3 ms·

"If I am an employer with 100 male employees, how do I ensure that none of those 100 guys is a dickhead once?" Shaking my head here...It's very simple: have a

"If I am an employer with 100 male employees, how do I ensure that none of those 100 guys is a dickhead once?" Shaking my head here...It's very simple: have a competent HR department. a. The alleged dickhead does something. b. The alleged victim feels comfortable taking the issue to HR. c. HR does a complete, impartial investigation listening to both sides and taking all factors into consideration. d. HR recommends a course of action. In almost every initial case, this means an informal mediation between the two individuals led by a trained mediator. e. Company leadership follows the HR recommendation. By the way, this is what most American companies do. It's not rocket science and there's no need to re-invent the wheel.

javert 12y ago
In the case we are talking about, presumably, some version of this took place. But yeah, I am really just trying to make a broader point that I think people should just part ways when they have personal disagreements, rather than sue one another. And I think the law should reflect that expectation, rather than working the way it works now. It is a reductio ad absurdum (having all-male or all-female companies is the absurdum).
Kalium 12y ago
Bear in mind that most places, HR is trusted roughly as much as your average scorpion. People dread the mere possibility of ever dealing with HR.
- hudibras 12y ago
  No argument here; I work in HR myself. But people dread a lot of things that the law requires them to do, like fill out income tax forms or stand in line at the DMV for a drivers license. That's just part of being an adult.
  - javert 12y ago
    All kinds of horrible things can be papered over with the reasoning, "that's just part of being an adult." For instance, taxes are needlessly complicated and dealing with that complexity is an enormous drain on the economy; we should fix it.
- mikeash 12y ago
  Is it really "most places," or is it like many things where it's rare but nobody talks about the nice interactions so you get a skewed impression? (I haven't had any real job with an HR department so I have no direct experience myself.)
  - Kalium 12y ago
    The general belief is that HR is there to protect the company from you. As a result, HR is not generally expected to help you with your problems, and any encounter with HR has a dramatically greater potential downside than potential upside. So in the interests of controlling risk, encounters with HR are to be limited.

javert 12y ago

In the case we are talking about, presumably, some version of this took place. But yeah, I am really just trying to make a broader point that I think people should just part ways when they have personal disagreements, rather than sue one another. And I think the law should reflect that expectation, rather than working the way it works now. It is a reductio ad absurdum (having all-male or all-female companies is the absurdum).

Kalium 12y ago

Bear in mind that most places, HR is trusted roughly as much as your average scorpion. People dread the mere possibility of ever dealing with HR.

hudibras 12y ago
No argument here; I work in HR myself. But people dread a lot of things that the law requires them to do, like fill out income tax forms or stand in line at the DMV for a drivers license. That's just part of being an adult.
- javert 12y ago
  All kinds of horrible things can be papered over with the reasoning, "that's just part of being an adult." For instance, taxes are needlessly complicated and dealing with that complexity is an enormous drain on the economy; we should fix it.
mikeash 12y ago
Is it really "most places," or is it like many things where it's rare but nobody talks about the nice interactions so you get a skewed impression? (I haven't had any real job with an HR department so I have no direct experience myself.)
- Kalium 12y ago
  The general belief is that HR is there to protect the company from you. As a result, HR is not generally expected to help you with your problems, and any encounter with HR has a dramatically greater potential downside than potential upside. So in the interests of controlling risk, encounters with HR are to be limited.