People are not commodities

Commenting on Phillip Schofield’s fall from grace last week, Caroline Flack’s mother alleged that ITV “treats presenters as commodities”. Unfortunately, I don’t think ITV is alone in that respect.

Over the last twenty years or so, the world has become less personal – from faceless call centres to social media trolls spewing bile they wouldn’t say in person, people are increasing thought of as user names, account numbers or statistics. And this is true across the whole spectrum of business.

Think of the language commonly used: talent, workforce, resource, candidates, skills. It depersonalises the relationship between a company, its leaders and stakeholders and the people the firm employs or might hire. If I’m ever asked how many “CVs” I’m going to present, I cringe – I’m not providing CVs, I’m introducing people.

Unfortunately, I think HR departments and recruiters are to blame for much of this – the fact they spend so much time focused on statistics, policies, “making placements” and so on means they have turned people into a product when they ought to be acting in their interests.

Everyone at every level and in every function of a business must remember that every person has their own hopes, fears, ambitions and preferences, faces different pressures, challenges and opportunities, and is motivated by different things. To work with them effectively and to create positive workplaces and cultures, all this must be recognised through empathy, respect, communication and more.

No-one is a commodity.

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