Taking Seniority to the Mat

The conversation goes like this:

Union: The nurse manager has to select the most senior LPN for the vacancy.

HR Lady: These are not similar positions.

Union: These are well-qualified nurses and the positions are similar.

HR Lady: Yes, we do have some of the best nurses in town and there is a world of difference in caring for Alzheimer patients and detoxing a patient who absolutely does not want to be there. Both very valuable, yet both very different.

Union: Their experience is related and you must select the most senior.

HR Lady: You are absolutely out of your mind and it is just not happening.

End of conversation but not end of issue.

I believe we should provide our internal employees opportunities for advancement, for training and for development. I believe that each individual is personally responsible for their development. A promotion or position change is not an absolute right or entitlement.

I support, all things being equal, that the senior employee be selected for the opportunity. We flat out cannot function effectively as an organization for our customers, patients and employees, if we select employees based solely on their seniority. This has not consistently been management’s practice in the past so we have a tough road against us and I am in it for the long haul.

Supporting selections based solely on seniority –not on my watch. This is a position I will take to the mat, to the bank, and very likely, to the Federal Labor Relations Authority.

Process Matters

Much of what we do each day in HR is interpretation. Interpretation of the Master Agreement, of directives and handbooks, of program intent, of an individual’s intent and I could go on. In the face of so much interpretation, when there is a definitive black and white bottom line, I grab onto it.

Why? I am looking for the non-negotiable and, more simply, I am looking for a place to start. I seek out parallel situations, precedent setting cases, and opinions (legal and colleague) and consider values, goals and possible outcomes. I’d like to picture myself doing this alone in the coffee shop with my Caribou Coffee Fa La La La Latte but in reality it is often in the hallway or an office, not alone, with the phone ringing, e-mail dinging and many a suspense calling for attention. Add a touch of emotion and well, there you have it.

I have a Human Resource Specialist who made a decision a few weeks ago. Without getting into the HR details of it, this was a pure matter of interpretation. The service line does not agree with the decision. For me, this decision comes down to value. The decision made placed the value differently than where the service line is placing it. Is one value judgment right and one wrong? Absolutely not. May the decision change? Maybe and maybe not.

Outcome aside, the decision making process she used was exactly what I expect her and the rest of my staff to do when making decisions. Great job!