WorkLore

We ignore the full human in the employee at our own cost. 

Storytime 

Once upon a time, I worked for a company overseeing their corporate services like IT, HR, Procurement etc. As part of that, I supported the HR manager and hiring managers in recruitment, and we were having some difficulty filling a position in our sales department. 

Meanwhile, the company ran into some financial trouble and was looking to cut costs. They decided to outsource some functions, including their design department. I had the “privilege” of delivering the news to our design team that their employment would end (through no fault of their own, of course). 

I kept in touch with one of those team members through LinkedIn, who found a position within a couple of months. A SALES position. 

That designer had sales experience. But we didn’t know that when planning the downsize. 

If we had, we could have redeployed them into the sales position we were struggling to fill. 

We would have: 

• Filled a vacant position
• Kept turnover costs down because the employee was already onboarded
• Increased employee engagement by demonstrating we care about what happens to people when the money gets tight

But we didn’t. Because we didn’t know this employee had those skills. We only looked at their job role skills.

Had we mapped their latent skills – the ones that sit outside their current job role – we could have saved money and fostered goodwill. 

We ignore the full human in the employee at our own cost. 

#regrets