“Rome” is burning.  The “Rome” I am talking about is the private sector of the U.S. economy.  Last month, the only job sector that grew was government jobs.  I get this feeling that we are pulling a “Nero” watching this thing happen and are hopelessly standing by not doing anything about it.  I read HR Blogs, including my own, and think, we’re walking around an elephant in our proverbial living room.  Our own jobs in HR are in jeopardy if businesses don’t flourish.  If something is not growing, it is dying.  If we don’t fix this humongous problem, we won’t have to worry about engaging our employees, there won’t be any employees.  I really don’t think I’m being Chicken Little here by expressing my concerns.

Yesterday, we heard from the automobile industry that if they go under, three million jobs or more will be eliminated and the unemployment rate will double.  When those three million people drastically reduce their spending, more companies will have to cut back, and so on.  We have just seen the beginning of a downward cycle.

What can we in HR do?  Well, recently there was a huge Recruiting Expo that many Human Resource people attended.  That was fine and dandy and we will sure need all that great information when we start hiring people again instead of planning layoffs.  Just, maybe, we should have a “Save our Private Sector Expo” and bring together the finest minds of the Human Resources community and brainstorm capitalistic ideas on how to reignite the economy.  Bailing out inefficient companies is not a capitalistic solution.  What did Ireland do years ago to attract high tech companies to set up shop there?  Gee, I think it had to do with making it easy for companies to be in business.  How about ideas on how to become a business friendly country again?   Am I smoking funny cigarettes when I propose that HR should lead the way?  You tell me.

Now here is where you are going to hear, “Now, when I was a kid…”  Well, I did work during the summer and after school and most of my peers did too.  Especially for boys, it was a rite of passage.  It was typical that you showed up on the first day of school in your new car (actually it was an old car, but your first one) after you worked all summer in order to buy it.  So, at the ripe old age of 16, I started learning about working in a business organization - following orders, showing up on time, cooperating with other workers, understanding organizational structure, blah, blah, blah.  By the time that I officially started my professional career in Human Resources, I already understood the world of work.  My sense is that many “young-ens” entering the workforce don’t have this understanding. 

I can imagine that if the first time someone went to work was right out of college, there would be a major adjustment.  In fact, it could be a shocking experience.  Many of the new graduates I hired were pretty disappointed in what they witnessed.  We might want to revisit this ancient custom of teenagers working.

I’ve been here on earth for some time now and I have never seen a time like this and I’ve been through several recessions.  Economically speaking, I’m scared, but being in Human Resources, I don’t have the luxury of showing it.  I must be a model for being positive, calm and confident.  I am not going to sit in my fear. 

Here are my three solutions to stop being scared:

1. In our household, a simple phrase that we use all of the time is… “It is what it is.”  Being scared doesn’t change it.  In fact, regarding the economy, there is not much I can do.  While accepting the facts about the world economy, I am presently working on our own personal economy.  One of the things I’m doing is buying some stock.  This may be the first time that I’m going to buy low and, hopefully, sell high. 

2. I look at “the problem” as a catalyst for me to think, act and be better.  Where is my opportunity to learn and grow from it?  I still believe in the old cliche - “We don’t have problems; we have opportunities.”

3. I say affirmations every morning and throughout the day.  One of them is…. “I expect the best possible results, for I have an optomistic attitude.”

I’ve never believed in playing that old game, “Ain’t it awful?”  I’ve avoided playing it at home and at work.  When my friends complain about their jobs, I try to remind them that they might consider being grateful for having a job in the first place.  Actually, that is my fourth solution… “Being grateful for what I have and for what I don’t have.”

You have to bail me out.  I haven’t sold enough books on my blog site here, so I need to be bailed out.  I going to make it easy for you - instead of going to the government and ask for my handout, I’m coming to you directly.  Just send me money and lots of it.  Come on… I’m not asking for billions like the rest of them; just a million or so. 

All kidding aside, gang, isn’t this whole thing ludicrous?  I live in a capitalistic country… or do I?  

I’ve been to the Small Business Administration in the past, and believe me, it was hard to get a loan.  Even after I presented them with a workable business plan for my venture, they wouldn’t loan me a dime.  Now the automobile industry goes to the Big Business Administration (Washington) without a Business Plan and is probably going to get a huge loan.  Does anyone believe that GM can stop losing $5000 per vehicle with their present labor contract in place?  How are they ever going to repay this “loan?”

When are we going to realize that the old Management-Union model doesn’t work anymore?  This country is almost “manufacturing-less” because of it.  And… guess what - the cities are next.  Most of them are on the brink of bankruptcy due to the same problem that the auto industry is having - the labor and benefit costs are staggering.

So, forget them.  Bail me out; it’s cheaper.

How many times did I receive a personnel requisition with the instructions from the hiring manager to find someone from the outside?  A lot.  This happened even when we had a formal Succession Plan in place.  The excuses I would get were, “Well, she is not ready yet,” or “I have to have someone who can do X and there is no one in the company who can do that.”

Everyone meant well when we instituted the Succession Plan.  We all believed that it was the right thing to do.  The managers filled out forms providing names of the employees who could replace them and other key roles.  We felt good - our employees were being groomed for advancement and our Promotion From Within Policy would be honored.

Most of the time it did not happen.  It didn’t happen because we treated succession planning as a stand- alone process.  Succession Planning has to be an integral part of the whole system which includes Performance Management, coaching, personal development, and individual goal setting.  The managers should also be evaluated on how well they develop their people for future opportunities and the actual results (promotions).

I was reading a trade journal earlier today and it was mentioning how most Human Resource Departments focus on keeping their companies out of trouble (abiding by the law and avoiding lawsuits).  I remember a GM telling me, “Your job is to keep me out of jail.”  I don’t know about you, but this was never my favorite part of HR.  I didn’t sign up to be a labor attorney and enforcer of rules.  

Although I always tried to spend more time on the other side - the fun side of HR: Employee Engagement activities, Management and Leadership Development, Employee Relations, etc.  I did make sure that I wouldn’t have a mishap on the other side of the equation.  ( I only had one major issue in all of my years - a wrongful discharge suit - and we won that, even in California!). 

I kept my boss and the rest of the staff “out of jail” using these principles: 

1.  I made sure that all interviewers only asked job related questions during the interview process.

2. We instituted a “clean” culture.  There was zero tolerance for informal or formal sexual advances, language, gestures, off color jokes and the like. 

3. I made sure that we participated in “outreach” opportunities and, then, documented everything.

4. I prepared an EEO/Affirmative Action Plan to the government specifications (actually, I had one of the best experts in the field as a consultant).  I also purchased a service that supplied me with specific demographics tailor made to our industry and job classifications so I wasn’t constricted by the Fed’s numbers).  I also kept a tally of our results to ensure we stayed on plan.

But, these four items pale when compared to the what I did on the other side of HR.  When the employees are engaged, excited and passionate about their jobs, the company, the mission and the vision, the furthest thing in their minds are calling their attorneys or contacting the labor board.  I still believe that 80% or more of our time and effort should be on the fun side of HR.

By the way, I have nothing against red pants.  The bad hire just happened to be wearing red pants to his interview that day.  We hired Mr. RP prior to the advent of Behavioral Interviewing.  Today I would have used this technique to screen him out. 

What I have done since is to construct Behavioral Interviewing questions not only for the technical aspects of the job itself, but also to address the culture of the organization.  So, first of all, I had to have a good understanding of the culture and the desired culture.  The latter is more important because we want to hire people who are going to take us forward.  Let’s say that our mythical company has decided that the values of customer satisfaction, teamwork and being positive are very important to our success.  I would then create interview questions accordingly:

“Give me three examples when you exceeded your customer’s expectations.” 

“Tell me about a time when you went out of your way to help out in another department.”

“Describe situations where you were able to keep your team motivated even during your company’s downturn.”

I have asked these types of questions and followed up with more questions to get at whether my candidates mirrored our values and culture and I have found them very helpful in screening out the Red Pants applicants from getting on our payroll and you can to.

Don’t hire the guy in red pants.  I did.  Oh, I didn’t want to.  I fought the hiring manager.  He, his boss, the VP of Engineering took it all the way up to the General Manager and they won.  They hired old “Red Pants” in spite of HR’s objections.

Why didn’t I want to hire Mr. RP?  He met all of the qualifications of the job description.

My position on not hiring him had nothing to do with the red pants he wore.  Although he could design the product, he had an attitude that was counter to our culture.  Sure enough, two months later, the engineering manager was back in my office wanting to fire him and, of course, he had no documentation to support it.  I didn’t say I told you so, but, my point was made.  In fact, any time that the engineering department wanted to hire someone that I objected to, all I had to do was say, “Red Pants” and the discussion was over.  In a way, it was in our favor that this all came about; the other managers learned from their mistake.

Next time I’ll talk about how to interview and screen out the “Red Pant” candidates.

Yesterday I implied that the Culture of We-They is the main enemy of Employee Engagement.  I would venture to guess that some of the best organizations have aspects of We-They.  Some of these aspects seem to be unavoidable.  You might want to create your own checklist…

Do you have any of these?

• Designated parking spaces based on employee rank
• Offices for higher ranked employees versus cubes for others
• A designated “mahogany row”
• Uniforms identify rank (including suits)
• Separate buildings which indicate that the “blank” employees work over there
• Employees are extremely conscious of their salary grades as a measure of status
• Employees are extremely conscious of their titles as a measure of status
• Some employees don’t have all the tools they need because of their rank (PC’s as an example)
• Women perform stereotypical jobs (ie: receptionists)
• The Open Door Policy is not so “open”
• Communication from Management has a condescending tone
• Certain groups of employees have special privileges
• Certain groups of employees have different benefits or perks based only on rank
• Vice President and Director titles proliferate
• Insufficient communication and teamwork between shifts, facilities, and buildings
• The Vision and Mission are not deeply ingrained

Like I said, some of the above may seem to be unavoidable.  Just remember that when We-They exists, engaging employees becomes even harder.

A guru in our field, used to say that the number one cause for unionization of your employees had nothing to do with money.  They would say it was about money, but that was only a ruse.  The real reason was: “We-They.”  The instant I heard this, I knew it was true.  Things in the world of work that cause division between people create an “us versus them” mentality and when we talk about the hip process of, “Employee Engagement,” it is then about one group trying to engage another group.

I thought back and remembered working on second shift when I was attending college.  I was in a “We-They” situation then.  Second shift employees thought of themselves as a separate entity.  We disliked the people on first shift and wrote them off as people who caused us bottlenecks on our shift.  We got things done faster and more efficiently because those bureaucrats weren’t in our way.  Later on I noticed the “We-They” syndrome between plants.  Each plant in the company I worked for had a different culture.  When I transferred temporarily to another division, in a couple of days, I was one of them criticizing “those people” at the main site.

Hewlett Packard understood the issue right from the get-go.  This was made apparent just in the design of their facilities.  Nobody had offices.  Both Hewlett and Packard worked in cubicles.  Anyone could reserve one of the many conference rooms in the building to gain privacy or run a meeting.  You couldn’t tell the difference between managers and employees because there wasn’t a “suit” in the place.  And, way before it became trendy, they described ”The HP Way” right at the beginning of their journey so that everyone understood the vision, mission and values of the company.  It was one big team; everyone was engaged.  As HP expanded throughout the world, they made sure that every office was created in the same fashion.  You could walk into any HP facility on the globe and know it was Hewlett Packard.

Next time, I’ll provide an audit checklist for attacking the “We-They“ syndrome and giving you a better chance at - Extreme Employee Engagement.