Are you killing morale with HR Anti-Patterns? Today’s expert points out a series of all-too-common actions that will drive the best people right out of your company.
What are you and your managers and supervisors doing right now that’s turning good employees into ex-employees? Here are several of the most damaging acts, according to management consultant Rob Di Marco, blogging on innovationontherun.com. Di Marco calls these HR “worst practices” anti-patterns.
–Public insult. This is when the manager dresses the employee down in front of other employees or customers, says Di Marco. This is the most common and, over the years, one of the most effective of HR anti-patterns.
–Everyone else knows. This insult also occurs in public, but without the insulted employee being there. Di Marco adds bonus points for doing it in front of a senior manager who does not know the employee.
–Thanks for nothing. When an employee completes a job, make it clear that the task didn’t really require that much effort. Di Marco suggests saying things like “tasks aren’t hard, people are lazy.” When describing a major accomplishment, be sure to point out any elements that failed and how the work, no matter how well done, still needs to be improved.
Managers of small HR departments have found the special help they need in a unique BLR product—Managing an HR Department of One. Examine it at no cost or risk for 30 days. Click for info.
–Cone of irresponsibility. Demand accountability from employees, but never of yourself. After all, it’s not likely that failures are due to your inability to manage. Understaffing or poor performance are the likely culprits, says Di Marco.
–Ignorance is bliss. Why bother to learn the cause of a problem when you can just lash out at the people involved, Di Marco asks.
–Amorphous position. Hire people into positions with no real job description. Di Marco awards extra points for hiring several new people with similar job titles, like Product Manager, Project Manager, and Program Manager. Let them fight it out to see who gets to do what.
–Ridiculous promotion. Move people to positions in which they have no experience or interest. Do not explain what their duties are. When they fail, Di Marco says, revert to public insult and everyone else knows.
–Random hiring. As long as you (and maybe the boss) like the person, hire. Hey, you didn’t get this far without a sixth sense for quickly judging people’s nature, right?
Feel like you’re all alone in HR? Take on a partner—Managing an HR Department of One. Examine at no cost or risk for 30 days. Click for info.
Here are a few of our own favorites to add to Di Marco’s list:
–Ignore complaints. They’re usually not valid because workers just don’t understand the intricacies of modern management, right?
–Delay decisions. Don’t respond to employee requests too quickly—it suggests that they are in charge. Extra points if people have to redo vacation plans because of the delay in approving a request.
–Keep your cards hidden. No need to let people know about policy and rule changes … until they’ve violated them, that is.
And then there’s Di Marco’s final suggestion: Tell your workers that you expect great things, and then cut their budget.
These “anti-patterns” are obviously offered tongue-in-cheek, the way Dilbert cartoons are. They are ridiculous, you laugh. But then you look around the office and see them enacted word for word.
What’s the real message here? Managers have it within their power to destroy morale. In the next Advisor, we’ll talk about how to build it, instead —with Bridge-Building 101.