Just throwing my opinion in here...

That's the cut-and-dried of things, Jay. The "basic rules" so to speak.

But there's an old saying that anybody will perform exactly to your expectations.
What that means is that how you treat a person determines how they will perform. So if you treat a person like a piece of meat, they will return what you can expect from a piece of meat. Or if you treat someone as an idiot, they will be sure to act like an idiot.

There was a 'study' done in a factory, back in the early 50s I think, where a person simply adjusted the lights on the factory floor and explained that they were trying to determine the most comfortable lighting for the workers to get their jobs done. Productivity shot up and stayed that way day-to-day as the guy adjusted the lights differently each day. It went back to normal shortly after that stopped.
It was concluded that the action was interpreted by the workers as CARING by their employers. The employees reacted to this beneficence by working harder in appreciation of the caring demnstrated.

Now you can go to the "minimum" contract any time - show up, do you work, get paid for it - but that will get you minimum output too.
Show some caring, show some respect and the rewards will be far greater in return for the little bit it takes to do those things. And you know what... both you and the employer are happier in the end.

John was meeting targets but got dinged for some tardiness/absences rooted in very severe family problems. He was treated like a piece of meat and he showed his appreciation by leaving. How did anyone gain from that?????



>I'm going to be the fly in ointment here for a minute. I realize all you were going through, but isn't there an expectation that an employee will fit within certain guidelines as well? Though they were heavy, just how responsible does the company need to be in regards to your personal issues? They hire someone to do something. It's not a big family. I've never worked anywhere that the company ultimately wasn't looking out for the company. And isn't that the deal we strike when they hire us? They agree to pay us a specific amount to do a job. We will do the job because they will pay us. If they don't pay us, we would not come in. If you do not, or are unable to, come in to work according to their guidelines, they should stop paying us. I feel for you John - lots of life came at you big time - but why was the company at fault for not holding your hand and catering to you? Ok, that was a pretty big fly, but I was thinking about it and wanted to say it.
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>>I never wanted to be evaluated on the basis of my personal challenges; I simply wanted to be treated fairly and to be judged in terms of how the product was doing. In my, possibly simplistic, worldview if we were hitting milestones and product failures were minimal, I was doing my job.