Anchorage Daily News

Q. Two of my best employees are addicted to Web surfing.

I've done everything I can to stop them. I've told both I'll fire them if I catch them on the Internet. I walk by their work stations at odd times and peek at their monitors, letting them see me looking. Nothing seems to stop them.

I've talked to our IT vendor, who says he can restrict their computers so neither can log on to the Internet, but that won't work because I need them occasionally to go online for their jobs.

What do other companies do to trap Internet surfers when they don't have full-time IT professionals to monitor online access?

A. You trapped both employees, but then you set them free. When you tell employees you'll fire them if they violate your polices and then fail to act, you teach them your bark lacks bite.

To fix this, you need to take three steps.

First, decide if you truly care. Does unauthorized Internet use on work time cross a boundary or might you overlook some Web surfing for an otherwise good employee?

Second, stop peeking and make your monitoring consistent. You can do this if you let your employees know they are not to delete their Internet history and that you intend to regularly review employee Internet usage records. Ask your IT vendor to set up your computers to catch history-deleting violations.

Third, whenever you promise a disciplinary action, either carry it out or don't threaten it. If you outline a clear policy and either employee surfs or deletes history, choose a fair discipline. By sending both employees a clear, straightforward message, you might be able to clear this up.

Q. Our nonprofit has decided as part of our mission that we'll seek out individuals with mental and emotional disabilities for our janitorial staff.

The referral agency we partner with in this asked if we would consider an individual who had aphasia as the result of a stroke. She tells us this individual was a hard worker before the stroke. We hired "Alice."

We were told that Alice's aphasia meant she had a hard time talking but we're finding Alice can't even understand what we say.

Although all of us agreed that we wanted to help out people with mental disabilities, our staff is having a hard time with this. Can you help?

A. Some employees find it hard to work with those who have disabilities, making the situation even harder for the disabled employee trying to regain a work life. Those blessed with lives involving few calamities often lack empathy. Other employees overreact to disabled individuals because the situation forces them to realize that only a thin line separates their fully functioning life from the existence they might live after a stroke or injury. Many co-workers are frustrated by handling their own duties, then slowing down to relate to those who function at a slower pace.

You thus need to ask your employees to exercise patience. You can help them by explaining some of the communication issues; for example, some aphasics can understand words that they cannot use themselves.

To help them understand Alice, ask your employees to imagine what it might be like to have a word "on the tip of their tongue" but not be able to bring it forth and then to have their mind blank out. Now ask them to imagine being looked at by co-workers frustrated by the problems they're creating, adding humiliation to disability. Finally, ask them to imagine that they had strong mental capacity before a stroke but now can't easily communicate.

If your employees let her, Alice can also guide them. Suggest your employees tell Alice when they don't understand her. Alice might also ask them to simply slow down and let her complete her thoughts even if she struggles for words. Or she may ask them to use pictograms.

Finally, let your employees know they benefit from learning to work with Alice. Not only could her tragedy happen to any one of them or their loved ones, but everyone who increases in empathy gains a richer life.

Lynne Curry is a local management trainer, consultant and syndicated columnist. Her advice and opinion column appears Mondays. Questions for her column may be faxed to her at 258-2157 or mailed to her c/o Anchorage Daily News, P.O. Box 149001, Anchorage 99514-9001. Her e-mail is lynne@thegrowthcompany.net.

ADVERTISEMENT