In the booming 2000′s – the european HR community watched with fascination what was going on in the US. Everytime there was negotations between the unions and the companies, they threatened the unions with “Off to Mexico”, often with great succes. Nothing beats the possibility of loosing jobs to now-paying regions.

when I entered HR, I really held my ethics high and proud. Never would I suggest “Off to Mexico” as a possible senario and negotiations-tool.

My life taught me that there are nuances to it. I have dealt a lot with unions through my career. I met trade-unionists that were full of commitment for the benefit of the company. They wanted to contribute albeit being the spokespersons for the rest of the employees.

In Denmark we have agreements that transends several sectors – general agreements between the unions and the representatives for industrial sectors. This makes HR much more easy. One agreement – and when you get a hold on it, it proves to be a book of solutions, just looking for a company representative and a trade-unionist that sits down and work out a local agreement. This normally takes the pressure of- and need for - the Danish equivalent of “Off To Mexico”. The system is based on  understanding and a shared interest for the company.

Now GFC is rolling over so many sectors and many a local agreement bears traces of being negotiated when money was in abundance, workforce hard to recruit. When I listen to the HR-grapewine I hear that when trying to negotiate – based on a crisis and perhaps a liquidity issue – a new local agreement, outsourcing rears it’s head again. Some use it as a wakeup-call for the unions some consider it a final solution, because the unions aren’t listening.

What would I do? hm… The prospect of outsourcing several jobs and the subsequent disaster for so many people makes it a tool I really would hate to pull out. It is a final solution not to be considered lightly.

But I am a company represenatative – and I would have to look at the greater picture and act on the benefit of the company, with due respect for the employees. I would have to be creative it the union-representative. But it really requires a union-rep that is in tune with the market, the company situation and most importantly understands that ultimative demands, will be met with the opposite from the management. Trench-warfare from WW-I proved that it is only the grunts that gets chewed up, rarely the Rear-Echelons that gets to taste the blood and gunpowder.

When looking at the danish system of agreements between the unions and companies, it is based on negotiations. It is really flexible with social security that enables the companies to fire people more swiftly and often in more controlled numbers; making the ajustments more swiftly and appropriate. so when companies threaten to either outsource or close down a part of the company, I can promise you one thing – it is NOT a hollow threat. It will most likely have been discussed at upper-management level, and a contingency plan will exist. It is NOT a tradition to threaten, but unfortunately it is a point lost on unions that through the last 5-6 years have been used to companies desperate to employ their members.

Two things must be my conclusion:

if you are in management and HR: if you pull the outsourcing card out, be ready to either be called as a bluff or you will have to go through with it. It can be a self-fulfilling prophecy.

if you are in a union: you are responsible for keeping a good relationship with the management while representing your members. Please think big and forward. You might be able to call the outsourcing as a bluff, but you might end up paving the road for it later, as no management likes to be humiliated. Please be flexible and choose the battles best fought and won; some are more appropriate for a GFC some more appropriate for a GFB (Global Financial Boom).

For both parties: keep flexible and be creative. You are dealing with so many people and their financial situation. Do not let it get personal. Keep it professional. Take a timeout during the negotiations if they get heated. But be prepared to walk the walk …

Kindest,

Steen

Interim management is a great thing – hire the skills needed for a new job. Well guys, I developed a new concept, which I am quite proud of “Rent-a-scapegoat”.
Say, you have a company that has done something slightly immoral, i.e. child labourers that assemble your gismo-thingy” – a journalist calls you one rainy tuesday afternoon, and ask those darned questions, that gives you the feeling of :”Oh, shute – we are darned good fucked on this one”. While you think that, your thoughts wander to when HR and Corporate Marketing came up with the idea of a CSR policy set, that ofcourse mainly was intended to stroke the morally consious investors, should they be in existence, and to benefit the young-first-movers-with-a-degree, so the HR department could recruit them.

Basicly the siutation is:

You promised something
You got caught
… and you know it…

and what is worse: no-one would care about what you think; the costumers will cry “Havoc and blood we must see”.The press want to see you on your knees begging for forgiveness. The Investors want this to go away NOW. But you cannot really fire that bright kid, that came up with the idea, so what to do??

Well – you rent a scape-goat… Plain and simple.
Call your trusty partner in crime – a.k.a. HR Department, let them canvas the market for a optimum candidate with a career in the terminal stage4 phase. And give hiim/her a offer hard to refuse.
“You take the bullet, we pay you for it”. Re-date the contract so the person has 6 months experience should you have to document something or what ever you need it to be. Contact the journalist thanking him/her for pointing you towards this shameless behaviour that you OFCOURSE not were aware of. You showed brisk judgement, launched an investigation, identified the culprit responisble, and have now fired him/her immediately. Then invite the journalist for a luncheon in order to tell about how much you care about CSR, OHS, ethics and morality in management.
He gets an article, you get exposure, the “scapegoat” gets paid.

Feel free to operationalize this concept – it is for free… But feel free to qoute me as the inventor.
Have a nice day,
Steen, the HRDragon

With great anticipation I watched the inaugural adress by Pres. Obama.

I had high hopes and ditto anticipations. Having watched WestWing (all 7 seasons) I dreamt of a leader as Josiah Bartlett – and you know what… I think he is here…

His speech was dark, but still a light of hope.

Semantic wise it was brilliant – and it was delivered with a belief from within. I was impressed with the way he emphasized that they chose to circle the waggons because the recession rather that the recession is here – now we circle the waggons. To me the difference is significant – and I still hold the belief that he is a briliant example of a leader of change.

He was honest – but he shows a way out of the situation so dire for the world, and not just America.

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America – they will be met.

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

and I really felt a surge when he said

Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.

This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions – that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act – not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth.

Ladies and gentlemen – should any CEO stand up and utter those words with conviction, people will follow…

Last time I was in a company downscaling and fighting for every bit of “ground” my CEO forgot to motivate and inspire.

I really wished he would have had the courage to say

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends – hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism – these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility – a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

We did not have the motivation to struggle… nor did we get the acknowledgement of the tasks done and the – in all modesty – great achivements achived…

it is just words – the more cynical would notice. True, I would retort… but words have the benefit of creating change, when action is put behind it. He believes that he WILL succeed and the unnamed american [employees) will succeed. If you believe in your tasks – then you have multiplied the possibility of success. The words show the path and the confidence. If it was felt by the audience, then it becomes their confidence. And I you have the confidence, then you will act with confidence rather than question your decisions and hesitate.

I do not see Josiah Bartlett when I look at Pres. Obama – but I hear him.

Great…

Well, this was the words from a European rather than a american. It is the words of a HR Partner that firmly beliefs that change comes with words rather than from a journalist or a Policitial Scientist.

Do have a nice day and drink to the fact that change is the only constant in human life.

/Steen