Another update from the Jungle….
Alana walked into the break room to refill her coffee mug and stumbled into a raging war. A group of co-workers were arguing about the merits of the presidential candidates. Alana sidled toward the coffee maker regretting that she didn’t send her assistant to check if the coast was clear.
The political argument covered familiar ground. Several co-workers scoffed that Carly Fiorina is ugly and unattractive and so she shouldn’t be president. Another co-worker chimed in criticizing the physical appearance and business sense of Hilary Clinton. Both women were criticized for fashion faux pas.
Aside from a few cracks about Donald Trump’s hair, the male candidates were judged on their prior experience and ideas.
The argument focused on the conservative credentials of the male candidates but no one criticized their suits or their ties.
Alana grabbed her mug and trudged back to her office reflecting that some things never seem to change. The 
women candidates are judged on their physical appearance and not their ideas or abilities. Alana thought about other women presidential candidates. In 1972, Shirley Chisholm’s campaign was dismissed with a smile. In 1984, Geraldine Ferraro’s qualifications as a vice presidential candidate were buried under stories about her husband’s alleged Mafia connections. (He was Italian-American from New York and owned a construction business.)
Alana’s the HR director for her company and she conducts many interviews to screen job applicants. The interviews require her to judge job candidates based on appearance, how well they prepare for the interview and their prior work experience. Inevitably, some job candidates lose the chance to move to the next stage of the hiring process because they don’t look or act “right” in the initial interview.
Alana knows that rejecting a job candidate almost always involves her biases, good and bad. She also knows that there are many ways to explain why a candidate was rejected that appear neutral and unbiased.
What should Alana do next?
- She can resign her job and go live in a cave with no wi-fi until after the presidential election next November.
- She can create a new HR policy banning political discussions in the break room.
- She can accept the reality that we are judged on our appearance and recognize how her personal biases influence her hiring recommendations.
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.
Download my FREE eBook today! Click here!
Click here to join the HR Compliance Jungle today.
Rob has a small consulting business that does project-based work. That means Rob needs a flexible work force that can easily gear up when there are lots of clients, but can also gear down when projects are few.
economic reality test says that a worker who is economically dependent on an employer is an employee and not an independent contractor. Rob doesn’t know if his workers are economically dependent on him. He uses them part-time and always believed that they did work for other consulting businesses.
Wanda owns a small company and she’s preparing for her next round of job interviews. She hates the interviewing and hiring process. It takes a lot of time away from running her business and the results can be iffy.
with her dinner.
Veronica has been feeling a bit down lately as she drives to work. As the HR manager for her company, she’s in charge of the plans for the company’s annual employee picnic. She’s tried delegating this responsibility but gave up when the employees she asked threatened to quit rather than get stuck with the job.
Shelly owns a small company that is growing rapidly now that the economy as a whole has perked up. She’s hired several new employees and is pleased with how well they are doing. She just promoted one of the new hires, Zach, to a management position that makes him her second in command. She hopes to take a real vacation this year now that she has someone dependable to cover for her.
Helen handles HR issues for her company. She has an open door policy to encourage employees to talk to her because it’s a great way to take the pulse of the workforce. If bad (or she can only hope, good) things are happening, she’ll hear about it before it first.
Doug is the plant manager of a factory that makes car parts. His boss transferred him from a nearby facility with instructions to improve operations and lower costs at the factory. It didn’t take Doug long to figure out that the high costs were due to low employee morale and a high incidence of on-the-job injuries.
Cindy is the HR director for her company because she is a good listener and she can handle obnoxious people. She got the job because the owner hates conflict (and he’s one of the obnoxious people, although no one likes to mention this). Cindy listens patiently to her distressed co-workers, dispenses Kleenex and aspirin as needed, and generally puts an optimistic spin on the worst calamities.
Bob runs a company that has 31 full-time employees, 40 part-time employees and a couple of independent contractors. He knew he didn’t have 50 full-time employees so he thought he didn’t need to worry about the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
HR Compliance Jungle 