Forgive offenses

This being the Year of Mercy, I was especially keen to show mercy to these young colleagues of mine.

'I had never found myself in a similar situation’

I work for a foreign multinational organisation as the Head of Human Resources.

An audit revealed that employees had misappropriated company funds and/assets, had lodged fraudulent reimbursement claims, etc.

As the Head of H.R, I had to sit in on the audit interview meetings during which the auditors confronted each employee with whatever evidence of wrongdoing they had found, and questioned the employee about it. Unfortunately, in some cases the manner employed by the auditors was anything but kind, and I felt compassion for these people and was anxious to help make the process a little less painful for them, and to ensure that they took away some positive lessons from it. This being the Year of Mercy, I was especially keen to show mercy to these young colleagues of mine.

During my morning Mass I would present everything to God and ask Him to show me ways in which I could be helpful to all those involved. During the audit interviews, I would often explain the wrongdoing to the employee in a calm and friendly manner, to be sure they understood what they had done wrong, without feeling judged or condemned. I would strive to be kind, while at the same time not downplaying the wrong that had been done.

When we had to terminate an employee's contract of employment following the findings of the auditors, I would sit down with each concerned employee and listen to them, just to give them a forum to express themselves. I would explain to them that they were not bad people, just that they had done something wrong, and to ask them what they had learnt from it and how they could have done things differently. I reassured them that they could always call me should they need any professional advice or help as they sought to advance their careers wherever they would go next.

I was also particularly careful not to reveal what any of the employees had done I was able to convince the Managing Director to give the employees the option to resign as opposed to being fired.

As Head of HR I plan to work with the various department heads to ensure that people are trained, processes documented, etc, so that we can make it easier for people to do their work well.

All in all, I have found this experience to be of immense help to me in growing spiritually and growing in humility, knowing that I am no better than any one of those people. It has given me immense joy to have had an opportunity to serve and to think of others and put their needs before mine.