Don't be like this guy.
Anyone with a human resources background — or even a lick of common sense — will cringe as often as laugh at the boneheaded management tactics depicted on NBC’s The Office. But if you want to find out what HR people really think of Michael Scott’s … um … unique leadership style, check out the blog That’s What She Said.
Every Friday, a former HR professional analyzes the management sins from the previous night’s episode and tabulates how much the fictional Dunder Mifflin paper company might have to pay if a fed-up employee filed a lawsuit. For example, the entry for the episode “Did I Stutter?” estimates Stanley — the office’s only black salesman — could net $450,000 after Michael asked him to record an “urban” message and then pretended to fire him.
It’s a great read, and often insightful. Some of the blog’s advice — like “I don’t recommend secretly marrying a coworker against her will,” or “Don’t plant weed (or Caprese salad) in an employee’s desk and call the cops on him” – falls under the category of common sense.
But there’s often some useful advice, like this discussion about how even a harmless-seeming joke about homosexuality can lead to trouble, or this post about how small incidents can, over time, create a hostile work environment. (Which, of course, is the only way to describe Dunder Mifflin’s Scranton branch.)
Hat tip to my colleague Tim Kauffman, who first showed me this blog last year.
