sexual harassment

“Sex, Lies and Human Resources*”

*Note: Not my title. This is a quoted title of an article on page 240 of the March 2018 edition of Marie Claire. Featured on the front page, no less.

When I first started in HR, no one knew who we were. Heck, we weren’t even HR back then. In 2005, popular business magazine Fast Company brought HR into the spotlight, in a not-so-gracious way, with a cover story stating “Why We Hate HR.” One of the more pithy comments was:

”The human-resources trade long ago proved itself, at best, a necessary evil — and at worst, a dark bureaucratic force that blindly enforces nonsensical rules resists creativity, and impedes constructive change.”

Some may chastise me for a 13-years-old reference, however, ten year later Harvard Business Review again spotlighted all that is wrong with HR, dedicating a whole volume to their perception that “It’s Time To Blow Up HR.” It doesn’t take much time to see that the complaints are pretty similar to those made in Fast Company in 2005. (more…)

Consequences for Inaction. Finally.


You may have missed this; I almost did. It was just a page 9 article in our local paper. The title was “Weinstein Co. board fires president David Glasser ‘for cause.’”

I had no idea who David Glasser was; I’d become pretty familiar with the name “Weinstein,” so I stopped to read the article. Here’s what caught my eye.

“New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman singled out Glasser [in a lawsuit filed against the Weinstein company,] accusing him of not responding to complaints to the company’s human resources department about Harvey Weinstein.”

So, it goes on to say…

“The board of the Weinstein Company has unanimously voted to terminate David Glasser for cause.”

Glasser had been on tap to replace Weinstein as CEO – the New York Attorney General apparently had other ideas. The article goes on… (more…)

I was a female Marine in the 70s

Back then we were called Women Marines, WMs or BAMs. We told ourselves that BAM stood for Beautiful American Marine, but we knew better. I was assigned a 0102 MOS [that’s military occupational specialty] as a Personnel Officer.

When I arrived at my first duty station in the Mohave Desert, I was introduced around the headquarters building, where I would be working. A crusty Lieutenant Colonel called me aside and handed me a business card. It said, “I’ve had a vasectomy.” I had just been through a few months of hell where us Second Lieutenants were put in fear of senior officers and taught to do as we were commanded. Thankfully, I had the strength to say “thank you,” and walk on.  Then I went back to my quarters and cried.

After a few weeks, I received a phone call at work from the President of the Officers’ Wives Association. She said that several people saw me eating lunch with one of the Marine Officers (who happened to be my boss) in the Officers’ Club. She suggested that I should refrain from doing that in the future. She didn’t say why. She didn’t have to. (more…)