HR as Shakespeare
For me, being a Human Resource Professional is analogous to being the Stage Manager of a theatre season of Shakespearean plays. All life being a stage, as HR, one is in the role of a fulcrum in supporting the success of the “season”, i.e the business itself. This must be accomplished by pivoting between the needs of the “Directors” (the Owners, CEO, CFO) and the needs of the “Players” (the employees), and supporting both the business as a whole organism and the Human Spirit in each diverse group. Add to that the subtext of the Directors and Players real lives and presto, you definitely have all the makings of human drama. Drama the likes of which Shakespeare would applaud, from the births (the hiring), to the deaths (the quitting or firing) and all the attendant chaos of life in between.
So, supporting each individual to reach maximum potential while, at the same time, supporting the integrity of the whole is a Herculean task, at best, and each of us develops our own “style” in achieving this feat. I have been in the business of supporting human potential in various ways through several decades now. My “style”, like that of Bruce Lees’, was formed by studying many avenues. In addition to my own human experience, I gleaned insight from many prophets. Back in time as far as the “Beatles”, Krishnamurti, and Faith Popcorn, and more currently, the Seattle grunge scene, and experts like Peters, Covey and the spiritual Ken Blanchard, to name just a few. Many, many teachers ranging the spectrum from Business to Psychological to Spiritual have formed my beliefs of today.
I think Howard Behar, in his book, It’s Not About the Coffee, which reveals the ten principles that made Starbucks success, has best synthesized my bias on the role of a Human Resource professional. Behar postulates that if a company treats employees and customers well, everything else will fall into place. If you think of your staff as people (not costs) they will achieve results beyond what is thought possible. And, if you think of your customers as people (not revenue) you’ll make a deep connection with them, and they’ll come back over and over. I personally feel the human resources in any business, while the most difficult to measure, project for or categorize, is the skeletal structure that supports or breaks a company.
Fast forward to today’s “economic downturn”. How do we, as HR professionals accomplish supporting the human spirit in today’s market where people are losing their jobs, their homes, and their savings. We have come to a time in history where we have to explore new options for retaining employees. One of the avenues available in Washington state is the Employment Security Department program “Work Share”. With this program you can temporarily reduce the hours of any F/T employee. The business itself is the one who signs up for the program. While the reduced hours are in effect, the employee still maintains a job at the company, and can collect unemployment to make up the difference between the reduced hours and a normal 40 hour work week. While the employee does not get as much as his/her full regular paycheck, it is a better alternative to both employer and employee in this difficult climate.
While downsizing might have to be an option, and many HR professionals are assisting employees in finding new employment in these cases, the “Work Share” program, if it exists in your state, is one alternative to maintaining current employees while reducing company costs.
As to the business of downsizing, it is the way the downsizing occurs that will either support or break the human being involved. But that is another topic all together.
Written by Liandra Krebs, an independant HR Consultant.