The Top 6 HR Hot Messes (and How to Extinguish Them) 🔥💩
- Leslie Speas
- Oct 1
- 2 min read
Updated: Oct 2
Business is simple… until people get involved. Then suddenly you’re not just running a business—you’re dealing with drama, cleaning up compliance mishaps, and trying to keep your best people from leaving.
I call these the HR Hot Messes. And yes, even the best organizations have them.
Here are the top HR Hot Messes I see all the time (and how to fix them before they turn into a full-blown fire).
1. No Clear Job Descriptions
🔥 The Mess: Employees are basically playing “Guess Who?” with their job. They don’t know exactly what’s expected, managers keep adding “just one more thing,” and frustration builds.
🧯 The Fix: Develop simple job descriptions with the essentials: duties and responsibilities, job qualifications, reporting structure, and physical requirements.
2. Policies That Are MIA
🔥 The Mess: One manager says it’s okay, another says it’s not. Without clear policies, chaos reigns.
🧯 The Fix: A lean, updated handbook that covers the basics: PTO, attendance, harassment, FLSA, etc. Review it annually for updates and revisions.
3. Bad Hiring Practices - And then letting them stay!
🔥 The Mess: “We need someone NOW!” → Insert warm body with a pulse. Six months later, you’re wondering why the warm body isn’t performing well.
🧯The Fix: Slow down. Train your interviewers, use a structured interview process, a simple scorecard, and get several perspectives before making a hire. If you get a bad hire, hold them accountable and manage them up or out.
4. The Annual Review That Everyone Dreads
🔥 The Mess: Once a year, managers awkwardly dust off a form, have a meeting that everyone dreads, and leave employees confused (and unmotivated).
🧯The Fix: Replace the big, scary review with short, more frequent performance check-ins. Train managers to coach, not criticize.
5. Compliance Roulette
🔥 The Mess: Misclassifying exempt vs. non-exempt employees, messing up I-9s, or not complying with employment laws that apply to you. One complaint or audit later and—boom—big fines and legal headaches.
🧯 The Fix: Do a quick compliance checkup. Get employment practices, posters, and documentation in order before you receive a complaint or audit.
6. Bad Bosses
🔥 The Mess: Managers impact 70% of an employee's motivation and are the #1 reason people leave. It's amazing how much damage even one bad boss can do!
🧯 The Fix: Develop your leaders! Then make difficult decisions if it doesn't take. Your organization can't afford to have bad bosses!
🎤 Closing Thoughts
HR hot messes can all be cleaned up with the right systems, tools, and coaching.
👉 Want to know if your business is secretly a hot mess? I offer an HR Hot Mess Audit, a quick way to spot risks and opportunities so you can get back to running your business (without the HR headaches). Contact me at leslie@influencehrconsulting.com to get started.
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