By Melissa McGuire
6 Things we wish we didn’t have to say or hear….
There are some things that we’d really rather not have to say, but as Human Resources professionals we get to handle situations that are sometimes, well, a little uncomfortable. Here’s our top 6, we’ll bet you can think of many more.
#6 – “OH HI, HOW ARE YOU DOING?” – Seeing the employee you just terminated in the grocery store – pretty uncomfortable. Here you are in the store and around the corner comes the former employee you just fired. Do you make eye contact? Do you say hello, how are you doing? Chances are they aren’t doing too well. Can we say “Uncomfortable?”
#5 – “I PROMISE, I USE SOAP” – Yes, having the conversation with the “stinky” employee who promises that they use deodorant and laundry detergent, despite that they smell like a barnyard, at Noon, when it’s 120 degrees in the shade.
#4 – “I DIDN’T TAKE IT” – Employee theft is not a fun task to investigate especially if you have to confront the alleged offender. Catching them red handed makes this task much easier but that is not always possible. Sometimes you have to just follow the evidence and come to a conclusion.
#3 – “EWW, I DIDN’T NEED TO SEE THAT” – Investigating potential IT violations and finding photos or even email’s on an employee’s computer or company cell phone that shock even us. There are definitely things we’ve have seen that we probably will never be able to erase from our memories……
#2 – “WELL, I HAD NO IDEA THERE WAS A CAMERA THERE” – So here you are looking back on some camera footage trying to figure out just what happened and you come across something that clearly is not appropriate for the work place. Wishing you didn’t see it unfortunately does not make it go away.
#1 – “I DID NOT HAVE SEXUAL RELATIONS WITH….” – So, we don’t always want to know the gross details but to conclude an investigation we sometimes must know all the ugly details. Sometimes the answers take you by surprise and it can be very uncomfortable, especially when you run into the offender, at the grocery store, with their spouse (see #6).