Seems everyone is looking for their 15 minutes of fame these days — and that includes employers. How else can one explain HR’s ascendancy as the latest trend in reality television?
In Canada, the CBC’s Venture program is running a series of shows about CEOs taking on front-line jobs in their organizations. The show, based on a British series, challenges corporate leaders to find out what it’s like in the lower ranks. CEOs will be driving forklifts, lugging boxes, serving food, selling underwear, joining the assembly line and otherwise sweating with the troops. (No word on whether Toronto Blue Jays president Paul Godfrey will take a crack at striking out Sammy Sosa.)
In the United Kingdom, the BBC is planning a show where an “employee” tries to get fired. Contestants posing as new hires are introduced into companies with the goal of creating entertaining chaos that gets them the pink slip. Rules stipulate no violence, swearing or nudity, and managers and co-workers are in the dark. (Not sure what effect the buffoonery will have on worker morale, but corporate honchos interested in chasing the limelight who sign up for the show obviously think a good prank is worth a small productivity hit.)
In the United States, Donald Trump and NBC are working on a show where people vie for a position as his assistant, proving their value in weekly assignments. Trump fires unsuccessful candidates on every installment.
So if you think things have gotten a little stale in the HR department, it might be time to liven the workplace up with your own reality show. This could be the chance for aspiring HR professionals to become television moguls.
Executive compensation would be good viewing. Any time an execs total comp reaches 100 times the salary of someone on the front line, the two have to swap paycheques for a week.
How about former Canadian Privacy Commissioner George Radwanski making brown bag lunches for everyone on staff. Or a game of charades where executives pantomime the corporate vision statement.
Then the good times get rolling when senior team members swap roles and the chief financial officer has to come up with an HR cost-benefits analysis calculating the productivity increases associated with healthier cafeteria foods. Watch the fun as the CFO cross-references worker disability and mortality levels as a ratio of french fries eaten per 1,000 employees.
Or maybe employee communications could be a ratings winner. Here executives have to deliver lines like, “Employees are our most valuable resource.” The first executive to breakout in laughter and reach for the number of an outplacement firm gets eliminated. Survivors go on to next round and live to downsize again.
In Canada, the CBC’s Venture program is running a series of shows about CEOs taking on front-line jobs in their organizations. The show, based on a British series, challenges corporate leaders to find out what it’s like in the lower ranks. CEOs will be driving forklifts, lugging boxes, serving food, selling underwear, joining the assembly line and otherwise sweating with the troops. (No word on whether Toronto Blue Jays president Paul Godfrey will take a crack at striking out Sammy Sosa.)
In the United Kingdom, the BBC is planning a show where an “employee” tries to get fired. Contestants posing as new hires are introduced into companies with the goal of creating entertaining chaos that gets them the pink slip. Rules stipulate no violence, swearing or nudity, and managers and co-workers are in the dark. (Not sure what effect the buffoonery will have on worker morale, but corporate honchos interested in chasing the limelight who sign up for the show obviously think a good prank is worth a small productivity hit.)
In the United States, Donald Trump and NBC are working on a show where people vie for a position as his assistant, proving their value in weekly assignments. Trump fires unsuccessful candidates on every installment.
So if you think things have gotten a little stale in the HR department, it might be time to liven the workplace up with your own reality show. This could be the chance for aspiring HR professionals to become television moguls.
Executive compensation would be good viewing. Any time an execs total comp reaches 100 times the salary of someone on the front line, the two have to swap paycheques for a week.
How about former Canadian Privacy Commissioner George Radwanski making brown bag lunches for everyone on staff. Or a game of charades where executives pantomime the corporate vision statement.
Then the good times get rolling when senior team members swap roles and the chief financial officer has to come up with an HR cost-benefits analysis calculating the productivity increases associated with healthier cafeteria foods. Watch the fun as the CFO cross-references worker disability and mortality levels as a ratio of french fries eaten per 1,000 employees.
Or maybe employee communications could be a ratings winner. Here executives have to deliver lines like, “Employees are our most valuable resource.” The first executive to breakout in laughter and reach for the number of an outplacement firm gets eliminated. Survivors go on to next round and live to downsize again.
