If you have HR issues, you are not alone. Take Arsenal Football Club. For all their resources, their fanbase and their past success, they have their fair share of HR issues in the past year.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Looking back on Arsene Wenger’s career at Arsenal, it started off superbly. He was a breath of fresh air. He motivated good employees to become great again. He brought in new working practices. He brought a new style of management that others copied.
He won awards in the form of trophies. He recruited brilliantly and built the amazing invincible’s team. In more recent years his performance waned. His clients (the fans) noticed. They stopped turning up to matches. Time and again, great employees left. Earnings fell as performance slumped.
Have you faced this situation? Someone was once great at their job but now the realisation dawns – you simply have to do something about it?
Arsene Wenger left Arsenal earlier in the year. After the success he brought to the club it cannot be argued the send-off he received was justified. Arsenal certainly had to consider the importance of ensuring the correct process was in place to ensure a healthy exit took place as it may end up coming back to haunt them in the future if not.
Arsenal’s HR Department then would have had to look forwards. They recruited and employed a top candidate in Unai Emery. Once recruited, an employment contract would have needed to have been drawn up. Once the manager was appointed HR would have had a number of more obstacles and protocols to follow.
A new manager will bring new ideas. New ideas mean change. Not everyone will welcome that. Some may decide they want to leave. Some may have no choice. What won’t change is the expectations the clients will put on the club. From day one, there will be a demand for success. Before Arsene Wenger, Bruce Rioch found it was not an easy place to succeed.