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Dumbest Moment in Human Resources – 2006
Jan 23
Business 2.0 released its 101 Dumbest Moments in Business for 2006. Coming in at Number 27 was the Dumbest Moment in Human Resources:
From: RadioShack
To: RadioShack employees
Subject: Your former jobIn August, RadioShack fires 400 staffers via e-mail. Affected employees receive a message that reads, “The work force reduction notification is currently in progress. Unfortunately your position is one that has been eliminated.”
RadioShack wasn’t alone in dumb HR moves. Northwest Airlines flies into ignominy for sending out 101 Ways to Save Money to laid off workers with advice that included dumpster diving. UnitedHealth Group gets a new calendar as a prize for backdating stock options. And Bank of America gets to cash the check for making outsourced employees train their replacements to get their severance payments.
Fun reading. And a cautionary tale. The entire Business 2.0 list of the 101 Dumbest Moments in Business can be found here.
Technorati Tags: 101 Dumbest Moments in Business, UnitedHealth Group, Northwest Airlines, RadioShack, Bank of America
About the Author
Frank Roche
Frank started IFRACTAL over 7 years ago with Sarah Chambers. Together, they've created HR communications and HR software for some of the world's leading companies. Frank is also studying Flamenco guitar and origami.
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I have to say that this excellent award wining entry may now be surpassed. This week in Oz, a car parts manufacturer has been shamed into providing voluntary redundancy for a long serving worker. Every other person in the comnpany was offered voluntary redundancy, except for this gentleman. No reason was given at the time, although it seems likely that the fact the employee had been on sick leave for some time with terminal cancer may have played a part.
Newspaper reports suggest they were ‘waiting him out’. As a result of media coverage, the company yesterday agreed to pay about 50% of the amount he would have received under voluntary redundancy – around AUD $50,000. The man’s 3 children, all under 20, will now have some money to rely on. The gentleman in question is expected to pass away today.
A new winner???
Wow, Megan, I think you have a topper there! Amazing story…and how sick is it to “wait him out”? It’s the ultimate in making someone redundant. Sad indeed.
OK. These are funny (at best) sick and mean (at worst). Here’s the scary part to me. These could have been me.
I bet none of these folks who made these decisions said, “let’s do something stupid for the company today.” They probably are “staffed lean”, “moving quickly”, “with a bias toward action”. Maybe the decision was made far away by people who think that HR is the place where their brillant ideas get executed.
Too many times the impulse to solve the problem submitted by a corporate superior is so overwhelming we forget to think and we forget our ethics and we forget common sense and decency. But, we keep on going until our actions appear in one of these articles.
What to do? Beats me. I will suggest here, though that there is almost always a few mintues to ask “what are we really trying to accomplish here” and then the better question, “is there anything more basic that we are trying to accomplish?” If you also get to ask “what is it that we really mean to communicate”, it might not be such a bad day after all.
Final preachy thought for the evening – if you don’t have the guts to occationaly use the phrase “because it’s the right thing to do” you don’t deserve to be in HR.
JT
Bill, “because it’s the right thing to do” is a good mantra for life, and so true that HR needs to be the ones who lead by example.
It is astonishing how boneheaded some decisions can be…and I bet you’re right, that people didn’t start out trying to make bad decisions. I’ve often thought that HR appeals to two types of people: those who genuinely like people, and those who want to stick it to people. Teaching has a parallel: the teacher who cares about students and sees them as individuals, and the other type, who didn’t like school, and now is going to make it as unpleasant and painful as possible. I like Type 1: The Good Guys.
“Having a place at the table” means standing up and doing what’s right, even when doing what’s right isn’t the most expedient or politically palatable.