A former colleague who has been at a large international organization got some bad news earlier this summer. For 2 years he worked with this group on a contract basis in a part-time status, which is their normal “probationary” style of bringing on new employees. Throughout this fiscal year he was told he would be brought up to full-time status, and was encouraged to use up his “part-time” days early so they could get the most use out of him before transitioning him to full-time.

At the start of the summer, though, as the full-time paperwork was in it’s third week of processing, he was told the budget for his program had been cut, and instead of being brought onto full-time status, he would instead be unemployed until the next fiscal year starts in the fall, at which time he could come back…still as a part-timer.

Seriously?

While waiting for the full-time status to come through, he ran out of his part-time days, but continued to work anyway, since his global projects required someone with his unique talents, and would have stalled if he was not there to do the work. The sad thing is, this is the second year in a row they dangled the full-time transition in front of him, gotten free work out of him, and then snatched it away.

Can you think of anything more disrespectful? For that matter, can you think of anything less ethical?

This says something about the organization’s talent management skills. They have an employee who is willing to put up with the part-time salary, the free work, and the multiple bait-and-switch scenarios, all because he really wants to work here and do the kind of work they do. Everyone, though, has a breaking point, and while he has been willing to put up with a lot, at some point you can push people to the point where enough is enough, and they will go elsewhere. How does the organization benefit from this? How does losing someone with that kind of passion and drive translate into a good thing? How is losing 2 years of corporate knowledge and having to start over with someone new — or maybe even having to leave the position empty — going to help this organization pursue its mission?

Perhaps they have an attitude that their employees are easily replaceable, that they are nothing more than interchangeable parts. But they aren’t. This particular organization recruits talented employees who meet very specific qualifications and who each bring unique skills and backgrounds that are closely tied to the work they will be doing. These are not people who are easy to replace, and the organization seriously degrades its capability every time somebody says “I’ve had enough!” and leaves. Not only do they lose that person, but the organization’s reputation and employment brand suffers within the community of potential employees who would work there. People will tolerate low pay and rough conditions to do the work they really want to do, but it’s hard to do that when you feel your talents are not appreciated. Your employees will put up with many things to satisfy their passions, but a lack of respect is not one of them.

There’s no excuse for not showing your employees some simple respect. You should be open with them about what’s going on in your organization, particularly as it affects them. You need to be honest about opportunities and avoid promising things when you are not sure you can deliver (and definitely do not promise anything that you KNOW you are not going to provide). This contract he had with this organization put them under no obligation to being him on full-time, but the statements from his managers made it clear that was the intent (or at least, the intent they wanted him to think they had). You should not be taking advantage of people’s passion just because you think you can; not only is it wrong, but you are almost certain to misjudge how much you can get away with, and you will end up losing them. It’s a simple rule to keep in mind: do not lie to your employees.

As this individual said regarding his now-former boss, “I wonder how she would feel if someone did this to her son?” That’s a fair question. As we consider how to treat our employees, we should think about how we would want to be treated. We all learned the Golden Rule when we were little; sometimes, though, we need a little reminder.