go on break. You tell them they need to use the time clock, but they respond by saying "I just thought you needed to know when I'm on break". You explain to them they need to use the time clock, and instead of agreeing to do that or apologizing for not doing it, they start complaining about other people or they try to change the topic to something else.

Example 7: Shadow process champion

This is where a person champions or encourages an unofficial process to other employees that produces unwanted results and they didn't talk to you about it beforehand.

For example, you recently talked to employees about making sure they get permission from their supervisor before leaving for break and using the timeclock to clockout. An employee doesn't use the time clock or talk to you about leaving for breaks. Instead, they send a group chat message that they are going on break. After making it clear that is not what you expect them to do, they keep doing it anyway. This is insubordinate because the person is showing other employees it's okay for them to do the same thing, even when it's not.

Example 8: The non-participant

This is where a person is habitually a non-participant in training sessions or discussions where processes, rules, or policies are being discussed. Then later, the person claims they didn't know what was expected, misunderstood, etc.

For example, this person is constantly doing things like the following during meetings:

• Repeatedly leaving to use the bathroom or check their phone;
• Sleeping or pretending to sleep;
• Making small talk and changing the subject;
• Asking repetitive questions that have already been discussed.

This is insubordinate for two different reasons. First, it's demonstrating to other employees they can be disrepectful and disruptive. Second, it's providing a later "excuse" for why this person will not do their job correctly.

#hr #infraction