Hey, That's Not in the HR Answer Book!

August 16, 2010 -
Posted by Jacqueline M. Wehmeyer, IPMA-CP, SPHR, PPP

Last week, my 3 year-old son pushed his twin sister into the wall (good times...), causing a nice cut to the lip and lots of tears.  Upon realizing I had no ice, I improvised by holding a bag of frozen corn to my daughter's face.

Me:  Are you feeling better?

She:  Are you a doctor?

Me: No, sweetie.  Sometimes mommies know what to do, and sometimes they don't.

She:  Like corn?

I'm sure any of you who are parents know what it's like to have to come up with a last-minute, unplanned, oh-no-what-do-i-do-now? kind of solution.  And it's usually not quite as professional as a doctor-prescribed solution, but somehow it works.

As HR professionals, we not only invite employees and managers to seek advice from us, we practically BEG them to, especially when they have a history of not making the best choices.  Most times we have helpful advice, and the issues discussed are a various offshoot of the stuff we've heard a million times before... nosy coworkers, late employees, mediocre performance, and the like.  Sometimes, though, we have that moment when we are stumped.  Just when we think we've dealt with it all, a new problem presents itself and we are supposed to have an answer.  And the employee needs it NOW.  Hmm... speed-leafing through the pages of our mental HR answer book, we don't seem to find what we need.  Help!  We're HR, we're supposed to have the answers!  Then we piece together bits of past experience, some best practices from our peers, and our bag of frozen corn, and somehow it works. 

The best experiences are shared with others... what creative solutions to interesting issues have you come up with lately?  What is the last problem you were presented with that you never thought you'd hear?