Responding to fragility with agility

A customer recently shared on social media about her experience with a saleswoman at a mall. The customer was being helped by the saleswoman to purchase a glass tumbler when the saleswoman accidentally dropped and shattered it. At first, the customer was going to inquire about buying the tumbler when she noticed the saleswoman looked very concerned after breaking it. Upon checking the price, the tumbler cost only 85 pesos. However, the saleswoman explained that the mall policy charges employees ten times the actual price of any item they break. So instead of 85 pesos, she would be charged 850 pesos for the broken tumbler - the equivalent of a full day's wages for minimum wage earners and a quarter of the following day's wages. Wanting to help, the customer opted to pay for the broken tumbler herself so the saleswoman would not be unfairly burdened with the inflated cost.

Companies must review and change policies that penalize employees excessively for mistakes. For example, forcing low-paid, entry-level sales employees to pay ten times the price of items accidentally damaged creates overly harsh penalties. This significantly cuts into the already small incomes of minimum wage earners, showing little consideration for their well-being. Rather than rigid penalties without flexibility, companies should invest in proper training programs to prevent errors. An empathetic approach creates a learning opportunity for improvement.

The landscape of business is continuously evolving for the better. Organizational policies require comprehensive planning, creation, implementation, and evaluation. Approving inhumane policies will only worsen employees' financial burdens, hurting morale and potentially decreasing productivity. Instead, policies addressing employee mistakes should be collaborative, incorporating input from frontline staff on whether planned policies are too harsh or impractical. Furthermore, penalties should not overburden employees with extra work or wage decreases. Rather, companies should prioritize proper training, coaching, and development programs to improve job performance.

Employee mistakes and accidents reveal fragility in training, workplace culture, or job design. Rather than punitive policies that punish individual employees, human resources must respond with agility to address the root causes. Open communication channels give frontline staff a voice in shaping collaborative policies that uplift rather than instill fear. Continuous feedback through surveys, interviews, and discussions uncovers areas needing improvement. Policies should then be frequently evaluated post-implementation to measure impact on satisfaction, ethics, and employee retention.

This empathetic and iterative approach fosters an agile culture focused on learning from mistakes, not merely penalizing them. The goal is to prevent future errors by better training and workplace practices, not by harshly punishing individual staff after the fact. With thoughtful design and a developmental mindset, organizations can create accountable, growth-oriented policies that are sustainable over the long term. When the focus is on penalties, organizations inevitably shoot themselves in the foot; but when we respond to fragility with agility, organizations can thrive together with their members.