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No
One Here Talks About it Anymore
by Dr. Lynne
Curry
Question:
It feels creepy in our company but no one talks about the real
issues. First, one of our top managers died in the Pennsylvania
crash on September 11. Now that all the September 11th
excitement has died down, it’s as if he never existed.
Then, two weeks
ago, a car hit one of our secretaries. "Nothing major"
they said in the company email that went out, "she’s in the
hospital but recovering nicely". The email didn’t mention
which hospital, if she’d be back, nothing.
Last week, some
of us noticed a series of young women, by appointment, being
interviewed. Now, this morning everyone got an email announcing
the "new hire" without even a mention of what happened
to "Lucy" our former secretary. When I finally went and
asked, I was told, "Oh, she needed more recovery time and we
couldn’t hold open the position."
Several of us don’t
feel too good about this. It’s like you can vanish here and no
one cares. I’m really upset, ready to quit and don’t know what
to do. I want to do or say whatever I need to say to get our
managers clued that they can’t act as if people don’t matter.
I need to know how to get my point across.
Answer:
Your managers need to hear what you have to say. In the way a
child once said, "the Emperor has no clothes," you can
say that you and others in your company feel two valued employees
deserve more remembrance and respect than they’ve received.
Before you say
anything, however, stop judging your managers. The child said,
"he doesn’t have clothes on," not "you clueless
people, what’s wrong with you?" My guess – your managers
care. Like you, they don’t know what to do and don’t want to
do the wrong thing.
Workplace tragedy
hands managers a hot potato they feel unequipped to handle. Do
they shut the company down for a day? Do they talk with employees
about the situation – and if so, what can they say without
violating another employee’s privacy rights? If they encourage
employees to talk about the situation, how do they then close up
the Pandora’s box of grief they open?
Unfortunately,
when managers don’t know what to do, they often do way too
little; leaving employees feeling that no one in management cares.
When significant tragedy strikes one employee, other co-workers
feel shaken. When management fails to act, organizational morale
suffers a body blow.
What do employees
need? They need to feel management cares about employees. They
need a chance talk and the opportunity to honor those who leave
under tragic circumstances. According to workplace adjustment
counselor John Lauterbach, "Companies that try to ‘go on as
usual’ and don’t provide time for group discussions because
‘emotions aren’t job-related,’ suffer two to five times the
productivity loss suffered by companies that offer employees the
chance to ‘debrief’ tragic instances."
In a debriefing,
says Lauterbach, employees get the chance to voice their feelings
and to realize that co-workers feel similar concerns. Thus
employees feel no longer alone in their feelings and can bond
together to "get through" a difficult time. Because
management arranges the debriefing, employees realize that
management cares. Debriefings can also give employees a sense of
closure that helps both employees and the organization move
forward.
Finally, you may
want to do some personal grieving. Two of your co-workers vanished
into what seems "a black hole" in the last six months.
This takes a toll. You may want to visit Lucy yourself and let her
know you care.
Question:
I’m interviewing for a job in Arizona and the interview will
be conducted over the phone. Is this a trouble sign that this
organization doesn’t care enough to fly me there to interview in
person? Also, are there any special tricks to telephone
interviewing? I’m used to meeting people in person.
Answer:
Many organizations use telephone interviews to cut costs.
While you might want to meet the interviewers in person before you
accept a job, they apparently want to see how you perform over the
phone before going forward.
To succeed in a
phone interview, think "radio" rather than
"television." Use the way in which you speak, as well as
what you say, to give your interviewers a positive sense of both
your experience and personality. Studies reveal that 83.6 percent
of what listeners feel when hearing words spoken over a phone
depends on the speaker’s delivery, and only 16.7 percent depends
on the actual words.
Next, turn the
phone interview into a benefit for you. Have you ever left an
in-person interview realizing you failed to make a crucial point?
Because your interviewers can’t see you, you can place your
resume and any notes you’ve made when thinking through answers
to potential interview questions on the desk in front of you. The
phone interview thus gives you the chance to ensure you say all
the right things.
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