HUMAN RESOURCES: 'I didn’t mean to lie to you'
by Char Coburn
April 1, 2009
Hold employees accountable for their bad behavior
I was listening to the
radio one morning and heard New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez
apologize for lying to the American public back in 2003 when he said he didn’t
use steroids. Shortly thereafter a suspended employee sat down at my desk,
having been instructed to return that day after a discussion we had the
previous afternoon.
During
that talk about her violation of a couple of our policies she tried to defend
herself by telling me that two other individuals had given her permission to do
what she did.
Having
checked the veracity of her excuses prior to her return, I again asked her why
she violated our policies, reminding her of what she said. The look on her face
told me that she knew she’d been caught in a lie. I told her so. Her response
was that “she didn’t mean to lie.”
How can you “not mean to
lie”? Either you lie or you don’t. Either you tell the truth or you don’t. “I
meant to tell the truth?” Does that make sense? I asked her about that and she
mumbled and stumbled over an answer. Her demeanor said to me that she really
didn’t think it should be a problem. She said she knew she was in trouble so
she was just talking. When I told her that lying had repercussions, that I was
holding her accountable for her behavior, that she was responsible for her own
future, she looked at me as if I had lost my mind.
After
she left my office, I took a deep breath and reflected on what had just
happened. Is it a natural reaction to lie when you are in trouble? Under that
premise, should I overlook the lying? When we are children, I suppose we all
try the lying defense – until our parents teach us that it is best not to do
those things about which we feel we must lie. Perhaps there are some of us who
never learn that lesson.
For
instance, Alex Rodriguez and the situation in which he finds himself. My son tells me that A-Rod might not be
chosen for the Baseball Hall of Fame and any records he has earned may have
asterisks after them because of the steroid use. I hope there are consequences
for him. I believe there may be a correlation between some of our public role
models and the behavior of a lot of people. If Mr. Rodriguez is not held
accountable, how can people who worship him reasonably expect to meet
resistance when behaving in a similar way? I wonder if Alex learned from the
example set by Roger Clemens, former pitcher for the Yankees, Red Sox, Blue
Jays and Astros. “The Rocket” was an inspiration to millions but is embroiled
in a steroid scandal of his own, in which he is accused of lying about his
steroid use. Barry Bonds, the former San Francisco Giant and holder of the
all-time record for homeruns, is under indictment for the same
thing.
But not
one of them has lost his fortune. Not one has gone to prison. While they might
suffer asterisks by their names, their lifestyles haven’t changed much. I’m not
so sure that they now understand that the decisions they made have
consequences. From the outside looking in, it certainly appears that lying had
positive effects for them.
Celebrity
Paris Hilton certainly hasn’t seen her life change as a result of lying on
Larry King’s television show about using drugs. She isn’t held accountable for
her outrageous behavior, unless you call going to jail for a few hours for
drunk driving being held accountable. Quite the opposite, she then capitalized
on that experience by getting paid to go on television to talk about it.
We seem to have example
after example after example in our society of people who don’t feel
repercussions from lying and other negative behavior. Maybe these people affect
the behavior of those who look up to them, or at the very least hear about
them. If you add to that mix the politicians who lie (and there seems to have
been a plethora of them recently) and yet go on to become wealthy and
successful, can I reasonably expect employees to tell the truth?
The answer
is yes, of course I can, and so can you. Ours is an ethical organization, and
it has set forth a very reasonable Code of Employee Conduct. It isn’t
unreasonable to ask employees to not sleep on the job, to come to work on time,
to not take extra breaks in order to smoke, or to come to work with clean hair
and clothing. It isn’t reasonable for an employee to tell a lie in an effort to
escape discipline for their failure to adhere to our requirements.
I will continue to hold
employees accountable in spite of the examples set for them. If necessary, they
will feel the consequences of losing a job. I’m not so sure that putting
asterisks by their names would be
as effective.
Char Coburn
char@bonanzacasino.com
Char Coburn is the director of human resources for the Bonanza Casino in Reno.
She has been at the casino for the
past 20 years and is a human resources
generalist who wears many hats.
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