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Supervisor's Role and Responsibilities

The supervisor's role involves overseeing employee performance while ensuring a safe and productive work environment. Supervisors must enforce workplace policies, particularly regarding substance abuse, while maintaining fairness and confidentiality. They are not responsible for diagnosing issues or providing counseling, but must take action when performance problems arise.

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51 views2 pages

Supervisor's Role and Responsibilities

The supervisor's role involves overseeing employee performance while ensuring a safe and productive work environment. Supervisors must enforce workplace policies, particularly regarding substance abuse, while maintaining fairness and confidentiality. They are not responsible for diagnosing issues or providing counseling, but must take action when performance problems arise.

Uploaded by

kbnarkhede
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Supervisor’s Role and Responsibilities

The role of the supervisor is traditionally a difficult one. You must fulfill various
responsibilities to your employees, work group and organization. You also are responsible
for ensuring the work is carried out in such a way that no one’s security, safety or health
is jeopardized.

As a supervisor, you have the day-to-day responsibility for what goes on in the
workplace. Therefore, you play a critical role in supporting the drug-free workplace
program and enforcing the policy. However, you are not expected to perform the role of
police officer or counselor. Your primary role is as an observer. You watch the
employees’ job performance to ensure that all necessary tasks are completed in
accordance with specifications and deadlines.

In your supervisory capacity you are responsible for seeing that the work of your staff
meets established performance standards. Your supervisory role is clear. When an
employee begins to show a consistent pattern of problem behavior, you must take action.
Focusing on job performance, even when you think the problem may be caused by
substance abuse, allows you to balance:

 The rights of the individual employee to privacy and fair treatment; and
 The rights of the work group to a safe, secure and productive environment.

It is important to be consistent with all employees. Don’t play favorites and do be fair
when evaluating situations and employees. As a supervisor, you should establish levels of
performance expected from all employees. What is acceptable? What is not? You should
make clear to employees exactly what is expected of them.
 
It is important that supervisors implement and apply the policy in a way that pays close
attention to the following legally sensitive areas:

 Safeguarding employee confidentiality


 Making sure the policy is clearly communicated to all employees
 Properly following procedures to thoroughly investigate alleged violations
 Providing due process and ample opportunity for employees to answer allegations
 Ensuring quality control of testing and confirmation of positive tests, if testing is
included
 Conforming to the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) and union contracts, if
applicable

It is your responsibility, as a supervisor, to:

 Maintain a safe, secure and productive environment for employees


 Evaluate and discuss performance with employees
 Treat all employees fairly
 Act in a manner that does not demean or label people

It is NOT your responsibility, as a supervisor, to:

 Diagnose drug and alcohol problems


 Have all the answers
 Provide counseling or therapy
 Be a police officer

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