Stupid Snap Judgments Can Cost More Than Your Job

I have to admit that I get fired up about Human Resources and employment issues. I just do. Chris Ferdinandi over at Renegade HR asked me if I got tired of being a thought leader in HR. I kind of laughed it off because I don’t think people look to me for thought leadership in HR. Most people tell me they are entertained by my blog and that I bring interesting issues to the forefront. I think that is more accurate. 

When employment issues hit home (relatives, friends, etc…), I get flustered by them. I guess that’s where much of my frustration happens with HR. I know exactly what they are trying to accomplish but they aren’t getting it. 

Anyway, I forgot where I was going with that but something got me fired up today. 

I’m Gonna Need You To Come In Saturday

Work sucks sometimes. That is the most obvious thing I’ve ever said. Sometimes you get to cancel plans with your wife for a long weekend. That sucks. Sometimes you have to work through a project that feels like punishment. That sucks. 

The more rewarding your job is, the more the crappy parts stand out too. And in fact, what I consider to be my favorite job is where I had some of my worst days. Feels weird to say but the crappy job I had before that? I hardly had any bad days. It was a string of uninspired, listless and blah but not necessarily bad or unhappy. 

HRM Today, my labor of love, is frustrating at times. I am unhappy some weeks about the way the site is or how the technology behind the scenes is duct taped together just waiting for something to break. But at the same time, if I could do it full time, I would. Who wouldn’t want to interact with HR people all day and encourage them to be online and get active in a community? (Okay, just me? Cool)

Why Does It Say Paper Jam When There Is No Paper Jam?

I want to give up on HRM Today some days. I want to put it on eBay and wash my hands of it. So if I were to go by just that feeling at those moments, what would happen? Bye bye! 

The problem: my project isn’t a flash in the pan. It takes time and frustration to do something cool. If I missed the bigger picture, the bigger lesson involved in growing my website, I would have given up on it a long time ago. 

I figured out the same thing about my career. I have to look at the more cumulative impact to judge it. My favorite job ever? I had doubts the first couple months. I had moved from the big city to a small town and I was unsure about the job and how I was doing. My fiance was 250 miles away and I felt isolated. 

It’s Not That I Am Lazy, It’s That I Just Don’t Care

I read a post today about a person who quit their job after a whole two weeks. I would link to it (because I am polite) but it breaks just about every rule I have about putting together a thoughtful post. I am not going to feed into that. Two weeks on a job is about as much of a snap judgment as you can make. It abandons all of the difficulties of assimilating into a new set of responsibilities (your job),  group (your coworkers) and an organization (your company). As someone involved in HR and on the hiring side, it speaks one thing loud and clear: you just don’t care. 

Here’s the surprising thing: I feel the same way about a company that would drop a person after two weeks based on the snap judgment they made. If a company doesn’t allow an employee to adjust to their new working environment, it is making a serious error in judgment. It would be flawed to run your company this way. 

So why are we so willing to go after companies that treat their employees like garbage and not go after employees that treat companies like garbage? Because we are willing to make excuses for the employee? Because we’ve been in situations we didn’t like and we wish we had done something differently? Who really cares though? It is incredibly inconsistent not to mention disregarding the considerable financial cost the company gets to shoulder after the deed is done (HR people know their cost per hire and it is higher than you think). 

This Isn’t Just About My Dream Of Doing Nothing

Two weeks on the job and you’re not happy so you’re considering quiting? Think about the message you’re sending future employers (remember we don’t like to hear whining about your last employer). Think about the lessons you missed (working through adversity in a workplace, dealing with conflict, making progress against all odds). Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team. He was probably pretty unhappy about that. He might have questioned the coach’s judgment. But high performers don’t cut and run at the first signs of adversity. They stay, fight, improve and win. 

There’s the hope for people who can’t just disengage from their job after two weeks and go back to living with their parents. People can grow in their current work environment and become better when they don’t give up. When they have to face adversity every day. When they have to face a rash employment decision they made. They can stay, fight, improve and win and be better off for it. That’s the inspirational message.