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My company’s owners are HR nightmares! Should I stay or should I go?
http://www.businessmanagementdaily.com/articles/18567/1/My-companys-owners-are-HR-nightmares-Should-I-stay-or-should-I-go/Page1.html
John Wilcox, Moderator
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John Wilcox is senior editor of 15 HR Specialist newsletters covering employment law, compensation and benefits, as well as theHRSpecialist.com. A journalist who has covered HR, training, organization development and business management for more than 15 years, John keeps his finger on the pulse of what’s working in HR through daily contact with some of the nation’s top HR pros, business people and employment law attorneys.
 
By John Wilcox, Moderator
Published on 4/14/2009 - 10:30am
 
How do you handle two owners who still do business as if they are stuck in the 1950s? I am the HR director at a not-so-small, not-so-big company that has been a family business for over 100 years. The owners have no respect for HR. They play favorites, are extremely sexist and face EEOC discrimination complaints at least twice a year.

The employee handbook is the current flashpoint. The owners neither follow nor enforce the policies in it, and it needs a complete overhaul. I tell them constantly that if I am to protect them, we need a well-written and enforced handbook. They pay no attention at all. They look at me as if I am the bad guy.

I have been here only eight months. I spend lots of time putting out fires they personally start. I really feel I’m compromising my ethics by staying! What should I do?  In this economy I cannot look for another job. Do I just stick it out until it starts to turn around—and then leave?—RS, Midwest
How do you handle two owners who still do business as if they are stuck in the 1950s? I am the HR director at a not-so-small, not-so-big company that has been a family business for over 100 years. The owners have no respect for HR. They play favorites, are extremely sexist and face EEOC discrimination complaints at least twice a year.

The employee handbook is the current flashpoint. The owners neither follow nor enforce the policies in it, and it needs a complete overhaul. I tell them constantly that if I am to protect them, we need a well-written and enforced handbook. They pay no attention at all. They look at me as if I am the bad guy.

I have been here only eight months. I spend lots of time putting out fires they personally start. I really feel I’m compromising my ethics by staying! What should I do?  In this economy I cannot look for another job. Do I just stick it out until it starts to turn around—and then leave?—RS, Midwest



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