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by Bill Gaffney

COMPANIES BEHAVING BADLY
11/26/07

My long awaited column on companies behaving badly is here. I will provide a few examples, primarily “job search” related and some solutions. If you are in senior management, getting ready to be or in HR hopefully you can employ some of these. Remember there are no companies behaving badly, only people. Companies are an entity. I would love to hear some of your horror stories. I might run a column of those. It would certainly be good for a few chuckles.

The first one may be more about proper “etiquette” than a company behaving badly. Many times people might travel 2-3 hours one way out of town to do an interview. The question always is, “Should they be reimbursed?” This is a tricky one, depending on the length of travel, etc. If it is an overnight it becomes a moot point. But if it is a same day trip we enter the gray area. Most candidates are reluctant to ask for reimbursement, fearing they will be regarded as petty. And I am convinced most companies don’t think about it. At the price of gasoline this has become a significant expense. So here is my solution (and it might drive my finance friends nuts). Give out gas cards. If they are traveling 50 miles give one amount, 100 miles, another, etc. This is quite simple and painless for HR and the candidate. It is also something unique that might just make your company stand out. Don’t forget a certificate for a national chain like Applebee’s if their day trip involves a good bit of the day.

The next one happened to a candidate of mine with a “former” (notice the word former) client of mine. The candidate was to fly from Cincinnati to Salt Lake City (both major Delta hubs) for an interview. What should have been a non-stop 8-hour trip out and back turned into an 18-hour ordeal. It seems the company wanted to save a few $$ so they scheduled a one stop flight on the way out and a 2 stop flight on the way back. That is why they immediately became former. Folks this does not provide a good first impression.

I had another “former” client who continued to blow off interviews, sometimes 2 and 3 times with the same candidate. This was in the late 90’s when the candidate pool was so tight. After about three of these I “fired” the client. But first I provided him a lesson on etiquette and the labor pool.

I am going to pause here to remind anyone in a hiring position that candidates own the market today, not hiring companies. I have reviewed the demographics in prior columns. The bottom line is if you take too long or continue to display insulting behavior that candidate is going to go elsewhere.

I did some coaching for a gentleman about three years ago. He had been a Vice President of Sales with a three/quarter billion-dollar IBM business partner. This gentleman had been in Houston on business, had a heart attack and flat lined in the airport. While he was in the hospital the HR person had called him to let him know because of company finances he was going to have to take a pay cut. The HR person said he knew this was a bad time but it was something he could not wait to tell him. Now that’s class. Do I really need to make a suggestion on this one?

A recruiter friend of mine once had a candidate out on an interview with one of her better clients. I know this recruiter well and she only submits “grade A” candidates. This candidate was interviewing for a VP position and interviewed with several executives. They rushed this candidate in as the candidate already had an offer in hand from a top firm. The HR person called back the next day, Friday, and said an offer would be forthcoming on Monday. He was going to write it on Saturday. Everyone, including the president/CEO, loved the candidate. Come Monday no offer. When my friend finally got hold of the HR person on Tuesday he sheepishly said there would be no offer made on the candidate. It seems the person the candidate was replacing, who was moving to a different part of the organization, had said no. Every one was afraid to rock the boat and go ahead with the hiring. So here’s a lesson. It is probably not a good idea to have a candidate interview with the incumbent, unless they are going to be their new boss. If they do have to be involved in the process don’t give them veto power. There is too great of a chance of ego getting in the way.

Now a couple of non-hiring related situations.

This first I related to you a while back. I know of a well-known firm that is listed on the most desirable places to work list. They have a GM in one division who is the textbook version of a micro-manager, is rude and arrogant to subordinates and can’t keep subordinate managers for any length of time. And senior management knows this. They have even sent in an HR team to “do an investigation”. Yet this person has been doing this for many years and through many assignments. Why do they keep her? Because she runs great costs. Forget the cost of hiring new people, training them, and losing potentially strong managers. So here’s a thought. If a manager is running “great costs” but is running off employees in droves maybe the costs aren’t all that great. In a labor market like we are in today you can’t afford to burn through employees, especially managers. Besides that she alienated customers, which I would guess is not all that uncommon with this type of individual. Talk about lost opportunity costs.

I once worked for a Fortune 100 company in a start-up division. This division was an entrepreneurial attempt. The person they put in charge of the division was a known axe wielder and cost cutter in the mold of “Chainsaw” Al Dunlap. He was an accountant (nothing against accountants) who had spent years with the company going into operations that were bleeding money and cleaning them up. This is probably not the type of individual you want in this situation. He was also openly prejudice.

In the words of comedian Bill Engvall, “Here’s your sign”.

Finally some other no-no’s I have seen:
· It is not a good idea to give a candidate your salary range and then expect them to settle for something below the upper level. If they would I would suspect the quality of the candidate.
· Hiring out of desperation to fill an open slot is prone to be no more successful than a candidate taking a job simply to get away from one they currently dislike. Both situations are generally prone to failure.
· Interviewing over drinks and/or in a “gentleman’s club” is not a good idea. I can think of better first impressions to give. (Believe me. Both still happen and more frequently than you might think.)
· Firing an employee without giving counseling, documentation, etc. (unless it is for something overt like theft, sexual harassment, etc.) is STUPID!! Let me say it again, STUPID!! Nothing further needs to be said.
· Delaying reimbursement for interviewing costs to get a little cash float, because it is our policy or because “we lost it” does not leave a good impression. Instead the hiring manager or HR should personally walk that expense report, reimbursement request or whatever you use directly over to accounts payable with it stamped with the words “pay immediately”.
· And Last!! I have now said this three times so it must be important. We have a labor shortage. This is a candidate driven market. Do I make my point?

Besides entertaining you I hope this column gets in some of the right hands so companies can behave goodly.

Labels: clients, recruiting