Do the Right Thing

My takeaways from last night’s State of the Union address were three-fold:

1. Assurance that things will be fine

2. Hope for a bright future

3. A call to do the right things for the benefit of ALL Americans

Take away all of the noise (I’m not convinced some of the newscasters actually listened to the speech based on the commentary) – those 3 points are what I walked away with.  On this Ash Wednesday, the first Day of Lent, I am choosing to be positive and optimistic about the future of our country. 

As President Biden spoke about the need to ‘level the playing field,’ I thought about the application to HR.  Recently, a client of mine terminated a long-term employee for misconduct.  The termination was completely justified.  Per usual, the employee should have been dealt with a long time ago.  Nevertheless, the time had come.  The manager of the employee requested for the accrued but unused PTO time (3 weeks) to be paid out on the employee’s final paycheck.  She felt this was ‘the right thing to do’ given the employee’s tenure with the company.  Leadership agreed and the request was sent to Accounting for processing. 

I supported this decision as well.  As their HR partner, I did remind them that paying out PTO to a terminated employee is not typical practice.  I did use the phrase ‘setting a precedent’ a few times.  But ultimately, I felt this action was the way to go.  Why?  Because this is in line with their company culture.  They are a family-owned business founded in the 1940s.  The third generation is currently stepping into leadership roles.  They regularly talk about ‘taking care of our people’.  They take actions through the lens of ‘doing the right thing.’  It is my job to help them mitigate risk; the risk here was pretty low. 

Some of my fellow HR pros may disagree with my thinking.  Many may disagree with taking an action outside of the box of policies and procedures.  Others feel strongly that HR has to be black and white, no room for gray.  To them, I offer this challenge – put yourself in the manager’s shoes.  What if you were that employee?  What if this was your company?  Do you really just want to check the box, or do you want to do the right thing? 

HR, we have a tremendous opportunity right now to show business owners and leaders the value of having a people-first company culture.  We can truly blaze the trails by doing the right things for our people (see PTO story above).  The greatest tool at our disposal is our ability to be consultative and provide leaders with options, all in an effort to mitigate risk.  We have to help companies navigate living in the gray successfully.  That is the purpose and passion of HR. 

Change is not easy.  Making this shift in perspective may prove to be difficult.  But I believe every HR professional can do it and do it well.  If you need support, find me on Twitter (@christie_engler) and follow #HRCommunity – you will find a plethora of resources and encouragement. 

I loved how President Biden ended last night with ‘let’s go get ‘em!’  Very encouraging and rah-rah…just what you would expect from a great coach or cheerleader.  To HR I say, ‘let’s do this!’ 

Let’s do the right thing.  For every employee.  Every time.