Assigning an employee a task for which he or she does not feel qualified and which lies outside the requirements of his or her job description is an easy way to create a very unhappy worker. Keep in mind that employees will often assent to tasks for which they do not feel qualified, purely as a matter of the subordinate role in which they find themselves. Thus, you cannot take their positive assurances as a sign that they are happy about what you have assigned them. If possible, announce the task in some kind of group-directed way, asking for interested persons to respond to you as soon as possible. This way, you can be sure that you are getting a genuine interest in your proposal.
The same can be said for weekend work. It can be quite obnoxious for an employer to speak directly to an employee, asking whether he or she is interested in working on the coming weekend. Many employees lack the assertiveness to turn your offer down. You may feel that bonus pay rates are the perfect incentive for an employee to do grunt work on a weekend, but the truth is that many employees would rather stay at home with family and rejuvenate, double pay be damned. You are violating sacred territory when you impose yourself on the weekends of your employees. Instead, send out a group announcement asking for interested persons to respond to you as soon as possible. This way, you can be sure that you are not putting your boot in the behind of employee morale, which would only cost you in terms of lost productivity in the end.
Employee stress can be caused not only by assigning tasks for which an employee feels unqualified but also by assigning tasks for which an employee feels overqualified.
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