Halloween is right around the corner! Have you got the decorations up and the sweets ready for trick-or-treaters? At vivoHR we love this time of year, and we always make sure to dress up for the occasion. As Halloween is coming up, we thought you might like an insight into some of the ghastly and ghoulish things that us HR folks handle on a daily basis to get you into the spooky spirit! So here are some of our more memorable stories.
Interviews With Vampires
Have you ever wondered if vampires really exist? We’ve worked with one employee who definitely believed they do! Co-workers had been complaining about the cloud of garlic that seemed to follow around one particular employee, smelling so strong it made their eyes water. As it turns out, he was so worried about catching colds that he was religiously sprinkling garlic powder onto every meal – including his breakfast! He never did catch a cold, but mainly because no one could get close enough to give him one!
Speaking of germs, we’re also called in to deal with some less-than-savoury problems. A few of the highlights include the gentleman who handed in his notice and, as a parting gift, dropped his trousers and made a ‘special delivery’ of his own. He then left, never to be seen again. He was caught on CCTV, but as he had already left the company there wasn’t much to be done but clean up the mess – thankfully we weren’t asked to help with that!
Or maybe the winner should be the couple who were both married (though not to each other) and regularly making use of the staff toilet to conduct their affair after the directors had left for the day. We do hope they washed their hands.
Yes, HR is often given the most glamorous jobs, including telling people when they have body odour issues, dealing with sex on-site, and bathroom misbehaviours!
The Talking Dead
Of course, there are always those who are looking for a way out of working certain days, especially if they’ve had a holiday request that’s been denied! We’ve had many occasions where employees have needed to travel home to visit dying grandparents or attend funerals, and after a while their managers realise, they must surely have run out of grandparents and are still attending funerals! (even if we consider blended families or cultural differences in the grandparent title). This is a common issue we deal with and is always a discussion that needs handling very delicately.
In a similar vein, a standout case involved an employee who had claimed bereavement leave from work due to the death of a close relative, which was granted. They had talked to their employer about the difficulties they were having at home, but was very clear and almost forceful about the fact that no one was to contact their home telephone. The employer followed this wish, until one day there was an emergency and they had no other success getting in touch with the employee, so they called the home number.
Imagine their surprise when the employee’s “dead relative” answered the phone!
Fraudulent Frankenstein’s
Sometimes companies wonder if employees bringing claims against them are truly genuine. Most of the time they are (even if the company doesn’t like it), but sometimes it’s plain that something’s amiss.
In this case, an employee claimed a grievance, stating that the work they were asked to do was utterly unreasonable and had caused them to injure themselves. To put it into perspective, the task involved recording data on single pieces of paper whilst sat at a desk where a proper operator’s chair was provided then moving them to a filing tray. Yet the employee claimed they had hurt their back so badly it required hospital treatment. The second grievance meeting was cancelled due to a follow-up appointment at the hospital, and we smelt a rat. A quick bit of detective work revealed that the employee had never been at the hospital at all – they were in court facing charges on a criminal matter!
Badly Behaving Broomsticks
Providing employees with company vehicles is often essential, but what many employers don’t realise is that it may come with a few HR hiccups. For example, if you employ staff to drive your vans, you might be surprised to get a call from a member of the public who is following your drivers on a busy road while they are busy having a water fight through the vehicle windows. And who had forgotten that the company name, logo and contact details were plastered all across the side of the vans!
We’ve also seen employees crash one company van into the back of another – in the company car park. This amazingly wrote off both vans and caused an incredibly complex insurance claim! And finally, the employee who took the company van on a jolly to the south coast to see his girlfriend, and on their outing crashed the van into a tree. The driver broke his leg, and left the van stranded in a field with all of the equipment still inside. When called into an investigation, he was surprised to learn that the tracker helped them find the van, and see the speed at which he hit the tree!
Happy Halloween everyone!