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Susan M. Heathfield
On the National Day of Prayer and Remembrance, NCCI Holdings, Inc., a Boca Raton, Florida-based workers’ compensation specialist, deprived its employees of their right to take comfort in the sight of the American flag. Why? Because the company had a long held policy that did not permit political or religious expression at work.
According to Roy Harris, in a CFO.com article, Flag Waiver? NCCI Reverses Policy, “in his initial message to workers following the terrorist bombings, CEO Bill Schrempf had reiterated that company policy was to ban ‘statements or actions, or political or religious discussions, and anything else that could be divisive or mean different things to different people’ — including office flag displays.’”
I have serious concerns about this and other similar workplace policies. They violate freedom of expression. They deprive employees of a way to express who they are and what they believe and value. They deny people the opportunity to tell the world what they want to share about themselves.
Objects Form and Express CultureWith behavior or actions and interpersonal communication, the things people surround themselves with at work contribute forcefully to the creation of your organizational culture. These articles define, in a few snapshots, much about who a person is and what they believe is important. Whether representing the family, religious beliefs, political leanings or a favorite hobby, these artifacts are a reflection of the individual they represent. Depending on the role of religion or politics in an individual’s life, a policy such as this may keep a person from sharing the most important aspect of his world with his co-workers.
Policies Are ProblematicI am not a fan of policies. I believe your workplace needs fewer policies, rather than more. You need the policies and rules which will provide a safe, orderly, free of harassment, fair, consistent workplace. NCCI clearly violated employee mourning needs when its managers asked employees to remove flags from their work stations during the National Day of Prayer and Remembrance.
Various Internet and news sources, including the Palm Beach Post offer stories that claim employees, who displayed the flags, were sent home and that flags were confiscated. Company spokespersons have denied most of these rumors. The one thing that is clear from the stories is that the implementation of a likely unnecessary company policy caused hurt and embarrassment to employees and national outrage about the company in the aftermath of the attack on America.
This is the last thing any company needs – a PR nightmare. Indeed, the finance department of this not-for-profit company is cited in the September issue of CFO magazine for its high score in a quality of work life survey. CFO has taken some criticism for this public position in support of NCCI. (In fairness, the rating was done well in advance of the September 11 tragedy, and NCCI likely does have a high quality workplace.)
In a recent article, I listed Twenty Dumb Things Organizations Do... to mess up their relationships with people. Policies such as this are on that list. In the article, I emphasized that companies do these twenty things with all the right reasons and intentions. NCCI likely wanted to build a cohesive team, honor diversity and keep employees safe from exposure to unwanted proselytizing. Instead they treated their employees like children and created a story that received national coverage and produced moral outrage.
Treat Employees as Trusted AdultsInstead of policies, develop workplace relationship guidelines with all employees participating. Tell people they do have the right and opportunity to express who they are at work. Teach people that all employees have the obligation to create a work environment which honors diversity of opinion and beliefs. An ethnic slur or other actions or objects that demean an individual's nationality, religion, or political leanings can constitute harassment if they create an intimidating, hostile or offensive working environment, unreasonably interfere with work performance or negatively affect an individual's employment opportunities.
Then, step back and deal with any problem that occurs as needed. Don’t make workplace rules because someone, some time, somewhere might do or say something that is offensive to other employees. If you have your workplace guidelines and standards of expected conduct in place, trust that the majority of people will treat their co-workers with dignity and respect.
Your employees will appreciate your confidence and live up to your expectations. The objects people bring to work and the discussions they hold with each other create your culture. Make it one that honors the display of the diverseness of opinion and beliefs.
This article offers the opinion of Susan M. Heathfield and does not constitute legal advice. Officials at NCCI Holdings, Inc. declined an interview and referred readers to their Web site statement.
In the aftermath, according to the press release at the NCCI Web site, Schrempf met with employees and explained that company leadership met and decided to permit flags in the workplace. This reversed the company’s long standing position which had been intended to protect employees.
The company took the following actions concerning the display of the American flag by its employees:
- Any interested employee could display an American flag on their desktop. Flags
were provided for this purpose, if employees wanted to have one to
display.
- Red, white and blue lapel remembrance ribbons were provided for people who
wanted to wear them.
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