I recently learned a great strategy that I can’t wait to share with you.
Employee: Hey Bob. I know you are busy. I just have a few quick questions. A few of us came up with this really great idea for the party.
HR: No.
Employee: Um, well, okay. So, Jim needs me to help him with this thing…
HR:Â No.
Employee: All right, then, just one more question…
HR: No.
Employee:Â Come on, you didn’t even give me a chance!
HR: (Smiles gleefully)
———
Let me tell you the secret to human resources: always say no. Whatever people want, just flat out turn them down. The great thing is that pretty soon, you can train them to stop asking for anything and settle for whatever you want to leave them with. They’ll stop bothering you and just get to work.
Clever, huh? Now you, too, can implement this kind of approach to human resources and make your stand for what you believe in.
News flash: if this sounds even remotely appealing to you, you suck and need to get out of HR.
This post was inspired by a recent conversation with an HR leader that was trying to help an employee with a major insurance crisis to cover his critically ill child. The response from one of her peers in HR? “It’s not our job to take care of them.” Ugh. Yes, we’re business leaders, but we’re also people too, darn it. Take care of your people and they’ll take care of you. Disregard, dismiss, or demean them and you will lose the best chance you have at being competitive in the marketplace.
Why is that so hard for some people to grasp?
Hey Ben,
A very well short and simple post with an example on alienating employees.The way you explained is really helpful for maintaining a good balance between HR and employees.
Many people complain of not successfully doing their tasks as a HR, even spending too much their energy so they would love to learn it from here.
Thanks a bunch for sharing.
If HR personnel don’t like people, why do they subject themselves to the job? :P It’s funny (well, not really) that HR makes so many blunders in the form of not caring about employees. Sometimes, I think it’s chalked up to being stressed and overwhelmed with all the HR duties that are pushed on the department, leaving them with deadlines and quotas and no resources. If this is the case, it’s best to collaborate from the very beginning. Otherwise, whoever hired this HR person in the first place needs to rethink that decision… Thanks for sharing this!