Book authors want everyone to read their book. It's a universal law. They spend a year or longer typing and retyping words, and when they're done, they want as many people as possible to read what they've written. And I'm no different.
But it occurs to me that some people may want to avoid my book.
Firing at Will is listed (and intended) as a management book. My publisher (Apress) even included a handy little instruction on the back cover: "Shelve in Business/Management." But so far, in every Barnes & Noble store I've checked, they've filed it under "Human Resources." And I get that, because as much as it is a book for managers, it's also a book for HR professionals.
But HR professionals who read it may be in for a surprise. Because the book takes on many of HR’s long-held beliefs, showing how some common practices harm employee morale and business profitability.
Many of the rules and policies that well-meaning HR professionals and employment lawyers put into place lead to toxic, dysfunctional workplaces. These rules are designed to protect companies from bad employees, but they instead drive away good employees.
Instead, the book promotes doing away with outdated management tools that end up becoming crutches for managers and take away their independence and discretion. For example, instead of sticking with these outdated tools, the book advises employers to:
- Throw out your personnel handbook (the title of Chapter 16)
- Abandon annual performance reviews (“the dumbest managerial tool”)
- Dump progressive-discipline policies
- Avoid performance-improvement plans (PIPs)
- Stay away from arbitration agreements
- Treat employees differently
That last one might be the biggest surprise. Employment lawyers are always telling companies to treat everyone the same. But when you do that, you end up treating everyone equally badly.
HR pros who have grown comfortable with these conventional notions may be put off by the shots taken at accepted wisdom.
On the other hand, there are things in the book that many HR people will appreciate. The book advocates for more responsibility and autonomy for human resources. It favors changing “human resources” to “talent” and elevating the role to the C-suite level: “Every company should have a chief talent officer reporting to the CEO.”
If you're a human-resources professional, or any kind of manager or employer, and you're thinking about reading Firing at Will, please proceed with caution. Some of what you read might be upsetting to you.
And some of it might just change your mind.
To order your own copy, click the following links:
- Kindle
- Paperback (Amazon)
- Nook
- IndieBound (independent bookstores)
To read Chapter 1 for free, go to the Firing at Will website and click the link at the top of the page.
Jay,
This is a great blog post that I found really interesting, as to me it illustrates how HR has to change. I work in HR and am intrigued by change and new ideas and processes. However, I am probably an exception in comparison to other HR professionals, as i'm an MBA candidate with an interest in strategic management.
I think the old traditional paperwork centric HR role is not as relevant in 21st century business. Instead the HR function needs to change and take on a more strategic role focusing on the importance of human capital through greater talent management. I really like your mention of treating employees differently as with four generations at work different employees are motivated by different things. It is so important to have flexibility in employee reward schemes to reflect this. Likewise overly rigid policies that treat everyone the same can result in failure to retain your star employees.
I'd love to read your book and look forward to reading more of your blog posts.
Posted by: Marie Wiere | 29 February 2012 at 01:41 PM
You've hit it on the head. HR is often tasked with two conflicting missions: 1) provide the environment for employee growth and 2) maintain a conformance-based personnel system.
It's that second mission that requires us to run HR as a paper trail, where we process employees like we're building cars at a Ford plant. It's usually a system developed by the folks in Legal. And that's exactly how it comes across to those who it impacts.
By the time we finish all the paperwork, we've run out of time to do any of the first mission.
HR should be creating the environment to find the best in every employee, rather than focus on ways to avoid the worst.
I think I'll make a special field trip to my Barnes & Noble this weekend, and check out what you have to say.
Posted by: magnet mailers | 23 March 2012 at 09:47 PM
It is important to educate and aware ourselves as to consider making changes in historic employee policies and procedures. That's a mark of a modern business trend and companies incorporating these trends are more likely to keep good employees with them for a longer term. Everyone should read your book. Thank you for sharing.
Posted by: Marc Martin | 07 April 2012 at 12:27 PM
Sometimes us HR professionals need a little shakeup from the old routine. I agree with your methods mentioned in this post and hope to read more about the human resources revelations discussed in Fire At Will. It's refreshing to see someone else addressing the need for HR to evolve alongside the changing workforce. Great post! -JMM
Posted by: Blogging4Jobs | 19 July 2012 at 04:43 PM