Front Porch Musings
Growing up in North Florida, every house in my neighborhood had a front porch. No one had air conditioning, so the porch was the “cool place” to hang out.
Of all the porches, my grandmother’s was the best. Nanny lived around the corner and I loved to sit on her porch. Screened with comfortable furniture, it offered a place to talk and view the world. From Nanny’s front porch, you could keep up with everything that was going on up and down the street. You knew who was home; who had gone grocery shopping; who had visitors and often who was visiting. You could wave and talk to the neighbors out for a walk and sometimes invite them in for coffee. You knew the habits of your neighbors so well that you could tell that one of them was under the weather and cook up a pot of chicken soup to take over later.
When central air conditioning came on the scene, builders quit adding front porches to homes. Looking out at my street today and the neighbors I don’t know reminds me of what we’ve missed by not having a front porch view.
When I meet someone at a dinner or party, the conversation generally involves what we do for a living. When I explain that I work in Human Resources, the response recently has been; “So what do you people in Human Resources really do?” I’ll ask about their HR office and in talking realize they are asking me because they never see their HR staff.
Have we been working so hard to get a “seat at the table” with management that we’ve neglected the view from the front porch at work? Do we still know and understand the day-to-day world of our employees? We know the law, the rules, regulations, policies and procedures. We know the business’s vision and how HR aligns with that vision, but do we know the employees and what is important to them?
Maybe when we are not at the table with management, we could be out on the front porch; paying attention to what’s happening around us; greeting people and sometimes inviting them in for coffee. If we do, we will be better able to serve our business and have fewer people wondering “what do you really do?”
September 9th, 2009 at 6:41 am
I agree…you should write a book!
September 9th, 2009 at 7:50 am
As a job seeker, I spend almost all of my day looking at job posts, websites, Linkedin – anything I think will help me find that perfect position.
I was astounded to come across a job post the other day that stated in the requirements: “Must be comfortable on manufacturing floor.” I was astounded because I couldn’t believe that someone actually had to tell a candidate it was their job to interact with the human capital that they would be charged with maximizing. It was like requiring someone to sit in their chair.
I come from small business (food manufacturing), and I was on the manufacturing floor every single day. Sometimes I just went in to say hello and chat. This didn’t stop me from meeting with the owners (it was a privately held business) almost every day, too. This is the primary reason, to me, that HR is so appealing. It’s a privilege to interact, not a chore.
It’s great that you reminded everyone of how necessary this is, Karen.
September 30th, 2009 at 1:53 pm
Very sneaky. You used front porch nostalgia to reach the HR point. We had a front porch at our house in St. Pete when I was growing up. It was the coolest place to sit in the evening until the mosquitos started chewing on you. Karen, you are so right. As HR professionals we have to walk a tight rope protecting our employers while making sure that employees are happy and well taken care of.