Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER CANADIAN HR REPORTER June 16, 2014 June 16, 2014 14 14 INSIGHT INSIGHT Emulating locker-room behaviour Emulating locker-room behaviour WHEN IT comes to workplaces that toler- ate bullying and harassment, the locker room of a pro sports team may very well be ground zero. Antics that have long been banned in the "real world" have continued unabated in the realm of profes- sional athletes. Hazing, bullying and harassment are all de facto norms — even racist language can be a grey area that's tough to stamp out. e National Football League (NFL) recently wrestled with the use of the N-word by players, but couldn't reach a consensus to ban it. Richard Sherman, an African- American player on the Seattle Seahawks, called banning it "an atrocious idea." at's head-scratching. But the gist of the argument is that for black players (and black players only) it's akin to a term of endear- ment — similar to "bro" or "man." Sherman said he hears it every game and talk of banning it is racist itself. Why not go after all swear words, he said. It's impossible to imagine that same conversation occurring in the HR department at RBC — just picture the head of HR coming up with a list of derogatory terms and expletives that are OK for certain employees to utter in the right cir- cumstances. It's almost comical. Yet, in the world of pro sports, we shrug our shoulders and move on. With all the mounting evidence that workplace culture is such a diff erentiator, not to mention a breeding ground for liability and lawsuits, how can sports teams turn a blind eye to bullying and harassment? The short answer is they can't — because the real world is creeping into locker rooms and athletes are people too. e National Basketball Asso- ciation (NBA) has its fi rst openly gay player — Jason Collins of the Brooklyn Nets. e NFL is on the verge of having one — Michael Sam was drafted earlier this year by the St. Louis Rams shortly after coming out to the world. When Sam said he was gay, some NFL general managers said they thought his draft stock would fall as a result — meaning teams would take a pass on him because of his sexual orientation. When he was drafted, he did what many players do — he kissed his partner in celebration, which caused more of an uproar. Last year, the NFL was rocked by a bullying scandal that led to one player — Jonathan Martin — walking away from the Miami Dolphins after being harassed in- cessantly by teammate Richard Incognito, who was suspended for his boorish behaviour. e NFL is responding to these antics and trying to change a culture that lets behaviour like this propagate. As training camps open for the 2014 season. Robert Gulliver, the NFL's executive vice- president and CHRO, is launching an initiative. " is is not a Band-Aid (from head offi ce)," he said, according to Peter King of Sports Illustrated and eMMQB.com. " is is the chance to start a dialogue about what a more respectful locker- room culture is all about. While we have rules and policies on the books that talk about the work- place, what is also important is the culture that reinforces the rules and policies. We believe that a more respectful culture is part of a winning culture." Gulliver isn't a sports guy. He came to the NFL after heading up HR for the wealth, brokerage and retirement business unit of Wells Fargo — and he knows changing culture isn't easy for any organiza- tion, let alone a locker room. e NFL is training recently retired players — called "ambas- sadors" — to fan out across the league to talk to players, owners, coaches and general managers to spread the word on culture. For- mer player Patrick Kerney prob- ably said it best: "As players, we need to understand we're all go- ing to be out of there soon and into the real world. If we continue some of the behaviour of the past, we're enclosing ourselves in the bubble even further." In the "real world," there are still far too many incidents of bul- lying, sexual harassment, racism and discrimination. But we have fi rm rules against them and most organizations take swift action when confronted with egregious behaviour by employees. Professional sports teams may be late jumping on this bandwag- on but they're welcome additions because of the spotlight they car- ry. If people see a culture change in locker rooms — a place where boorish tactics are so ingrained, we actually call it "locker room behaviour" — then perhaps it will help instil more change in real- world workplaces too. Todd Humber Editor's Notes 'BEST OF LUCK FINDING SOME SCHMUCK' PLEASANT HILL, CALIF. — e city clerk for the City of Pleasant Hill in California recently handed in her resignation, a doozy of a rant to Mayor Tim Flaherty and city manager June Catalano. Kim Lehmkuhl wrote: " is has been an atrocious, incredibly depressing and mind-numbingly inane expe- rience I would not wish on anyone. I wish the City the best of luck in fi nding some schmuck eager to transcribe every last misogynistic joke, self-indulgent anecdote and pathetic, pandering attempt by council, and every tinfoil hat con- spiracy theory, racist aside, and NIMBY asshattery from the lovely council meeting frequent fl yers… June, also best of luck with your imminent unfunded pensions scandal, that is going to be a rough one," according to CNN. Few tears were shed by her resignation, ac- cording to the mayor. "At least her resignation demonstrated her ability to craft a full sentence with colourful language," said Flaherty. "Every council member had called for her resignation. We had to hire people to do her job." e city clerk position is an elected one. GM WORKERS, FIND YOUR THESAURUS DETROIT —General Motors asked its employees to stop using words such as "deathtrap," "widowmaker" and "rolling sarcophagus" in inter- nal communications, according to a 2008 presentation to employees that was just leaked. But the list of banned words went on, including: Hindenburg, powder keg, Titanic, apocalyptic, you're toast and Kev- orkianesque. Plus safety, safety- related, serious, failure and defect, according to CNNMoney. ere were also entire sentences to avoid: " is is a lawsuit waiting to hap- pen" and "unbelievable engineer- ing screw-up" were on the naughty list. GM told employees they need to understand there "really aren't any secrets" in the company. "For anything you say or do, ask your- self how you would react if it was reported in a major newspaper or on television," it said. FRENCH ENGINEERS, FIND YOUR RULERS PARIS — A $5 tape measure might have saved the French government about $118.5 million — and count- ing. France's national rail company, SNCF, said it has ordered 2,000 trains that are too wide for many station platforms, entailing costly repairs with a price tag of 80 mil- lion euros ($118.5 million Cdn) to date, according to Reuters. Most of France's 1,200 platforms were built more than 50 years ago, but the dimensions given to engineers were from stations built less than 30 years ago. e government's transport minister blamed an "ab- surd rail system" for the problem, referring to changes made by a previous government in 1997 that separated the rail operator from the rail company. INNUENDO EVERYWHERE – JUST NOT IN LINE, PLEASE RUSSELL, IOWA — A cashier at a convenience store has been awarded unemployment benefi ts after being fi red for talking about sexual activities with a customer, according to the Des Moines Regis- ter. Wellma Shafer was fi red from the Last Chance Market in Janu- ary but fi led a complaint alleging profanity and off -colour humour were part of the store's culture. To prove her point, she highlighted some of the items for sale in the store. " ere's jelly beans, salsa, hot sauces and all kinds of diff er- ent things about women's (bod- ies)," she testifi ed. " ere's a whole shelf referring to — well excuse me — but there's one called ' e Hot- test F---in Nuts.'" Plus there was coff ee called "Wake the F--- Up" with a label that read: " is coff ee makes a seriously strong cup of Joe. It will put some stride in your step and some lead in your pencil." Plus there were expletive named hot sauces that said they had "ass- burning" qualities. e court said the owner should have warned Shafer of any problems with her performance before terminating her. e kicker to all this? e store also has a sign that reads, "Shirts and shoes required but bras and panties are optional." And when a reporter called the owner for a quote, he swore at the newspaper. W EIRD ORKPLACE THE HE STOLE WHAT? SEATTLE — Vigilant employees are often on the lookout for shoplifters, but not many are keeping an eye on the toilets. Perhaps they should be — Seattle police are looking for a man suspected of stealing the toilet tank from a restaurant bathroom as work- ers at a Subway sandwich shop prepared his family's meal. After placing an order, he entered the restroom and remained inside even after his wife knocked on the door, asking why he was taking so long, according to Reuters. She left without him. When he fi nally emerged, he hurriedly left the restaurant carrying a large plastic garbage bag. An employee who later entered the bathroom discovered the tank was missing, and the running sink was stuff ed full of paper towels. Vol. 27 No. 12 – June 16, 2014 PUBLISHED BY PUBLISHED BY Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. One Corporate Plaza 2075 Kennedy Rd. Toronto, ON M1T 3V4 ©Copyright 2014 by Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. All rights reserved. CANADIAN HR REPORTER CANADIAN HR REPORTER is published 22 times a year. 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We seem to crave a workplace whose priorities include our well-being. Call it spoiled, lazy or whiny but the reality is generations X and Y have seen far too many examples of people replacing living for working — and baby boomers have experienced it themselves for way too long. — Vera Gavizon, commenting on Claudine Kapel's blog "Are you ready for a 4-generation workplace?" Join the conversation online. Comment freely on any blog on www.hrreporter.com. READER COMMENTS Credit: Africa Studio/Shutterstock

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