(H)uman (R)ights (O)fficer (or, “HERO,” for short)
December 27, 2007
Every company should have an HRO. There needs to be an office that oversees employee complaints and employee welfare. Employees would be involved in its power-structure so that there could be no compromise that the employees were not willing to accept. Healthcare, chemicals, taxes, a constructive employee community, ergonomics and fitness, all of these would fall under the care of the office of the HRO. The HRO would prevent Management from getting top-heavy, and would keep the staff from becoming insensitive to the overall needs of the company or enterprise. Profit-sharing and other such investment-and-return scenarios would probably be a natural outcome of a balanced and effective HRO. The HRO would be responsible for converting companies patterned after totalitarian or dictatorial political structures into a constitutional republic (isn’t it amazing that in a constitutional republic we still run economics like we were living in a dictatorship or an empire?). This way there would be insurance of the company functioning as a conscious and pro-active whole, with all the parts constantly coming into agreement to create a marvelous synergy.
The HRO’s power-base would be the creation of agreement between Management and Staff. In fact, the boundary between management and staff would be eliminated and all would be considered participants in the enterprise republic. Management positions would be determined by election, the criteria of qualifications established by the HRO-facilitated constitutional compact. The founders of the enterprise would release ownership and receive return-on-investment benefits similar to those which copyright holders receive, for a like period of time. The founders could become part of the management-staff constituency, if qualified and if desired. A good idea doesn’t make you a good boss.
There should be no law imposing this structure. It would be something that willing companies would create for themselves, recognizing the inherent value of such arrangements.
