Sometimes however, the stories are just funny.  People behaving badly, or, to be more precise just not able to realize the difference between ‘stuff you should do at home’ and ‘stuff that’s OK to do at work.’

Like vice cops, HR swoops in, conducts a raid, and passes judgment on activities that society views as evil, degrading or immoral.

Over the years I’ve played vice cop a number of times such as when I:

• Discovered the (quite successful!) porn magazine ring being run by several enterprising team members.  Participating employees would bring magazines and stash them in a ‘library’/storage closet to which they all had access.  Checking out desired reading material was on the honor system.

• Unearthed a huge (!) bag of cannabis while conducting an employee locker-room cleaning.  Obviously, dude had been sampling the product and missed the signs posted for a full month beforehand that any lockers not claimed/listed would have the locks cut off.

• Convinced a hiring manager that a candidate’s 20-year-old self-disclosed arrest (no conviction) for prostitution was not pertinent to the current discussion about her suitability for employment

• Found rumpled, um, bedclothes in a seldom-used work space.  Very well-used, um, bedclothes.

Good times.

**********

Obviously, in addition to common sense, HR policies or organizational codes of conduct come into play when investigating and evaluating when an employee’s activities require discipline or termination. And, naturally, we review some activities in conjunction with our workplace/sexual harassment policies.

There are, however, some organizations that consider conduct that constitutes “moral turpitude” unacceptable and immediate grounds for discipline or termination.  Defined as “conduct that is considered contrary to community standards of justice, honesty or good morals,” this can cover a whole lot of ground.  In legal proceedings, a conviction for a crime involving moral turpitude may result in witnesses being impeached, license-holders (i.e. attorneys) losing their licenses, or lawful permanent residents (immigrants) being deported.

Independent of the various legal definitions around the theory is this something that we, especially in HR, categorize as something that we’ll “know when we see it?”  

And I wonder if we get overly worked up and climb up on our HR-High-Horse when employee behavior includes elements of sex, drugs and, perhaps, even a little bit of rock-n-roll?

Who passes judgment on morality?  Are HR practitioners – or lawyers, god forbid – the ones who should be doing this?

I’m curious – who amongst us has been faced with making an employment decision based on the concept of “moral turpitude?”

Every now and again, in a moment of delirium, I get the urge to grab an exquisite potted bloom from the local florist or pick up a lush piece of greenery.   “I can nurture this plant!” I tell myself. “It will flourish!  It will grow big and tall and be fabulous!!”

Sadly, however, whether inside the climate controlled environs of my house or outside in the glorious sunshine where it’s able to spread it’s little roots and experience magnificent photosynthesis while basking in the gentle rays of the sun, within weeks days the miserable little plant is dead.

I like to think that beautiful hydrangea was as keen to get to his new home as I was to bring him with me.  But still his lovely color faded and Mr. Hydrangea withered and died.  Rather quickly.

*********

I’ve had a few conversations recently with some folks who relayed stories about starting new jobs.  Much like that lovely hydrangea (eager to arrive at a new sensational destination!), once they crossed paths with incompetence, their will to live desire to work at XYZ Company quickly perished.  To wit:

• New Employee A who reported to the HQ (multi-state employer with tens of thousands of employees) on Day 1 at the appointed time of 8 AM.  She was told to wait in the lobby for her new manager.   Which she did.  For more than 2 hours.
• New Employee B who reported to her new employer where she spent the first day engaged (disengaged?) in the mind-numbing exercise known as New Employee Orientation.  After which she was handed over to her new manager.  Mr. Manager explained that he didn’t have a cubicle/computer/phone for her yet so ‘could she please just find a place to wait in the cafeteria?’  Which she did.  For four days.
• New Employee C who, during the courtship recruitment phase, was told that he would be in Bonus Group 3 (25%!), additional PTO time ‘should not be a problem’ and working from home was supported – and even encouraged! – by the company.  Sadly, this was a fairy tale spun by the hiring manager and one that the HR Department quickly squashed, causing Employee C to consider reactiving his job search.  Which he did.  That evening when he got home.

Dying. On the vine. In the pot.  Before they even get a chance to extend their green leaves and shiny petals toward the promised sunshine.

I wish some of those gardeners would just slaughter their plants at home – like me - and stop exterminating the dreams of employees.

Today, here at the Schoolhouse, we take a few moments to learn from the Brothers Grimm…

**********

A merchant had done good business at the fair; he had sold his wares, and lined his money-bags with gold and silver. Then he wanted to travel homewards, and be in his own house before nightfall. So he packed his trunk with the money on his horse, and rode away.

At noon he rested in a town, and when he wanted to go farther the stable-boy brought out his horse and said, “A nail is wanting, sir, in the shoe of its left hind foot.” “Let it be wanting,” answered the merchant; “the shoe will certainly stay on for the six miles I have still to go. I am in a hurry.”

In the afternoon, when he once more alighted and had his horse fed, the stable-boy went into the room to him and said, “Sir, a shoe is missing from your horse’s left hind foot. Shall I take him to the blacksmith?” “Let it still be wanting,” answered the man; “the horse can very well hold out for the couple of miles which remain. I am in haste.”

He rode forth, but before long the horse began to limp. It had not limped long before it began to stumble, and it had not stumbled long before it fell down and broke its leg. The merchant was forced to leave the horse where it was, and unbuckle the trunk, take it on his back, and go home on foot. And there he did not arrive until quite late at night. “And that unlucky nail,” said he to himself, “has caused all this disaster.”

Hasten slowly.

************

image Creative Commons

Since 2010 I’ve traversed the great state of Louisiana (and beyond) speaking to SHRM chapters and at HR conferences about “HR and Social Media.” While the content has varied, in general we discuss why they should get involved, how they should get involved, and what they can expect as a return when they understand, embrace and use social channels in their professional lives as well as within their organizations.

Three years hence I still get a few eye-rolls although, thankfully, I see fewer attendees sitting with the deer-in-head-lights look.  Rather I’ve noticed a growing – and welcome! – sense of curiosity from the nice HR practitioners in attendance.  Not as scared as they once were, they want to know and they want to understand.

However, as might be expected, despite its mammoth scale and infiltration into every aspect of our lives, Facebook continues to be the channel that the HR ladies and gents are the most reluctant to use for any sort of ‘work’ related function.   “Too personal.”  “Too much like the wild west.”  “I don’t want to know what my candidates/employees/colleagues do on the weekend!”  OK – I get it.  I’m not sure I want to see Bob in Purchasing hanging out sans-shirt at his weekend crawfish boil either.

Plus, of course, we’ve been informed in the course of our HR careers to ‘be fair’ and ‘neutral’ and evaluate people using slide rules and spreadsheets.  We institute attendance policies and track time in 7 minute increments to determine if Joe is a crappy employee and needs to be fired.  Government employers (city, state, federal) follow hiring rules that attempts to turn every job applicant into a number by calculating points for months of experience, education and related activities.  36  months of experience, will always trump 34 months and thus, effectively, move Ms. 36-months higher on the hiring-list than Mr. 34-months.   Don’t believe me?  Go fill out a civil service employment application.

So this way of operating infiltrates the thinking of many HR practitioners whenever anything new or different is introduced.    And nowhere has this been more apparent than when HR folks have contemplated how to use social media in the brave-new-world of recruiting and employee interactions.  I recently talked to:

• A company that won an award (!) for its robust, engaging and successful Facebook campus recruiting page.  I checked it out and saw recruiters building relationships with students early in their college careers, leading to internships and ultimately professional positions upon graduation.  Sadly, upon reporting for duty on day 1, the freshly-minted college grad who had been wooed, courted and had lots of conversations where he hung out, found that access to all social channels (including, naturally, Facebook) was blocked at the office.

• A large employer that dove headfirst into all-things-social – The CEO is on Twitter!!!  We have tens of thousands of likes on our Facebook page!!! We’re communicating news updates and tips and promotions to our customers and interacting with them online!!!  And we encourage you, our employees, to watch all these channels for updates in real-time; except, well, you can’t do that at work because we have them blocked….”

• A hiring manager who after a successful interview checked out (against the directives of his HR Department) the Facebook profile of a very strong candidate. What he uncovered there made him hesitant to further consider her because of a status update that she ‘wanted to move to San Francisco.”  I, of course, have posted I want to marry Johnny Depp; wishing and wanting don’t make it so.

***********

Now I’m not saying all these organizations need to be sourcing candidates and recruiting across every social channel.  They need to decide what works for them.  But:

• HR practitioners must develop an understanding that the use or non-use of social channels can either reinforce or obliterate the  targeted employment experience.
• HR professionals have the ability, if they understand these channels, to drive conversations within their organizations and encourage adoption by working in conjunction with other functional areas such as Marketing and IT.
• HR leaders can either get on board with social tools or be at risk of once more being viewed as the department of naysayers.  In the 2^nd example given above, the employer has hundreds (!) of open positions, yet is not recruiting via any social channels at all.  None.   But their sales, marketing and operational messaging is very strong on Facebook.  Why is HR not part of the overall organizational messaging and engagement with the community?

So come on HR friends.  Look around.  Explore.  Ask questions.

It may be curiouser and curiouser.  But that’s OK.  Really.

********

“’Curiouser and curiouser!’ Cried Alice (she was so much surprised, that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good English). ’Now I’m opening out like the largest telescope that ever was! Good-bye, feet!’ (for when she looked down at her feet they seemed to be almost out of sight, they were getting so far off).”  (Alice in Wonderland, Ch. 2)

Over the weekend, while poking around on SHRM’s HR Talk bulletin board (always a source of amusement), I happened upon a discussion around SM job descriptions/salaries.  In the discussion thread, Anonymous’ wrote “So, you can get paid for tweeting and facebooking all day??? Oh, this new generation,,,’sigh.’” 

Sigh indeed.

**********

Back in the day I worked at a chemical plant for a contractor that ran the logistics and packaging operations across the facility.  We had a sizable work force spread across the entire plant working in various production units.  It was hot, sweaty, dirty and physically demanding work – not a job filled with fun and merriment and definitely not an easy gig.  While we had long-tenured employees who had been working at the site for 25 years, we also had a younger crop of staff members who didn’t envision this as their life’s work.  And some of them were, shall we say, less-than-‘engaged.’

One day, in the largest production unit where 75-lb bales of rubber were produced, manually inspected and manually packaged, an unhappy guy named Derek had enough.  He marched himself into the off-limits control room, snatched up the microphone, flipped the switch, and proceeded to bash the company, the General Manager and his co-workers.  His curse-word-filled diatribe (fairly colorful – he got points for creativity) boomed across the unit as he lashed out about the working conditions, the heat, the pay, and the fact that the bathrooms were an excrement-filled-sh*t-hole.

He wound down, flipped off the switch, and came to the unit’s break room where, as he assumed correctly, the General Manager and I were waiting to have a discussion.   And then, when he got in the GM’s face, unleashed another torrent of vitriole and followed it up by throwing his hard hat across the room at me (me!  the nice HR lady!), we walked him out of the plant for the last time.

***********

Employees have been ranting and raving for years. I’m sure good old Fred Flintstone let loose with a stream of profanities at the time clock every now and again.

So did we terminate Derek for voicing his opinion?  Nope.  We did, however,take him on that final walk for accessing an off-limits area, throwing his hard hat at me (me!!) and threatening the GM.

That was a decade ago.  Today Derek would probably take to Twitter, Facebook or his blog.  Perhaps with an even more graphic description of the disgusting urine splashed bathroom.

I’ve never referenced my employer in my writing here at the Schoolhouse but, naturally, anyone who really cared to know where I worked could easily find that information (help Google!  hello LinkedIn!).

I’ve been fortunate (and privileged) since September of 2006 to lead the HR function at the Louisiana Lottery Corporation.  And I couldn’t be any happier to have called this organization “my home.”

I’m so incredibly proud of not only what we do for the state of Louisiana and our citizens but even more importantly how we do it.  There are lots (and lots!) of organizations that toss about terms like integrity and trust and excellence because they sound fancy important buzzwordy but I can truly say that the employees, leaders and members of our Board of Directors live and breathe these values every single day.  Every day.

And, as an HR professional, one of the coolest things ever has been the fact that my boss moved into her current role as President/CEO from an HR leadership role.  Cool fact #2 – while Rose has been CEO she has continued to be both a SHRM member and has maintained her SPHR certification.  The CEO of an organization with soaring sales/revenue and she truly values HR, the power of people and the importance of our profession.  Plus she loves Twitter! Awesome.

**********

An HR friend told me the other day, upon hearing the news of my departure “I can’t believe it!  You’re an institution at the Lottery.”  I got somewhat of a kick out of that even as it made me a tad reflective.

In many ways I like the fact that I’ve been associated with an organization and a role to the extent that we’ve become synonymous.  Then again, perhaps when one becomes an institution it does mean it’s time to move on.

So tomorrow I’ll start my next adventure.  And tonight, for the first time in almost 7 years, I’m going to purchase some Lottery tickets.

Realizing, however, that in so many ways I’ve already hit the jackpot.

(While we’re enjoying spring break here at the Schoolhouse, here’s a post from the archives).

Innovation and change.  We discuss it all the time.  In the world of commerce, there’s an understanding that innovation is more than just creating new products or offering new services.  It’s also about reinventing or evolving existing processes.   It’s about creating NEW markets to tap into the unmet need/desires of customers… sometimes needs/desires they don’t even know they have.  Obviously, due to technology and access to information, the world is operating at a much more rapid pace.  Globalization, diversity of thought and inclusion of more people into decision making roles allows organizations to develop NEW IDEAS.  And then organizations execute on those new ideas to bring services, products and new ways of operating to their customers in record time.

Surveys of business leaders and CEOs report findings that innovation remains a top priority for their organizations.  In the 2010 McKinsey Global Survey, 84% of executives say ‘innovation is extremely or very important to their companies’ growth strategy.’

So can a philosophy of “slow and steady wins the race” still hold true?

************** I recently had a conversation with the leader of an organization who informed me that her philosophy of leading her organization was to move slowly, not introduce any change that would be too unsettling or different for customers, and, in general, maintain the status quo.  Doing things the same way without too much innovation had allowed the organization to be ‘successful’ for lo-these-many-years.  Offering the same product, in the same manner, and targeting the exact same customer base was sufficient.  She could identify no urgent need to diversify or champion new ideas that might move that flat-line of growth in another direction.

Cautious and prudent business planning is important; maintaining core customers, holding steady in terms of financial stability.  But refusing to recognize that change must come and change can BURST open the doors to new possibilities by getting one into new markets and redefining what one’s product/service stands for…that, in my estimation, is, well,  foolish.

Once upon a time, no one had even imagined we would have a need for Facebook.  Or iPhones.  Or Snuggies.  But someone defined a need, took a chance, and came to the marketplace.

************

Is an organization moving at a more sedate pace at risk of losing to out to competitors who are advancing, innovating and offering new products and services?  Certainly.

How long can an organization continue to exist in the age of innovation if they refuse to innovate?  Perhaps they’ll be extinguished in one spectacular meltdown.

Or perhaps they’ll perish….. at a slow and steady pace.

(While we’re enjoying spring break here at the Schoolhouse, here’s a post from the archives).

It’s probably very taxing for my husband to drive around with me at night; I always ask him to drive-a-little-slower when we’re in various neighborhoods because I like nothing more than being able to get a glimpse inside people’s houses (dark outside, lights on inside – naturally this is the only way this works). I’m not some creepy voyeur (I don’t think…); rather I find it endlessly fascinating to see people’s décor and room layouts.  There’s always an extra thrill when I see people sitting at a dining room table or playing a game in their living room.

OK, maybe a tad voyeuristic.

**********

Another thing I totally like to do is talk to people about their workplaces – whether they be friends, job applicants, HR colleagues, business contacts or just plain old random folks I meet down at the locale watering hole.  I like to hear about the day-to-day, the hum-drum, the rules and policies, the next new thing, the BIG ideas – I want to know it all.

Now this is not about discovering ‘best practices’ or trying to find some magic bottled elixir that I can replicate in order to tackle an issue or move something forward.  Rather, it’s pure interest and curiosity. I like to find out:

• What is their workspace like?  Offices or cubicles?  Open plan concept or a maze of walls and fences?  Do people personalize their space or is it one of those offices where pictures, swag and geegaws are frowned upon?  Can they drink their coffee or diet Coke at their desks desk or do they work at a place where no food/beverages are allowed in the work area?  Is the ambience circa 1987 with furniture, carpeting, chrome and pictures that have been in place for 25 years?
• How do people at the office interact with each other?  Do people seem generally ‘happy’ to work together?  Is the enthusiasm high and are good spirits contagious?  Do people whisper in reverential tones as they speak to their colleagues while at the aforementioned cubicles or are they allowed to raise their voices?  Is their office a viper-filled gossip pit?
• What about the dress code?  Dress shirts and ties or polo shirts and khakis?  Do employees get to wear football jerseys on the Friday before game day?  If people wear uniforms did those who have to wear them have input on design, fabric and comfort?
• How is productivity measured?  Are phone calls monitored? Do managers keep a stopwatch out to track butt-in-the-chair time or are people evaluated on results?
• How is communication in the organization?  Do people know what’s going on from a corporate standpoint (goals, objectives, new initiatives) and from a job standpoint (performance feedback from managers or co-workers or HR news)?  Does the organization use an Intranet, paper memos on bulletin boards or an internal social channel – maybe even with a cool phone app?
• What are some of the really neat/awesome/UNIQUE things their company does that keeps them working there? Social responsibility?  Nifty perks like pinball machines and stocked kitchens?  Weekly office happy hour gatherings? Rec rooms and softball teams? OR – do they stay because there IS none of that stuff and they can just come in, do the work and leave at the end of the day?

**********

Now obviously some of this information is very useful to gather from those job applicants I talk to.  I want to find out what, in a work environment, is satisfying or dissatisfying to them. What, potentially, would they miss if they left their current employer?  What expectations might they bring to my organization – and what if we can’t fulfill them?

But I probe for this information from all sorts of people.  I gather and collate and file away these tidbits in my mind – whether it’s in reference to ABC Company across the street or XYZ Corporation in a distant locale and another industry.

Nosy?  Maybe.  Peeper?  I guess.  I prefer to think of it as scouting though – or maybe intel gathering.

Much like looking in the neighbor’s windows when I’m taking Frank Lapidus for a stroll and I hope to get an idea for a revamped window treatment, stealing a glance inside another workplace can spark some new ideas.

In neither case, however, do I want to see anyone naked. **

(** thanks to Fran Melmed for the link)

**********

image courtesy of Hooked on Houses

(While we’re enjoying spring break here at the Schoolhouse, here’s a post from the archives).

I grew up in Wisconsin where, contrary to popular belief, we did NOT all live on dairy farms and raise cows. However, I certainly had quite a bit of exposure to farms – driving to and from my college in central WI and taking regular trips to the outskirts of the suburb in which I lived brought me face-to-face with the pastoral life. And tickled the nose, if you know what I mean.

I saw the gorgeous lush fields, the majestic herds of docile dairy cows grazing in the fields and random chickens and ducks wandering aimlessly. At sunset, if that’s when I happened to be driving past, I glimpsed the setting sun peeking from behind the silos skirting the perimeter of the farm.

Now that’s the perfect place for silos. Because they DON’T belong in an organization.

**********

We say corporate silos exist when we’re working to define isolation in an organization. We toss about the term when we have teams, departments and sub-units operating independently of each other without any connection or communication. They’re often woefully unaware of what others are doing, or, even more dangerously, have no CONCERN about what others are doing.

So how does this happen? How do these silos get built?

Sometimes there’s an element of control. Managers, for example, who wish to build their kingdom and then protect their turf. So they do things such as create convoluted processes which they then enforce. No one understands WTH anything accomplishes but everyone learns they better do it anyway.

Occasionally, organizations inadvertently create silos by hiring lots and lots of subject matter experts who all control their spot on the board game. They don’t overlap nor are they encouraged to do so. Byron stores everything about subterranean particles in HIS brain, and Janice retains everything about cosmic toaster crumbs in HER brain…yet they never connect to bring an idea, goal or vision to fruition.

You know you’ve worked in a silo when you’ve had to approach projects or new tasks with little to no idea of the scope or impact. You’ve BTDT when you’ve worked diligently to complete assignments only to find out that no one really needed the end result. You’ve built and maintained your own silo when you don’t pay attention to organizational initiatives other than those within your own department or function.

So BUST down those walls. Build some cross-functional teams; get out there and talk to each other.  Leaders – don’t let your managers build internal kingdoms.

**********

image – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license

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Quite often the hardest part of any relationship can be the goodbye.  We certainly experience this with our friends and loved ones; sending a child off to school, mourning the passing of someone near and dear to us or even watching a spouse or partner pack for an extended business trip.  When a friend accepts a job and moves cross-country we realize that although we can stay in touch, we are still bidding adieu to some elements of the friendship.

We say farewell in the workplace too; colleagues retire, change jobs, or move on for other reasons.

And sometimes those other reasons are involuntary  – reductions-in-force/layoffs or terminations for behavior or job performance.  Not necessarilly the scenarios which lend themselves to balloons, greeting cards and department cakes from the bakery down the street.

Those involuntary goodbyes are tough on everyone.  And often toughest on the managers who are making the decision to move someone out of the organization.

**********

Many years ago I interviewed Vanessa for an administrative assistant position that was open in my department.  Although her personal story was not something that was a necessary part of the interview process, based on circumstances surrounding her referral for the position I was aware of what she had gone through in her life; she had become a mother at a very young age (15) and lived in a tenuous family situation.  She persevered through some rough circumstances and finished high school, continued on with post HS education and built up a few solid years of work experience.  Not only did she have some great skills but she had a winning personality,  an indomitable spirit and a deep desire to be a strong role model for her young daughter.  I extended the job offer and Vanessa joined our team.

And she was a success.  For about 6 months.  Then, bit by bit, the challenges she faced at home began to follow her into the office.  A sibling landed in prison – again.  Her new boyfriend, himself a regular habitue of the local jail, moved in with Vanessa, her daughter and her mother and domestic violence came back into her life.  Her own absent father resurfaced.  She began to miss work.  A lot.

For months I counseled her and coached her.  I referred her to community resources and wrote letters of support so she could receive some services.  I cried with her when she came to work with bruises.  And my heart broke when she came to me in tears and informed me she was pregnant, telling me that being the 23 year old mother of an 8 year old was tough enough – she didn’t know how she could manage with another child.   But after several solid weeks of every-other-day absences I felt like a scolding parent when I told her “one more unscheduled absence and you’ll be gone.”

A few days later she didn’t show up to work, however she left me a message in the afternoon saying she would be in the next day.   I didn’t sleep much that night.

The next morning when Vanessa arrived at work I called her into my office and terminated her employment.  She didn’t weep, she didn’t scream.  She thanked me and gathered her personal things from her desk.  She hugged her co-workers goodbye, wished me the best, and walked out the door.   I didn’t sleep much thatnight either.

**********

About a year later I was attending a giant Career Fair and manning my booth.  Hundreds and hundreds of employers with THOUSANDS of candidates strolling up and down the aisles.   Around mid-afternoon a lull hit; weary recruiters were restocking their candy jars or milling about and comparing notes with their counterparts from other companies.  I glanced down the walkway and saw a familiar face in the uniform of a well-respected iconic-brand; a giant employer in town whose team I had always wanted to join.

It was Vanessa.  At about the same time she saw me – and a huge smile broke across her face.  She practically ran to me and grabbed me in a big hug.  She was shaking and laughing and talking so fast I had to ask her to slow down.  She pulled out her wallet and showed me the picture of her twins who had just celebrated their 6 month birthday.  She proudly twirled around in her uniform and told me she had been working there just a few months and she was so happy.  She had left the abusive boyfriend, moved away from her old neighborhood and finally felt that her life was on track.

“And I have to thank you most of all,” she said.  “I always meant to call you but I was afraid to start the conversation. Your letting me go was the best thing you could have ever done.  I appreciated all you did and how you helped me with my family and my life.  And I know it was hard on you to fire me but I thank you for it.”

And then we said goodbye.  But that goodbye didn’t hurt.