Let the hunters hunt

I’m sure you’ve seen the ads for the National Guard, where they urge employers to allow guardsmen time off for their training. That’s even more important today, when Guard members are being pulled in to active duty and shipped overseas for months on end. I’m not saying hunting is anywhere near as important as allowing guardsmen to take time off work, but it’s still pretty important. If you’re an employer who has people working for you who like to hunt, you’ve gotta’ give ‘em some time off to go after their prey of choice. You don’t need to give them two weeks all at once, but let ‘em have a weekend now and then, or maybe even a couple of weekdays during the season.

Working a hunter straight through the hunting season is a sure way to kill workplace morale. The hunter who is not allowed to go hunting will start off mopey, then turn cranky. After a couple of weeks without the time off to go hunting, the hunter will become completely unbearable. Think of a caffeine addict who can’t have his morning coffee. Now multiply that by about three-oh-eight. That’s what you get when you have a hunter who can’t go hunting.

But if you let that hunter go hunting, you’ll have a happy worker come the next Monday. It’s not even necessary for the hunter to have a successful trip. Just as long as he gets to go hunting, he’ll be much easier to work with for the rest of the season.

Strangely enough, the worse the hunt is, the higher the morale when he comes back to work. I think it’s a function of having something to talk about. If he has a hunt where nothing goes right, he’ll be the star of the water-cooler get-togethers for at least a couple of days. The more hunters you have in your place of business, the more mileage that unlucky hunter will get out of the trip.

So allow them a couple of days off this hunting season. Let them go out and try to get an elk or a deer. Whether they come home with a critter or return empty-handed, you, the boss, will be the hero. And keep in mind, if they do get a critter, as the boss, you are entitled to an elk steak or two as thanks for letting them take some days off. Let your hunters hunt, and wish ‘em luck.