Words

Words are important.  Our words are very powerful.  I don’t think we are always conscious of how strong our words can be and the affect they can have. 

In HR, there are some words I would like to remove from our vernacular.  Here are my top 3 and why they need to go:

1. Job hopper – we have GOT to rid ourselves of this ridiculous phrase.  Someone changes jobs to take advantage of an amazing career opportunity and they are punished with a label?  We can do better than that.  Please don’t misunderstand me – there is nothing wrong with tenure.  If you love what you do, keep doing it.  If your organization is amazing, stay.  But the reality is that workers have remained in jobs for years despite being miserable for the sake of ‘loyalty’ or an unrealistic expectation of ‘having’ to stay with one company for an entire career.  It is 2022 and there are fabulous opportunities everywhere!  I am here to say it is okay to put yourself first and to build the career YOU want.  Put your loyal energy toward yourself. 

2. Probation – let’s look at this one logically…you spend a lot of time, energy, and resources to attract and retain amazing employees for your organization…and then you put them on ‘probation’?  The term is old and tired.  For the most part, the doctrine of employment at will overrides probation anyway.  If you insist on using such terminology, may I suggest using ‘introductory period’ instead?  When an employee is just starting, your focus should be on guiding and supporting that person toward success.  ‘Probation’ suggests you are waiting for the new person to screw up and not make it.  Is that the culture you want?  (NOTE: probation is also NOT a suitable step in the disciplinary process, especially for an established employee.  If your organization is not good at performance management, please seek resources.) 

3. Suspension – I love when business owners and managers want to use ‘unpaid suspension’ as punishment for negative behavior in the workplace.  Do you honestly think any employee spends their suspension time sitting at home thinking about their actions?  They do not.  A suspension is nothing more than free time off.  In recent years, I have seen employees not bat an eye at the time being unpaid; they’re ecstatic to have a free day.  And I have never seen a suspension produce the desired behavior.  If you are still utilizing suspensions, I urge you to reconsider. 

There are also words that I feel need to be added into our everyday HR language.  Words like kindness, caring, allowing employees to be their authentic selves, remote work, and flexibility have to become more prevalent.  Employers should not be afraid of these words.  In fact, they should embrace them.  Your culture will improve, and your employees will flourish. 

What words do you need to remove?  What words should you add that will make your workplace great?