HR Practitioner’s Diary: Cliffhangers

Annie Hayes

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HR Practitioner’s Diary: Cliffhangers

By Annie Hayes

Deceit and deception are the ugly hallmarks of an illicit love affair; this week Sue Kingston picks up the pieces of an office romance that results in a broken marriage and some unhelpful office gossip.

W/C 29 August 2005:
Oh well, that’s it now, the last Bank Holiday of the year before Christmas, it’s official! Don’t know whether to do my Christmas shopping early or leave it all until Christmas Eve. Can’t help but wonder what tasks await me between now and then.

You belong to me – the final chapter
Last week we looked at the plight of poor Parker, the chauffeur seeking some well earned work/life balance.

A new contract has given him some of the flexibility he craved, even though it is effectively a 24/7 contract.

Penelope, his boss, now understands that flexibility applies both ways in a viable relationship.

The arrangement fully considers the Working Time Regulations, so everyone is happy. Hurrah, a good result!

One for the road – the conclusion
I didn’t receive any feedback on what to do with Sue Ellen, the confirmed alcoholic. Having left the organisation, we were then approached for a reference from an agency.

They wanted to speak ‘off-the-record’ as they suspected Sue Ellen might have a ‘deeper’ issue.

I asked the agency to make their request in writing and responded by simply confirming Sue Ellen’s position, start and finish dates and no more than that.

These requests are always difficult, because there is naturally a strong temptation to ‘warn’ other potential employers, but I always maintain the stance of simply confirming the most basic facts and then leave it to the other party to assess the response in whatever way they feel appropriate.

If their intuition is already raising suspicions I hope they have enough trust in themselves to follow that gut feeling.

Dallas re-visited
Alexis only lasted one working day (yes, all seven hours of it) in her new role as new Business Development Director!

All of the shenanigans about her job title and company car proved pointless!

Apparently Alexis arrived on her first day keen as mustard. She spent the day with Larry, the Chief Executive, and I think this may have proved to be her undoing!

Both are very strong characters, Larry is a totally dynamic entrepreneur and Alexis is a very outspoken, strong willed American. I suspected a considerable character ‘clash’ and it appears to have happened very swiftly!

However, we have identified that as a result of Larry not following a structured recruitment procedure with Alexis, it allowed his opinion and enthusiasm to become biased. He didn’t seek advice or involvement from me or his fellow Board of Directors during the interviewing process with Alexis and the result was a calamitous failure!

Larry has now agreed to have a formal recruitment process put in place throughout the business and he and all of his managers have undertaken to adhere to it!

The staff turnover of his business this year has equated to approximately 38%, so he knows he has been getting something wrong and, fortunately, he is now prepared to do something positive about it.

I plan to put the recruitment process in place over the next week and am currently overseeing the interview process for a key managerial position. I have recently recruited two managers for them and so far they have settled in really well, which goes some way towards proving that my method works. This, together with the fact that one of his subsidiaries has a zero staff turnover for 2005 so far is proof indeed that it is getting the right results.

The other good result of this is that Cliff gets to live another day! His job was on the line if Alexis had stayed, but Larry now realises he needs Cliff and is prepared to help develop him. Hurrah for Cliff!

That’s not the way to do it!
The impact of private relationships in the workplace is an interesting topic and one that I witnessed at first hand this week.

A company Director (Punch) had walked out on his wife (Judy) and the dog, and gone to live with his young lover (Floozie) and her two young children. Floozie was a business associate of some two years.

These situations can be really unpleasant because of the ripple effect. Inevitably the ‘lovers’ are blinkered and totally oblivious to the impact of their liaison. Let me enlighten you!

Punch has a business partner, Clown, who has been a good personal friend to both Punch and Judy for some 20 years or more, plus Judy is a PA to the business lawyer (The Crocodile) – hope you are following this?

Clown is really unhappy with Punch’s behaviour and has told him so. Their business relationship has cooled somewhat, only speaking when they have to and restricting those times to business matters only.

What Punch doesn’t know is that Judy is in regular contact with Clown and his wife, as they have provided friendship and support throughout what has been a very devastating time for her.

Judy also knows other colleagues of Punch and many of those have been ‘privvy’ to some of the more sensitive details of what has been going on regarding Punch’s affair with Floozie.

It came to light that Punch had invited Floozie along to several business dinners, whilst conducting his affair with her, Judy was also present at these dinners not aware of her husband’s deceit. One such dinner was at their marital home – BOO!

Punch had remained physically intimate with Judy right up to the morning of the day he told her he was leaving. He had his ‘wicked’ way with her and gave her the earth shattering news afterwards – double BOO!

Punch’s colleagues are giving him the cold shoulder.

The disruption this has had on the atmosphere at the office has made it almost unbearable, Punch’s colleagues feel caught in the middle, but are naturally loyal to and protective of Judy. One feels unable to continue working in the atmosphere unless something changes for the better swiftly.

After discussing the scenario with me, the Policeman (Punch’s boss) has said that he is not at all happy with the disruption and rumour mongering. The Policeman just wants his staff to get on with the job in hand and not be so wrapped up in this real life soap opera.

As a result the Policeman and I have jointly spoken with all involved, on an individual basis, and asked them to focus on their work and not get involved in Punch’s private circumstances, whether they agree with his behaviour or not. Punch has also been asked to sort out his affairs without this huge spillage into the lives of his colleagues.

Judy and Clown have been asked to keep their discussions confidential and out of the workplace. Thankfully now everyone has settled down to a routine again and the atmosphere isn’t quite so icy. No need for the Hangman on this occasion! However, the Crocodile is benefiting from the divorce procedures on Judy’s behalf (that’s a good lawyer for you)!

Given Punch’s track record we can’t help but feel that Floozie will eventually be left holding the baby!

It’s natural human behaviour to enjoy the office gossip, but this was so bad we had to take ‘damage limitation’ measures and hopefully it has worked.

If anyone would like to share their own experience of this type of situation and how it was dealt with please feel free to send me your comments.

Maybe it’s the heat that brings out poor behaviour, but it had a different effect with me on the golf course:

Vital Stats:

For all of those ‘singletons’ out there:

Weight – 9st 10lbs (blame it on the wine!)

Chocolate – nil (it would have melted in the heat!)

Wine – can’t remember, but it was a great BBQ and the wine was flowing!

Cider – two glasses after playing golf in temperatures of 32°C.

Boyfriends – nil. Hot weather has induced a desert, combined with too much work and not enough ‘chilling’. Can’t complain (see Golf below)!

Golf – Tournament was superb and my fellow golfers (all 47) were true gentlemen. The only club wielded was a golf club and we lost a few balls between us on the day – what a challenging course it was! It was so hot (32°C) the guys wanted to try my Toner Spritzer on their faces to cool down – ‘new 21st century men’ on the golf course. I suspect their older golfing compatriots would frown on such frivolity! I won a prize for being the only ‘lady’ golfer. I should have also had a prize for playing in the most sand. I ended up in so many bunkers they all decided I should have gone to the seaside instead!
On the course I was entertained by my team as they recited scenes from Monty Python and, can you believe, word perfect scenes from Pretty Woman! They were all great fans and true romantics. One has given me a book to read which is proving fascinating – The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield. It’s an adventure based in the rain, in the forests of Peru in search of an ancient manuscript which gives the nine key insights into life itself, as we move toward a completely spiritual culture on Earth. It’s amazing what golf can lead to! Have a look at the book – it’s worth a read.