I appreciate your tolerance and understanding that you’ve exhibited with your employees and their tendency to exaggerate the truth and blow stories out of proportion. This behavior could very well be a tendency of their socio-economic backgrounds, their cultural background, or even a byproduct of your corporate culture for that matter. Truth is, it really doesn’t matter. In fact, you probably want to stay away from making any assumptions or assertions as to “why” many or most of your seasonal employees are the way they are. There are many variables that make people/employees the way they are, and any attempt to narrow it down to one or two factors could be seen as insensitive and limiting.

I do have a suggestion or two for you however. First, make attempts to get to know your employees as individuals. This way you can develop unique relationships with each one and they with you. I know that that is easier said than done, but it will actually increase you influence with them, let alone your relationship.

Second, be clear on where and when to draw the line on any conversations, discussions, or explanations that impede productivity. Once job performance is at stake, you will need to be prepared to step in and bring the conversation(s) down to a factual and realistic level. If job performance is never really a factor in these situations, then I’d let it go.

Lastly, you may want to share with the whole group your management style/philosophy and core values. It is important for employees to know how someone is going to manage them and the philosophy behind it. You probably should share this every year, since your employees are seasonal. But back to my point, let them know up front the value you place on clear, precise and honest communication. Make sure the know that your expectation is that they communicate that way when it comes to any work-related issue, discussion, or passing on information with one-another. By doing this, you’ve essentially given yourself permission to address any communication-related issue that doesn’t promote clear, precise and honest communication.

In the future, you will also want to share some of your communication expectations during the interview phase so that potential employees can assess if that works for them. This also allows you the opportunity to weed out any potential employees that would struggle with your communication expectations.

All this “up-front” work really saves you headaches down the road and is worth the effort on your part. In summary: 1) keep doing what you are doing; 2) know when to draw the line; 3) remember, it is about communication, not about socio-economic status, etc.; 4) get to know your people as individuals, and 5) share your management philosophy and core values whenever possible. I hope this helps a bit.