Let me begin by stating that in no
way am I espousing one religious view over another. Further those of you, who
have followed my blog since its inception in 2007, know that I rarely touch on
the ethics end of our profession. Having said that one of my local churches
once again posted the Sunday sermon topic, which hit a nerve. The billboard
read “Nothing can be legally right when it is morally wrong.”
As human resource professionals we
are confronted with this dilemma each and every day we exercise our
responsibilities to our organizations. Consider this real time scenario:
In the mid to
late 1970’s I worked as a recruiter with several contingency recruiting firms
in the northeast part of the United States.
We specialized in the recruitment of Accounting, Tax and Finance
candidates for corporations across the country. At the end of the period with
one of the Firms I had risen to the position of VP with the authority to make
agreements with potential sources of candidates. One of the prime sources of
these candidates were the auditors of the big 8 CPA firms. On one such occasion
I met with the outplacement director of one of these firms during which we
agreed that if the recruiting firm stopped raiding auditors at their client
companies we would in turn receive the names of all the auditors who would not
be made partner. We returned to the office and announced to the staff what we
had agreed to. Within the first hour one of the banks of recruiters did exactly
what we promised we would not do. When I brought it to the attention of the Division
President I was told if you have any business ethics you did not belong working
for the firm.
So was what
they did legal? Yes there was nothing illegal about raiding the clients for the
public auditors working there. Was it morally right? To some it might be, to me
it was totally wrong. It meant my word was not worth anything of value to a
potential partner. This is a pretty
clean example of the idea behind the title of this blog. But, what if the
response is not quite as simple as the scenario?
As HR professionals, we are
confronted with a never-ending dilemma. On one hand we are delegated the duty
to be the organizational policeman. The organization expects and in some cases
demands that we rapidly correct the organization when they plan to do something
that is blatantly illegal. That is well and good, but what happens in those
circumstances when the action the organization undertakes is totally legal
under every view we can imagine, but the human capital get hurt in the long
run.
Case Study:
Last week the CEO of AOL was caught in a phone call to employees telling them
that the organization was changing the way they paid out the 401(k) benefits.
They went from paying it out anytime over the year to a once-a-year payout in
December, essentially cutting the 401(k) benefits. He also went on to blame the
cuts on the expense of implementing the Affordable Care Act requirements. At
the same time the CEO saw nothing wrong receiving a large increase in salary, which
would have more than covered the increased expenses he was complaining about.
Was this
action legal? Yes the organization has the right to plan out the dates of
distribution of their corporate investments? Was it morally right? Not if the
final result is that it hurt the human capital adversely in the long run. Some
could argue differently I suppose. I would contend that the above scenario
talks about the real dilemma facing HR professionals. These are the situations
where the organization puts the total organization ahead of the human capital
that, are critical to the success of the organization.
We constantly hear of
organization’s complaining about the lack of employee engagement. We need to
come to the realization that Cadbury Chocolate had it correct when in its high
spot in their history they understood that the way to get employees ENGAGED was
to take care of their needs and welfare. They were the ones who built homes for
their employees so they had a roof over their head while they worked in the
factory. They were the ones who recognized that by creating the pension plans
like we know today, they were insuring that the employee was prepared for the
future. Was it required no but it was morally the right thing to do.
As the gatekeeper for
the talent management efforts of the organization we have the responsibility to
meet the dual demands of ensuring that the actions of our management are both
legal and morally right. It is our duty to make sure that every management
decision takes in to account the betterment of the organizational society and
the betterment of the rank and file employees. I am fully cognizant that at
times this can be difficult. However the real desired outcome sis that we
recognize that the rank and file is more than a number in an accounting file.
The desired outcome is that we recognize that our rank and file is critical
parts of our organization. The future of our organizations depends on our
ability to treat
What are your thoughts? Let’s start the dialogue. E-Mail me
or respond to this post.
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