Old school v. new school

It is 2022.  The field of human resources has come a long way.  Some may remember the days of ‘Personnel’.  Electronic onboarding was not a thing when I entered the world of work.  Things are very different today.  HR has made huge strides in many areas; however, I am disturbed by some ‘old school’ trains of thought and practices that remain in place today. 

1. Employee terminations

Old school – HR handles all terminations with employees

New school – Managers take the lead on terminations with support from HR

Throughout 2021, I presented at several HR conferences and met a lot of fellow practitioners, particularly those working in small businesses or as departments of one.  During my sessions, I encourage everyone in HR to take a strategic approach to their position.  HR is not meant to be strictly transactional; the business of people must be a top priority in all organizations.  One of my suggestions centers around employee terminations.  In the days of old, HR was expected to solely handle terminations.  Have you ever heard the phrase, ‘Ooh, HR is here, someone must be getting fired’?  Talk about old school.  But what really threw me last year was the number of practitioners who are tasked with handling terminations in the same manner.  I had numerous attendees approach me after the sessions asking if I was serious about HR not being solely responsible for terminations.  My stance is that having HR be the only one to let an employee go is disrespectful to the exiting employee.  In many situations, employees don’t even know who the HR team is!  (That’s another blog post.)  At one point, that person was a valued new hire.  The company was excited to bring them aboard.  Things may not have worked out and that’s okay.  Terminations are inevitable.  But the process of the termination can and should be handled with as much care and respect as the onboarding was.  The manager who has been working with the employee regularly, training and communicating, should be the one to deliver the news.  HR can certainly offer support – assist the manager in planning the logistics, rehearsing the conversation, ensuring the paperwork is in place, etc.  In no way should HR be the only one in the company who terminates employees.  HR is not the principal’s office.  If this is the current practice where you are, let your leaders know this stops today. 

(NOTE: If you need help getting your leadership team on board with this, ask them one key question: would YOU want to be terminated by someone you don’t know?)

(ANOTHER NOTE: If your managers are not capable of termination conversations, they either need training or they need to not manage people.  Huge area of opportunity for HR!) 

2. Employee relations issue involving FMLA, ADA, and PTO

Old school – Focus on adherence to policy and disciplinary procedures

New school – Focus on employee well-being and workplace culture

For many years, employees have been told they have to separate their personal lives from their work lives.  Don’t be yourself at work, don’t share too many personal details with managers, don’t mention anything about your personal health, try to avoid letting anyone know you have kids – in other words, don’t be a real person.  Fear of losing out on promotions, overtime, prime shifts, and pay increases drove employees to believe they had to hide their true selves for the sake of their careers.  Unfortunately, many of these concerns were legitimate – managers made decisions based on employees’ personal circumstances and not their work performance.  To some extent, it is still happening today.  Scary but true.  I regularly have conversations with business owners during which the leader makes assumptions about their employees and is prepared to make decisions based on those assumptions (i.e. employee A won’t be able to handle the responsibilities of a promotion because she recently married and will probably get pregnant soon.)  No exaggeration – I had this conversation last week. 

Too often, HR is making decisions and taking action based on following policies and procedures instead of focusing on the best interest of the employee.  We’re too eager to tick all the boxes on the form…but not eager to deal with the hearts and minds of our people.  This has to stop.  So what if an employee has exhausted FMLA and PTO and still needs time away from work?  Don’t just cut them off at the knees; step outside the box and get creative.  Especially when you are dealing with long-term, rock star employees.  You’re seriously going to terminate an amazing employee when they’re going through a personal trauma because of a technicality?!?  Some of you may be thinking – what about consistency?  Yes, it’s important to be consistent with people practices.  But if you’re doing what is right for an employee, you can’t go wrong.  Win for the employee, win for workplace culture, win for the company.  It is not realistic to expect employees to leave their authentic selves at the office door every day, and that goes especially for those in HR.  It’s not only OK to put your heart into your work, it is recommended. 

(NOTE: A huge thank you to all the wonderful individuals who are encouraging open dialogue in the workplace, especially around workplace trauma and mental health.  You are making work better for everyone.) 

Let’s go, HR – school is in session!