Another update from the Jungle….
Bentley is the operations manager for his company. He’s also the HR manager thanks to his boss. Duncan owns the company, but he hates dealing with messy employee problems. He bribed Bentley with a pay raise when he offloaded the employee problems on Bentley.
Since that fateful day, Bentley has done his best. At first, HR was fairly easy despite Bentley’s complete ignorance of employment laws. He fired Tim, a sticky-fingered employee who bragged to a co-worker about padding his expense account with fake receipts. Firing Cindy for showing up at 9:30 am whenever Bentley and Duncan had morning meetings was also easy. One of Cindy’s co-workers hated her guts for reasons Bentley didn’t ask and was happy to rat her out for lying on her timesheet.
However, Bentley began to dread handling HR problems around the time he learned of the Sam, Wendy and Sue love triangle. Wendy was a department supervisor who began having an affair with Sam, who was already dallying with Sue. In a workforce of 35 people, it’s impossible to hide such a torrid soap opera.
Bentley learned of it the day he heard an awful screech and ran to the common area to find Wendy and Sue rolling around on the floor biting and clawing. Bentley acquired a scratched cheek and a dented shin before he dragged them apart. But trying to sort out the HR repercussions made Bentley realize he needed help.
Bentley asked about HR help during a meeting with their insurance agent. Their agent offered Bentley access to an online HR library provided free by the agency. Bentley quickly learned that “free” access was costing him hours a week clicking through pages of regulations and guidance. He had no idea which of them applied to a company of his size.
Bentley would love to off-load the HR responsibilities, but the only person offering to help is Brenda. Bentley thinks she’s an insinuating weasel who likes power and he’ll be eternally damned before he lets Brenda get her sticky mitts on HR. 
What options does Bentley have?
- He can continue going with his “gut” and hope he’s doing the right thing.
- He can ask his best friend who works for a giant corporation how they handle employee issues.
- He can convince Duncan that they need a professional HR person who can help Bentley figure out what he needs to do as the HR manager.
Small companies face a conundrum. They need a knowledgeable, trained HR person long before they can justify the payroll cost of adding an employee dedicated to HR. Fortunately, small employers have many options for HR assistance available at varying price points.
If your company is struggling with HR issues, Corporate Compliance Risk Advisor can help you create HR policies that are appropriate for your company’s size and then serve as a resource to your staff as the policies are implemented.
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Gwen became the temporary manager of Wade’s department when he failed to return from a business conference in New Orleans.
By the second day of the conference, audible death threats floated in the air near Wade.
She needed to fortify herself with a double espresso from the coffee shop next door.
Two hours later, Rhonda galloped into the office. She screamed at Linda that she had been working non-stop for months and couldn’t take it anymore and wished she had never left her old job to work with such an ungrateful witch. Julie bounced out of the workshop to say that Linda’s rotten inability to set priorities was the cause of their problems. 
Most new business owners want to avoid written rules because they dislike bureaucratic boondoggles. They quickly learn that there is a huge difference between bogging down in bureaucratic rules and creating a framework of HR rules to allow the business to grow effectively.
Cecily is a senior level executive at her company. Of course, she has paid a price while clawing her way to the top; her first husband left their marriage in exchange for a 
She reasoned that if men could have trophy wives, then she could have a trophy husband. Cecily was overjoyed that Rory accepted her marriage proposal. Of course, marriage to a much younger man comes with a price too. Cecily spends every spare minute at the gym trying to keep her girlish figure so that she remains physically attractive to Rory.
Cecily came out of her office to confirm she would be able to have a romantic dinner with Rory that evening. She saw Danielle oozing around Rory, white teeth flashing in a seductive smile. With a jealous shriek, Cecily leaped for Danielle’s throat. The women crashed against the wall and rolled into the elevator lobby, a writhing mass of biting, kicking and hair pulling.
What are Walter’s options? 
Frank was brought out of retirement to fix the most troubled division of the company. He told Ella and his subordinates that he had six months to improve the bottom line. His grim expression inspired fear and loathing among his subordinates. Sure enough, within a week, Ella was processing termination paperwork so fast her laptop crashed from overuse.
Then Frank went gunning for Anna for incompetence even though her last performance review said she practically walked on water. He accused April of winking sarcastically during a staff meeting. When Ella pointed out the lack of documentation or witnesses to back up these reasons, Frank replied that HR managers can be fired for insubordination just like any other employee.
That’s when Ella conceived her fiendishly clever plan. She began meeting surreptitiously with selected employees in Frank’s division to confirm their suspicions that Frank was out to get them. She promised to help them by editing their resumes and coaching them on their interviewing skills. (She keeps up with the latest HR industry trends by attending lots of SHRM seminars.)
Linda opened her business one year ago when she was fed up with all the petty rules and employee bickering at her last job. Her friends Julie and Rhonda joined her. They agreed that their new business would be a happy place where workers were free to be creative and enjoy coming to work. That was the last time they agreed on anything.
Two hours later, Rhonda galloped into the office. She screamed at Linda that she had been working non-stop for months and couldn’t take it anymore. She continued, saying she wished she had never left her old job just to work with such an ungrateful witch. Julie bounced out of the workshop to say that Linda’s rotten inability to set priorities was the cause of their problems.
Fran is a passionate woman who supports many worthy causes. Every day she arrives at work, gets a cup of herbal tea and begins looking for an audience to unburden herself.
Mike points out that pet shelters are full and often have no choice but to euthanize animals. She tears up at the thought of dead puppies. Will is a “manly man” who enjoys fishing and hunting. He also believes in conservation but detests Fran’s moralizing. So he retaliates with a story of deer hunting which ends with him killing Bambi’s mother.
Fran’s supervisor, Mindy, is also exhausted from frustration. She’s taking heat for low productivity caused by Fran’s lousy work habits and the interruptions to other employees’ work. She’s tried performance improvement plans without success. She’s thinking of skipping the initial steps in the progressive discipline policy and going straight to justifiable homicide in a bid to save her own career.
HR Compliance Jungle 