should you go to the home of an employee who doesn’t show up for work?

A reader writes:

Some time ago, my husband and I owned a small computer business. One of the employees was an insulin-dependent woman who lived alone. She had always been very reliable until one morning when she didn’t show up for work and didn’t answer her phone. We drove to her nearby home, saw that her car was in the parking lot, and became afraid for her. We knocked on the door and called her over and over. We could hear the phone ringing inside, but there was no response so we called the police for a wellness check. The police came and eventually went into the house.

The officer came back out almost immediately and assured us that the woman was okay. Apparently she had been in bed with a man.

Later we realized that after we left the office and before we started banging on her door, she had called and left a message that she wasn’t coming in.

The next day, the employee came in, furious. At the time I felt both foolish and aggrieved over the whole incident; recently, though, I’ve been getting a little worried as I read about employers who invade their employees’ privacy. Now I’m wondering what we should have done differently other than the obvious — check messages. The employee certainly thought we were outrageous. Can you render a verdict?

I answer this question over at Inc. today, where I’m revisiting letters that have been buried in the archives here from years ago (and sometimes updating/expanding my answers to them). You can read it here.

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