Microstory 406: Floor 37 (Part 1)

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I refuse to accept the possibility that I had anything to do with our company’s problems. First of all, it’s not my job to predict the future. I was hired to facilitate the process of hiring new people. Even if I had the expertise to pick the right person for any given position, they wouldn’t give me the leeway to do such a thing. I am completely beholden to the whims of the department in question. You wouldn’t believe the amount of disgusting things I’ve heard come out of the mouths of team managers in regards to the candidates. I’ve heard racist, sexist, and downright cruel statements. If I had it my way, I would fire a hefty portion of the current workforce and replace them with my own vision. But that’s not my job, I don’t have that power. You would think it would be rewarding to only ever give good news. If you apply for a position here, and we “decide to go in another direction” you don’t even hear back from us. That’s a disheartening truth, but I can’t change policy. But it also means that I don’t contact the candidates except to offer them interviews or positions, or to get them from the waiting room once the conference room is open. But you can’t make change just by addition. Subtraction is a necessary component to the process, and I find it personally frustrating that that is not within my purview. I’ve been silently proposing for years that we completely restructure the corporate environment. We should create an entire department whose sole responsibility it is to monitor performance. Now I know what you’re thinking, that exists, and it’s called human resources, but not really. They too only have so much power. No, honestly, there are too many cooks in the kitchen. We can no longer allow this hierarchical model because it simply does not work. My labor management department would be more hands on with the recruitment process, keep track of performance reviews, and wield full authority to turnover employees on an as-needed basis. You see, managers, executives, and other leaders don’t have time to deal with the needs of the labor pool itself. They’re too busy running the company. My new department would have no say on what products we sell, or what markets we venture into. We would only be responsible for the people. Unfortunately, it’s too late for this organization. I didn’t go to school to become a corporate recruiter. It’s just something that I fell into—did you see that? I think someone just fell down the atrium.