I believe that sleeping on the job is misconduct. In fact. it is Gross Misconduct subjecting the employee to termination.
Firstly. sleeping on the job is, in fact, theft, and there is no excuse for theft. It is a deliberate, conscious act. An employee has an obligation to his/her employer to provide a service for a wage. If the service is not provided and the employee collects the wage, it is a breach of the imploied employment contract. Such a breach impacts the productivity, efficiency and viability of the organization, as well as the job security of co-workers, and, perhaps, vendors and local merchants.
Secondly, failure to address the conduct is merely condoning the unacceptable behavior, opening the gates to future occurrances by the same or other employees, truly establishing a slippery slope. The end result is the same - a loss of productivity resulting in the demise of thje organization.
Finally, there is no reasonable excuse for coming to work fatigued and exposing co-workers to a potential safety hazard which could result in physical injury or death.
As a Human Resource consultant in heavy industry - aerospace, aluminum, paper and steel - I have first hand experience and knowledge of the consequences of such irresponsible conduct. |