I feel the need to speak out, but I also want to keep my job...

I have a strong premonition that the direction the company is taking is going to affect our performance in the market in the long run. What can I do to salvage the firm’s standing in the market, and most importantly, keep my job? PHOTO | FILE

What you need to know:

  • It is common to find some organisations making miserly investments towards acquisition of talent. There are indeed times when an organisation does need to scale back its costs, including those associated with its people.
  • Your firm appears to manage costs through cutting back on the quality of its staff. It is possible for organisations, in the face of dire financial straits, to reduce the number, rather than the quality of their people. In time, the quality of any firm’s people will distil onto its bottom line.

Q. I’m a human resource officer working for a local audit firm.

For two years now, my employer has been hiring semi-qualified staff at the expense of highly skilled personnel. This, the organisation argues, is part of their cost-cutting initiatives. The attitude and work ethic of these new recruits is well below par.

I have a strong premonition that the direction the company is taking is going to affect our performance in the market in the long run.

What can I do to salvage the firm’s standing in the market, and most importantly, keep my job?

 

While an organisation’s recipe for success contains other ingredients, it cannot be complete without talented staff in terms of their competence and attitude. Your concern that the quality of staff your firm has been hiring in the past two years portends doom for its continued success in the market is therefore pertinent.

It is common to find some organisations making miserly investments towards acquisition of talent. There are indeed times when an organisation does need to scale back its costs, including those associated with its people.

Your firm appears to manage costs through cutting back on the quality of its staff. It is possible for organisations, in the face of dire financial straits, to reduce the number, rather than the quality of their people. In time, the quality of any firm’s people will distil onto its bottom line.

The prospect of salvaging your firm may be daunting, but there is room for you to do your part. Whether or not as a HR officer you are directly involved in recruitment, you are in a function within whose ambit there is plenty of opportunity to positively influence the quality of new colleagues. Part of the HR department’s mandate is to advise and support an organisation to make the right hiring decisions.

Ask to meet with your supervisor or head of department and share your sentiments. In the past two years there may already be examples of how the quality of new staff has poorly impacted the business.

Illustrating such instances may help with your crusade, as will citing situations where the business has benefited from acquiring the right staff. Fret not. As long as it is understood that you are raising the matter in the interest of the firm, it is unlikely that doing so will undermine your continued employment.