Nahhhhh... to help someone tomorrow- you must be in business tomorrow. I’ve seen many start ups come and go that employees loved, worker paradises. I’m sure it was great while it lasted- but the companies didn’t deliver and so came layoffs and often dissolution. Treat your employees well. Treat them like people. Give them the physical and emotional and practical tools to do their jobs well. Provide support so they can spend more time off hours relaxing and recharging and more time at work focused an motivated. Yes. Yes. Yes.
But business needs to come before people. Spare every inch you can, make exceptions wherever you can. If you need to take a little hit to profits or to productivity- if you need to do a little extra work so someone can have some time they need- do it. Care about your employees. Care about each one as a person. But never forget it’s a business. Even if you work at a place like in this meme- don’t you forget it’s a business. I’ve seen a lot of people deeply hurt and effected when their lovey dovey close knit caring job twisted a knife in them.
Never forget no matter which side of the managers desk you are on that at the end of the day- when push comes to shove- it’s a business. 99% of people there wouldn’t show up and do it for free. We all spend hours and effort at it- but we are all pretty much there to get paid, no matter how fun it is most of us won’t work for free on our time off because we just like it so much. There are potentially many hundreds of thousands or more workers at your job. Any company that will stay in business would sacrifice any one of them to keep the other 99.99999% of those people working and getting paid. That’s how it has to be. So be kind to your workers- make work a place that isn’t any more unpleasant than it has to be- make it as pleasant as possible since we all spend so much time there. But the business comes first or you go out of business. You take the hits you can absorb. Happy workers usually make good business. Keep them happy. Make money, go home, live.
This isn't directly related to this post and I can't remember where I heard it before, but someone was talking about a business that dealt with customers like a restaurant or retail or something and used examples like when a customer complained about poor service, the employee was reprimanded since "the customer is always right" even when the customer had a ludicrous complaint or ridiculous request. In the end they said "businesses that always put their customers ahead of their employees may succeed, but when a business puts their employees first and treats them like real people, the employees will take care of the business and help it to thrive if they actually enjoy being there." This post just reminded me of that, and I thought it was nice, that will be all.
Ok - why is HR monitoring performance? That’s a supervisor’s job. If HR is managing the secretary, it’s possible, I guess. But still odd!
What performance metrics does the secretary have? Why use such an antiquated term, anyway? Admin, Office Manager, plenty of other titles that don’t bring to mind typewriters.
Yes, support your people. Certainly, be transparent in staffing decisions. Definitely if there is a poor fit, correct it. Still and nonetheless: This post has some odd elements.
Yes. Also interesting that this person titles themselves as performing social media and marketing duties... here are some oddities- a small one among many is why when he states he was sure that the treatment of the secretary was inhumane- he thought that to himself? It’s also a bit odd they would call both employees in at once to discuss the matter when the employees are at different levels of authority and there is an investigation and dispute. A BIG one for me though- and perhaps it’s just narrative convention- is...
They say their employees mean so much that they would go through all that, investigate and find a cause of the secretaries poor performance- make business exceptions and work with her to improve her performance- but they fired an “HR” for overhearing them be rude one time and hearing they were rude before? Not only does that make me wonder how much they really value employees vs. stories that seem designed to make them sound good (Administrative and “important” person picks on “little guy” and is let go- because their awesome boss sides with the “righteous underdog”...) but...
What about the HR persons investigation? What about possible causes for their attitude? What about their warning or their modified work plan and trying to help them with their work? It just... it’s not impossible but it seems odd- convenient perhaps- maybe slightly disingenuous. It’s implied they had no idea this HR person was rude. There’s no comment on their past performance or anything- just that other employees said they were rude before- and so the first time hearing about a rude employee they fire that employee? If they hadn’t overheard the secretary being yelled at would they have just rubber stamped her termination on performance in a few weeks or months then?
They had to investigate to discover her husband died? I just.... I’m pretty good at getting a picture of a corporate culture from a quick snap shot. I’m not perfect at it- but the numbers don’t add up here to me that there is more than a fish tale here.
What performance metrics does the secretary have? Why use such an antiquated term, anyway? Admin, Office Manager, plenty of other titles that don’t bring to mind typewriters.
Yes, support your people. Certainly, be transparent in staffing decisions. Definitely if there is a poor fit, correct it. Still and nonetheless: This post has some odd elements.