Tag Archives: behavior

Should HR Pros Be Held to a Higher Standard?

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As you know, I attended SHRM17 in New Orleans and had a blast. I’m so glad I took the plunge and invested in my professional development. Luckily I was able to take advantage of a discounted rate because I volunteered at SHRM16.

Screen-Shot-2014-05-15-at-11.54.06-AMThe entertainment for this year’s concert was Harry Connick, Jr. I like HCJ as much as the next person but I wanted to get out and explore New Orleans a bit rather than sit in the convention center after being there all day so I didn’t attend the concert. However, I did see quite a few comments about it on the conference community site. These comments were less about the concert itself and more about the behavior of the concertgoers. Behavior such as rushing the stage, standing in the aisles, taking photos – you know, typical concert behavior.

“Oh my goodness, I can’t believe HR professionals would behave this way!”

“HR professionals shouldn’t rush the stage to take photos! Photos weren’t allowed. How can you enforce rules at work and not follow them here??”

“I’ve never been so disappointed in a group of HR professionals!”

You get the gist. So I’m reading these comments thinking “are y’all serious?” Apparently, they were based on the responses to my query. This got me thinking – is there an expectation that people who work in HR should behave differently than others when outside of work? Are we, or should we be, held to a higher standard in our private/social lives because of our chosen profession? To add another layer to this, if this expectation exists, is it widely held or is it only held in some HR circles?

Don’t get me wrong, I have a couple of concerts lined up this year that I paid good money for and if folks decide to stand in the way and block my view, I’m gonna be peeved, to say the least. So I get that part. I definitely believe in exercising common courtesy and a basic level of decorum. Not because I work in HR, but because I’m a somewhat decent human being. Do unto others and all that jazz. But this mindset that working in HR should somehow influence your behavior outside of work threw me for a loop. Especially because I saw it from multiple people. That has never occurred to me.

So what say you, readers? HR by day, at night we play? HR always in all ways?

Let me know your thoughts.

Leave Policies Reflect Level of Trust in Employees

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Recently a UK company made headlines by announcing it would offer paid leave to women who are having their periods. See here: http://bit.ly/1Pdvdp8

I first saw the article posted in an HR group and all the comments I read focused on how difficult this would be to track/validate and how employees were bound to “abuse” the leave.

While I do understand the HR professional mindset behind needing to track everything, being in compliance, etc., I have always taken issue with the belief that the majority of  employees will take any opportunity to  “abuse” their leave. If an employee has accrued (or become otherwise eligible) for leave, how is using it abusing it? If an employee has 52 days of sick leave and they take one day a week for a year, are they abusing it? Even though they’ve earned it? Isn’t that what it’s there for? Hmm..

I believe an organization’s leave policies and attitude towards usage of leave mirror their level of trust in their employees and reflect their organizational culture. Employers worry about “leave abuse” when they know their employees may not enjoy coming to work. Toxic environments lead to low morale which leads to less productivity, more health issues (physical and mental) and in turn more time away from work. In environments and cultures where employees don’t dread going to work, this is not a concern.

I’ve read several articles stating that employees tend to take less leave at companies that have unlimited leave policies. The employers trust their employees to get their work done and take leave when they need to, for whatever reason, and in turn the employees are productive without having to worry about how best to use their limited leave or what to do when unexpected situations arise.

Going back to the original article, I’m sure that organization has fostered an environment in which they can trust their female employees to utilize the “period leave” as needed and not to “abuse” it. I’m sure the women who work there who could use the leave appreciate their employer caring enough to offer it and in turn, will be happier and more productive knowing that they won’t have to worry about their jobs simply because of a natural body function.

I’m not saying this would work for all employers or that all employers should offer it. But I do believe it’s a great example of an “employee first” culture and we need more of those.

P.S.- It isn’t lost on me that this company is not in the U.S.