Ask a HR Executive anything

50 Questions

Last Answer on January 11, 2015

I've learned through the termination process of several employees that an executive manager in the company has referred to me as incompetent. My question is, how do I deal with this? This particular exec has said this about a large number of people.

Asked by Ed Hughes about 12 years ago

Well that's sucky. I'm sorry, dude - it sounds like you work with a real jerk. Without knowing the full context, it's a bit hard to give you specific advice. But here's the general gist of what I would do. First, can you talk to your boss or another senior trusted advisor about the situation? It would help to get some context and understanding. For example, are there specific situations from your past performance that is causing this person to say this? Or, is he just a jerk? And, do they have advice for you to address any true shortfalls? You want the lay of the land before doing what I recommend next. And that would be... decide if you want to address the executive manager directly. Many times, bullies are all for disparaging people in situations when they aren't going to be confronted. But when directly and calmly addressed by someone, they realize that they can't bully someone - and they respect boundaries. Think back to the bully stealing a kid's lunch money. He never picks on the kid that's going to push back. You can ask him what his legitimate concerns are with you and what you can do to address them. You can also ask him to direct any concerns with your performance either directly to you or your boss. Telling others, but not you, doesn't allow you the opportunity to fix any concerns. It just makes him a badmouthing ass. (Adjust language as appropriate to the situation.) Finally, if this executive manager behaves as an equal opportunity jerk, and the company decides to not address it, you might be in a situation where you need to decide if you can live with the situation as it is. If he does this to everyone, most people might just write him off as a jerk and ignore him. It does, however, demonstrate a lack of care and concern on behalf of your company. That would worry me more in the long run - it is worth it to work somewhere that people are allowed to behave that way? Maybe. It depends on what you get in return.

826 Votes

Why don't more lawyers go into HR? Given how touchy, nuanced, and intertwined HR and employment law matters are, wouldn't that make a lot of sense?

Asked by Bento Boxer 74 almost 12 years ago

The short answer has to be money - HR people have a seriously low bill rate compared with lawyers. All joking aside, there are some HR people who have a background in employment law before getting into an HR role. But legal / compliance work is only a small part of what good HR people do. Hopefully they are spending more of their time on the fun stuff - creating innovative development programs, communicating with employees or designing compensation plans that achieve business results while rewarding people. Knowing the legal stuff is just the beginning and, if all the person knows, not enough to be a great HR professional.

825 Votes

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Does Human Resources actually verify the education of job candidates?

Asked by Lucky777 almost 12 years ago

They do - as part of the background check process, many companies verify degrees as well as former employers. It is actually typically an outsourced process - there are companies that all they do is pull background information on people for purposes of employment verification.

824 Votes

Is the "fire people on a Friday" thing a myth?

Asked by anon almost 12 years ago

Nope. It is not a standard rule, and in fact, there are people divided on whether it is a good thing or a bad thing. There seems to be two rules of thumb: - Fire on a Friday and give them time to process over the weekend. - Fire them on a Tuesday so it doesn't ruin their weekend and we have all week to clean up the collateral damage. My personal preference is to give someone as much notice as possible, to think about how they would like for things to play out. I like Fridays. You get a head's up that your job is ending, think about how you want to characterize it to the external world, and figure out all the questions you have about what is going on. Then, meet on Monday to get all those answers. Just make sure the employee isn't taking off on a really fun weekend to get away - that would suck.

812 Votes

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When companies ask an applicant for REFERENCES, how useful is that in actuality, when of course they're only going to name people who will have good things to say about them, right?

Asked by Cind15 over 11 years ago

That is one of the hardest parts about hiring. It's important to get references, as there is only so much you can determine from interviewing a candidate. It's like deciding to marry someone after one or two dates, you have to make a decision with limited information. References do help in that you can ask questions about lingering points from the interview process and, usually, people do try to answer truthfully. But it is typical for most people who act as references to provide a positive picture of the candidate. This is what good friends and colleagues do, and really, thank goodness. Work would suck if not.

800 Votes

Have you ever been forced to fire someone when you didn't think it was fair?

Asked by joey almost 12 years ago

Yes, and it led me to leave my job shortly thereafter. The person wasn't great in the job she had recently moved into, but as a long term employee (15+ years), steps should have been taken to help her find something else in the company that she could be successful at. The particular executive involved didn't care, and asked me to fire her while he was on vacation. His exact words were "I want her gone by the time I am back." It was awful and I regret it to this day - it was a valuable lesson that I've never forgotten. Now, when I interview for positions, I always ask questions about the values and ethics of the people I am going to work with. For me, it's just not worth it to ever again be in a position where I am asked to implement decisions that I can't support ethically.

795 Votes

why are there so many more women than men in HR?

Asked by hellian221 almost 12 years ago

Excellent question... The flip side of the question is "why are there so many more men in science and technology?" I think there is something in our culture that generally tends to discourage girls from participating in math and science, while guiding them to more social areas of play and study. The opposite can be said about boys - talking about feelings and playing collaborative, non-competitive games seems to be discouraged. These are HUGE generalizations here, and this is not to say that this isn't changing. But I don't think it is reasonable to look at the % of HR people who are female and the % of engineers who are male and say there isn't something going on when we are kids. I hope we figure it out, and provide more opportunities for people of either gender to express any part of themselves they choose. Because the truth is, the qualities that make someone good in a role really aren't based in gender. The ability to negotiate compromise and facilitate communication come in all formats. And the wicked smarts needed to write simple, elegant code that solves complex problems exists in male and female brains in equal measure. And, really guys, it is cool to be an HR person. I swear.

793 Votes