While the title is no doubt a play on Sir Mix-A-Lot’s 1992 classic “Baby Got Back”, in this pod we take it back a few decades and draw inspiration from The Rolling Stones’ song “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”. 

A common question we get around here is “do you back charge employees when they make a mistake?” 

After all there is parking fines, falling through ceilings, crashing cars, turning up late, cutting holes in the wrong spot, damaging tools, leaving torches in a roof, broken ceiling tiles with no spares (omgggg), among many many other items. I’m sure you could add a few more to the list!! 

Ok so back to The Stones. 

“What We Want” is nothing to go wrong ever, people to take accountability and pay for their mistakes (either in time, energy, money etc), our staff to take responsibility for all their work and action, and so on. 

“What We Need” is to understand that nobody is perfect, everyone makes mistakes, we have insurances, we need to build a solid culture and that means we can’t kick and scream and carry on, to give our staff a safe space to bring things up, and so on. 

We also need to give ourselves a reality check is someone is consistently costing us time, money, clients, staff, energy, headspace, and so on. 

So what is the answer? Do you back charge sometimes? All the time? No times? Rarely? Every second full moon? 

The answer, we discuss, in the pod. 

Hope you enjoy xx 

Keywords

back charging, employee mistakes, workplace culture, accountability, business ethics, communication, risk management, learning from mistakes, employee relationships, business success

Takeaways

• You can't always get what you want, but you might find you get what you need.
• Everyone makes mistakes; it's part of being human.
• Creating a culture of accountability is essential for business success.
• Back charging employees can be ethically complex.
• Communication of expectations is crucial in preventing mistakes.
• Mistakes should be seen as learning opportunities.
• The risk and reward of business are intertwined.
• Setting clear boundaries and expectations helps mitigate issues.
• Mistakes can highlight areas for improvement in business processes.
• Fostering a supportive environment leads to better employee retention.

Sound Bites

• "You can't always get what you want."
• "We've all made mistakes."
• "Learn from the mistakes that you make."

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Personal Anecdotes

03:03 Mistakes in the Workplace

05:49 Ethics of Back Charging Employees

08:54 Creating a Culture of Accountability

11:54 Mistakes as Learning Opportunities

14:49 Communication and Expectations

17:44 Risk and Reward in Business

20:54 Final Thoughts and Wrap-Up