In thousands of companies across the United States, and
especially in Boston, the first phone call that company CEOs and Presidents made
after hearing about the bombings at the Boston Marathon was to their head of
Human Resources.
I recall an event about 20 years ago when I was a General
Manager for a company in Colorado. I came into the office around 7:00 AM and as
I started to settle into my routine I received a call saying that one of my
employees had just shot his wife and then turned the gun on himself: Both dead.
I called HR.
As HR Directors do the world over, she rushed into the
office and took over the task of finding out more details, making sure our employees
knew what was going on, and taking time to talk to the friends and co-workers
who knew this individual the best. I don’t think the HR Director was trained in
psychology, or disaster response, or managing human emotions in the face of unbelievable
circumstances. But you couldn't have proven that to me or to any of the people
she (and the others in her small department) helped that day. They seemed to
know exactly the right things to do.
The HR department is the emergency response group that
spearheads how companies will help their employees respond to tragedies. They do this without fanfare and without
questioning whether it is in their job description. They know helping people
cope is a key part of helping keep the company performing. But it goes beyond that. The little
appreciated fact about most HR professionals is that they care about how people
are doing. They want to help. Period.
That is just what HR does. They help. They try and make
whatever life sends our way a little more tolerable.
In the aftermath of Boston the day was met with a lot of
silent HR heroes.
No comments:
Post a Comment