Kathleen Edmond, Best Buy's Chief Ethics Officer

A Best Buy employee terminated for Inappropriate Conduct was recently reinstated by a Peer Review panel even though the panel found evidence of Inappropriate Conduct in the employee’s actions. The Peer Review findings are summarized as follows:

A Supervisor-level Best Buy employee at a Best Buy store admitted to having service work performed on her computer in the store’s computer repair area without first paying for those services. The employee was also observed to spend several hours in the computer repair area during her scheduled shift.

When asked about the situation, the employee claimed that she intended to pay for the services after they were completed and had management approval to do so. Regarding the excessive amount of time spent in the computer repair room, the employee stated that she used that time to conduct performance review one-on-one meetings with the computer technicians. Neither of these assertions was corroborated during investigation of the matter.

At the time of the Peer Review, the above facts – as well as several other unrelated claims of Inappropriate Conduct – were used as justification for terminating the employee. However, documentation completed at the time of termination only reflected the above situation regarding the computer repair scenario.

Upon review of the case and prior documentation, the Peer Review panel overturned the termination and reinstated the employee. Though they found the employee had indeed behaved inappropriately in the way she: a) used company time; b) made personal purchases on company time, and; c) failed to pay for services at the time rendered, they did not feel termination was warranted for the following reasons:
• The multiple other instances of Inappropriate Conduct that were claimed to have factored into the termination decision were not found in any documentation created at the time of termination. Absent this documentation, the panel was only able to consider the scenario described above.
• The store’s leadership team needs to set clearer expectations of how Supervisors are to spend their time and should re-direct Supervisors as necessary. Lack of definition of the store’s performance management rhythm was cited as an example.
• Close personal relationships among the store’s leadership team appeared to unnecessarily complicate the running of the business.

What role did the lack of documentation regarding the other alleged instances of Inappropriate Conduct play in this case?

How did management’s failure to set clear expectations for Supervisor-level employees contribute to the situation?

One thing this case illustrates is Best Buy’s belief that both management and employees have a responsibility to treat each other fairly and communicate clearly.