Where I ramble on about HR stuff.

I’ve been ruminating on the relationships between employers and employees.

To no ones surprised I’ve come to the conclusion that its horribly unbalanced.

On the other hand I think the balance between Unions, employees, and employers sucks just as much.

I remember one of the guys I used to work with who had worked with unions on the employer side said, “You get a contract then you let them hang themselves by it.” Basically the employer gets what they need out of it, and you start terminating people for violations. Even if in a non unionized situation an employer would make accommodations.

I don’t have any broad sweeping suggestions, but two areas that have been bugging me.

The imbalance on expected notice. An employer usually will give no notice to an employee when it terminates an employee, but will expect two weeks notice when an employee terminates their employment.

My take on this is an employer should expect what they give. If you want your employees to give you two weeks notice, put in your policy manual that you will give them two weeks notice. (Or two weeks severance pay for anything but gross negligence.)

If I were to write a policy for my company it would go something like this:
An employee is expected to use their best judgement as to how far in advance to provide notice terminating their employment. We ask that you provide at least twenty-four hours notice, and take into consideration major projects and workflow. Former employees are also requested to provide email and telephone consulting, that will be reimbursed at two times the employee’s equivalent hourly rate.

Yeah, its unorthodox, but it also reinforces freedom, while encouraging people to take responsibility.

The other imbalance (or perhaps I should just call it rudeness) is employers who don’t provide a “no thank you” note/letter/email/phone call to applicants who are not selected. Ideally any employer would provide this to every potential applicant. At a bare minimum an employer should contact any applicant who was interviewed but not selected. This is simple courtesy, and in the age of application and resume management systems it is unforgivable that they’re not programmed to automatically send an email to those who are not selected for a position. Email more or less a fixed cost, not a variable one like a letter or a phone call.

Bottom line. Employers: Learn the golden rule.