Evil HR Lady Eavesdrops

I totally did not mean to. But offspring and I were at Wendys and there was a man speaking very loudly. You know the type of person I am talking about--he was speaking loudly and in an authoritative voice so that all in the restaurant would know how smart and wonderful he was. But, that is beside the point.

He was telling his buddies about a system administrator job he once held. Turnover was so horrendous that within 3 months he was the most senior person there. Now, my thought on this was maybe he annoyed the other employees with his loud talking self-importance. But then he said something telling. "They arranged all the cubes so the manager could see everyone all the time."

Things like this make the Evil HR Lady want to bang managers' heads together. Professional adults don't want every second of their lives monitored. Really. They don't. Now I hear offending managers screaming, "but if I leave them alone for 30 seconds they are playing Doom and watching people set themselves on fire on YouTube!" I have no doubt that there are people like that. (Of course, now I'm curious if such a thing really exists on YouTube. So I went over and typed in the phrase setting self on fire and nine hits came up. I did not watch any of them. People are so strange.)

If you hire someone who wastes their whole day watching videos on the internet, fire her. Or him. Just get that person out. Then let your professionals be professional. If you monitor the whole group, I can guarantee getting away with stuff will become the foremost goal of your entire team.

If your voluntary turnover is through the roof, start examining how you are treating your staff. And be careful when you talk about it loudly in restaurants. Evil HR Lady may be in there.