Stepping Over Dollars To Pick Up Dimes
By Randall Barker, Vice President of Human Resources - A Plus Benefits
A lot of businesses are trying to cut costs and save money. One way I’ve seen businesses try and shave costs is by requiring employees to share hotel rooms while traveling for business. While this may make sense at first glance, I believe this is a bad idea for a number of reasons.
We once had a client that required this of its employees and in one case had two male colleagues sharing a room. One of the employees was a heavy drinker and went out and hit the bars one night. The other employee had dinner, came back to the hotel room, finished some work and went to bed. Later that night the employee who had been at the bar came back heavily intoxicated and with a female companion he met at the bar and proceeded to try and get intimate with his new friend while his colleague was in the next bed.
This is extreme but there are other things that people making the decision to have employees share hotel rooms don’t take into consideration, including: people who snore, sleeping patterns of individuals, including night owls and early risers, TV viewing preferences and a number of other issues and concerns.
While there is no hard and fast HR rules regulating the implementation of a policy like this, I believe that if a company evaluated the costs and compared them with employee productivity due to limited privacy and unhappiness, they would find that they are not reaping the savings they hoped for.
In my experience, employees hate sharing a room and are usually grumpy as a result of being forced to do so. Additionally, in the example I shared if an employer does not listen to employee concerns and complaints they open themselves up to potential hostile work environment lawsuits.
This practice has become pretty common, especially as a result of the bad economy. However, I believe that a company does itself more harm that good by requiring employees to share a hotel room while traveling for business purposes.
About the Author
Randall Barker is Vice President of Human Resources at A Plus Benefits and has been with the company for over 14 years. He has been involved in human resources for over 20 years and is a certified Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) and Certified Employment Law Specialist (CELS). He received his master’s degree from the University of Phoenix and has taught Human Resource classes at a local college. He has extensive experience with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and has successfully managed more than 80 discrimination claims for A Plus Benefits clients during the past 14 years in Utah, Nevada, Wyoming, and Colorado.
The content of this blog reflects the views and opinions of the author, and not necessarily those of Utah Business.
Tags: business travel, employment lawsuit, HR, Human Resources