Lord, a former HR executive at NBC News and General Electric, is being counted on to help restore credibility for an organization where public reputation is essential to the brand.
Lord most recently served as chief human resources officer at Tegna, a media company. His role at Fox News is new and grants him oversight of HR at Fox News Channel, the Fox Business Channel, Fox Business Network and other digital operations. His official start date is the middle of this month.
Lord’s “long and impressive track record in this arena will be a valuable addition to our management team, and we look forward to him implementing key programs reflecting his core vision for employees,” said Jack Abernethy and Bill Shine, co-presidents of Fox News.
Hiring Lord gave Fox News' brass a chance to show they are serious about confronting a problem that led to widespread damage. After former Fox News anchor, Gretchen Carlson sued Ailes in July, alleging she was pushed out of the network for refusing his sexual advances, more than 20 claims of inappropriate behavior tied to Ailes were exposed following an internal investigation. Ailes, who left Fox in July, has denied the sexual harassment allegations.
Carlson settled with Fox for $20 million and also received a public apology from the network, Vanity Fair reports. But, Ailes’ departure and the $20 million settlement for Carlson did not absolve Fox News from needing to take further action. The company also learned that its current and former employees kept mum about their own sexual harassment complaints, including sexual favor requests, because they were afraid of retaliation, The New York Times reports.
While incidents involving sexual harassment are disturbing enough for HR, another potential hazard is when consenting adults at the workplace become intimate, The Sydney Morning Herald reports. It is not uncommon for co-workers to become romantically involved, but if the relationship sours it can create big headaches especially if the relationship involves one managing the other.
The Australian Human Resources Institute participated in a global study that found 47% of employees engage in intimate sexual relationship with a co-worker during their career. Peter Wilson, chairman of the Institute, advises it is best that such relationships be made public soon after developing so as to avoid rumors and confusion that could erode the culture and morale.
If the relationship is between a boss and subordinate, it is best to end that working relationship between the two, he added. "HR's job is to act in the overall interests of the people in the company, fairly and without favour," Wilson says. "Unfortunately there are cases where the power structure is involved and you can get defensive reactions to support the boss, most generally a male and the position of the female, who is generally a subordinate, can be at risk.”
HR tends to side with management and get rid of employees who make a manager uncomfortable, Wilson says. But many HR departments will not tolerate giving such deference to a manager at the expense of the whole firm and culture, he added.