Is the PMSA demonstrating excellence in HR practices?
Pablo Picasso once said “there is only one way to look at things until someone shows us how to look at them with different eyes”.
Human Resources practitioners need to be masters at this in order to influence management. Business owners often face difficult staffing decisions, and a good HR practitioner will not just ‘execute’ decisions made by the leadership or management of the business; they will ensure that those decisions are carried out in a way that:
demonstrates best practice;
is consistent with the values of the organisation;
is least likely to cause future claims, either through Fair Work, or common law;
is cost effective; and
demonstrates respect and support for the individual.
Sadly, there appears to have been many examples of poor people management at PMSA schools in recent years, leading to bad publicity, costly litigation, and stress for those involved.
No one disputes that it is up to the Principal (and of course school Councils, in our case PMSA-led school Councils) to make staffing decisions. Hiring and firing, redeployment, ‘downsizing’ and restructures are all within the remit of management. It is how those decisions are executed that is important. The irony of using the word ‘execute’ in light of recent actions is not lost on me.
I have always told my clients that just because, legally, you can do something, doesn’t mean you should. Unless someone has done something illegal, they should be treated with respect on termination and final exit. If you treat people well when ‘onboarding’ you should treat them well on exit. In relation to one of the PMSA schools, it appears to be the case that best practice methods were not followed yet the person responsible for those issues appears to have been rewarded.
Hypothetically say, if you had a senior teacher, head of a middle school, who had been with a school for over a decade and was a year away from retirement, and you thought it was time that teacher moved on (for whatever reason), my advice would be to have a conversation and come to an agreed exit package, rather than put that person through the charade and stress of a ‘spill and fill’, especially when the end result was a well-known fait accompli, and the teacher had been told that he would not get the job. This charade is designed to ‘save money’.
You don’t ban parents from asking legitimate questions when the story makes the press. You don’t ignore the President of the P&F when he/she tries to communicate the depth of feeling amongst parents about how the matter is being handled. You don't tell the P&F to ‘concentrate on the future, rather than the past’, in circumstances where parents were outraged about a decision that in all likelihood would be repeated in the future with some other staff member. The school Council doesn’t bunker down pretending ‘there's nothing to see here’, when it is raised. The Chair of the School Council (remember this is the PMSA member) doesn’t stonewall the President of the P&F who is trying desperately to do the Council and school a favour by practically begging for them to adopt HR best practice. You don’t lie to a parent and say ‘I promise you the school will do the right thing by X’ and then do the exact opposite. I can guarantee that the cost of a negotiated exit package, roughly equivalent to a year’s salary that person would receive until retirement, will be much less than the legal fees and management time subsequently spent dealing with the fallout.
More importantly however, than the money, is that a conversation and negotiated package is dealing with a situation like this in a way that that is consistent with the school’s Christian values. Let Honour Stainless Be. It also gives that person respect and dignity, the opportunity to farewell students, colleagues and parents; and be honoured at Speech Night, rather than disappearing on leave from the stress and shock; never to be seen at school again.
Recent events at another PMSA school, Somerville House have left me flabbergasted, as someone who works in the field. I have conducted countless workplace investigations, and have had to terminate the employment of many people, but never in all my decades, would I ever countenance walking a school Principal off the premises four weeks before the end of term with year 12 students about to sit exams.
The latest news that the person responsible for this sad state of affairs has received a six figure payout to leave is astonishing. This is the man:
who downloaded Somerville House Foundation data, while employed by the school
Was not employed by the Foundation
Was reporting to the Principal
Was at the same time negotiating a large salary package to work for the PMSA (meetings about which were held in the nude at a ‘bathhouse’ with the then PMSA Chair – just typing that makes me shake my head)
The impact of these actions and decisions on the Principal, who resigned with integrity, and the students, teachers, and parents, is far more important than the collective egos of the PMSA Councillors.
‘Let Honour Stainless Be’, ‘Honour before Honours’, ‘Let your Light Shine’ and ‘Where Passion meets Purpose’ should actually mean something and be tangible in all dealings with staff by the PMSA and its school Council – leaders MUST live the values they espouse for the organisation. Otherwise they risk ridicule.
