The Sky is What? Green?

I had an interesting meeting yesterday. It took me until today to write about it because nobody would be interested in my utterly destuctive diatribe. I think that disagreement is good, it presents different points of view and is an effective form of brainstorming if you will. Then you decide who is right and you proceed on that course. There were five people in said meeting. There were probably three different points of view offered on most subjects. I'll condense one of these subjects to try to make my point. The company that I work for used to be very "family orientated." There were employee loans given, family type Christmas parties, BBQ, etc.. This is good, but not in such and extreme manner, that was my obsevation, so we toned it down. Now some employees have worked for this company for awhile. That is great, loyalty is a good thing. I appreciate the efforts of these employees. If a long time employee doesn't follow the rules laid down by the employer, they need to be corrected just like any other employee. If a pattern evolves that shows that the employee disregards or bends the rules to their liking in a consistent manner, then maybe it is time that this employee moves on to seek other employment. Employees are not like kids, you aren't stuck with them. You warn the employee maybe more than once, but after a point you cut you losses and cut the employee. This was my argument from yesterday. The employee has been warned four times about transgressions and keeps doing the same thing. Is it our job to nurture this employee further possibly risking monetary losses as a result of their poor work/rule following? NO- Once more and you are out! You've been warned, maybe too many times, by a soft boss.