Today, over the course of a series of interactions with one particular individual, I re-learned one of those regrettable but inevitable life truths - some people are just liars.
But before getting into that particular string of interactions, I want to give some context.
For the past two days straight, from the moment I arrive at the office until the second before I dash out to catch the last company shuttle home, I have been in non-stop contact with 12 staff (including myself) that need to sign their new Employment Agreements so they can extend their employment with our company.
By now I have carried out contract extensions for over 50 separate individuals over the past two years, so contract extensions are a bit old hat for me now, but there is a distinct wrinkle in the re-contract work I am now tasked with.
After assuming my Corporate HR position just three weeks back, one of my expanded responsibilities is to handle contract extensions for all global staff with direct HQ contracts - from those working in the various corporate functions and product divisions at our Seoul Office to staff working on overseas projects.
Up until 3 weeks ago each corporate function and division had maintained their own GHR Manager or global HR manager to manage any global staff working for their respective function or division.
Luckily, only roughly 25% of the global staff I am now responsible for need to renew their contracts by Friday. Contract extensions for the remaining bunch are spread comfortably throughout the rest of the year.
Anyways, when I started working in this position I was told the terms and conditions for the global staff outside of the division I came from (since I had already handled and settled those T&C negotiations personally) were settled and agreed upon already.
It'll just be a rubber stamping exercise I was told. But, I was also told to wait for final Corporate HR approval before engaging these employees - in case any of their conditions were changed, which sometimes happens.
Well, the digital approval arrived in my inbox this past Friday evening as I was about to head out the door for the weekend - about 1.5 weeks later than originally expected - without a single change.
At least I had drafted up all the new Employment Agreements ahead of time based on the planned terms and conditions, so I immediately sent out draft copies to everyone before beginning my weekend, asking them to simply review the drafts and let me know if anything was missing, or included when it shouldn't be.
That's when things got interesting.
It turns out that nearly 3/4 of the group (i.e. everyone who was not in the division I came from) had not been informed of the final T&C for their contract extensions. Two individuals hadn't even been presented with initial T&C! Their former GHR managers had simply delayed and delayed before they were re-org'd elsewhere.
So, I come into work Monday morning (yesterday) with an inbox full of WTF emails from 9 staff who I somehow need to reach agreement on new T&C *and* sign new contracts with, all by the end of the week.
Luckily I have seen and been through something like this before. It's mainly about listing up each individual and the specific issues they raise before methodically addressing each and every issue in a series of interactions with the right number of touches, in a sufficiently empathetic tone.
Aside from a few minor clarifications here and there and explaining the standard used to determine new T&C more than a few times, I was able to get final agreement and dotted line signatures for 7 of the 9 global staff.
And then there were two: one located at our Seoul Office and the other on a project site in the Middle East. The one located with me in our Seoul Office requested to meet in person. They had actually settled on a to-be-confirmed 25% salary increase with their HR a month back, so I thought they wanted to discuss something else.
Turns out, they wanted to negotiate an even higher salary! They seemed quite butt-hurt though when he asked for a higher number; it wasn't a cheeky attempt at pulling the wool over the new HR manager's eyes. Long-story short, a series of understandable events had led them to believe they were being significantly underpaid compared to the average salary for an employee with equal years of experience. They weren't, and aren't, and putting that in writing was enough for him to say ok and sign.
Now for the series of increasingly infuriating interactions with our friend based in the Middle East. Instead of boring you with details, let me summarize what happened: I was lied to over the course of 3~4 separate, 30 minute plus phone calls where an absolute work related necessity morphed into a personal demand.
It was infuriating, and all along the way I had been trying to find the easiest win-win solution to for this individual. Anyways, finally, with a voice that apparently was slightly raised, I explained again how our friend could simply use their company supported flight to carry out their personal demand.
After another round of bullshit, I offered to write a simple email to the administrative team leader on their project stating that if it were within the bounds of their site regulations to provide a separate trip to our friend gratis, Corporate HR has neither opinion nor objection on the matter - a totally meaningless empty platitude.
Well that meaningless gesture ended up resolving the situation so I could get back to the rest of my work that had been piling up.
It had been awhile since I have had to deal with a bold faced liar. But I'm glad I got to flex my HR muscle and not just shut it down, but resolve it in a way where our company wasn't damaged but on the other hand (at least to our friend I guess) it appears that I went out of my way to try accommodate an employee's demand in the end.
There are liars everywhere, here's hoping you all don't need to deal with one anytime soon;)
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