The Oppenheim Group – HR nightmare?
When I get to the end of a busy day I like nothing more than to settle down and watch some reality TV; and nothing ticks the reality TV boxes for me quite like Netflix’s “Selling Sunset”. For those of you with a more discerning taste in entertainment who haven’t seen this absolute masterpiece, it follows the personal and professional lives of a number of agents who work for The Oppenheim Group in Los Angeles, selling and buying amazing multi-million dollar houses.
There are a number of things I really enjoy about this programme. The first is the houses – nothing beats imagining what it would be like to be able to casually purchase a $10 million home. The second is the lavish lifestyle of the agents – one of whom decided it was a good idea to have a real life sloth at their baby shower(?!). The main draw, however, is the drama; and there is plenty of that.
The thing is, the Oppenheim Group are first and foremost an organisation; and in my experience where drama starts in an organisation, HR are invariably given front row seats and oftentimes expected to sort it out. This got me thinking – perhaps my love of reality TV could actually be useful, as Selling Sunset highlights a number of key pitfall organisations can easily fall into. I therefore present to you, my top 3 HR takeaways from the Oppenheim Group’s employee drama!
HR TAKEAWAY 1 – Don’t sleep with your boss!!
I mean this one should be a no-brainer, but with nearly a fifth of us finding love at work (Nolsoe E, 2020, YouGov) determining a company stance on interpersonal relationships in the workplace should definitely be on the priority list. Clearly prohibiting relationships in the workplace is never going to work, and I’m always a little wary around prying into employee lives unnecessarily (hello GDPR!); that being said, it’s usually inappropriate for someone’s line manager to be their spouse or significant other and the main thing to consider in this arena is a power imbalance and/or favouritism. My suggestion would always be to seek employee disclosures in respect of interpersonal relationships of any kind (think mother/son or siblings for example, as well as romantic relationships) that could impact an individual’s objectivity when undertaking their duties. This will then enable changes to line management/duties/office locations etc. to be discussed if necessary.
This plays out interestingly on Selling Sunset as one of the owners previously had a serious relationship with one of the agents (their subordinate, for want of a better word). This appears to have ended amicably, but there’s often talk of favouritism and the agent in question getting better listing support. Interestingly enough, the same owner has subsequently gone on to have a relationship with another one of the agents….talk about awkward office dynamics!
HR TAKEAWAY 2 – Tackle issues when they arise, don’t let them build up and then air them at huge social events in front of everyone.
In a competitive office there’s bound to be a bit of conflict. No team works harmoniously 100% of the time, and disagreements are inevitable. What isn’t helpful however, is allowing initially small incidents to become larger and larger. The show highlights this well as a disagreement will happen between two employees initially, but then the rest of the office become involved and split off into two factions. This usually culminates in both factions airing all of their issues in one heated explosion at some sort of company function in front of everyone.
In practice, I have seen this happen so many times. Two employees disagree over something seemingly petty. The manager writes this off as petty and chooses not to get involved. A week later the whole office is in disarray – Sandra’s gone off sick, David feels personally victimised and is submitting a grievance, and Cheryl (who had nothing to do with the initial debate) is now weighing in and stirring everyone up. The take away from this? Don’t turn a blind eye to those initial issues. Talk issues through privately, and support team members in dealing with them. Even if at first they seem petty. It’s always better to nip things in the bud!
HR TAKEAWAY 3 – A “like me” or biased approach to recruitment stifles diversity and leaves you with an echo chamber.
The Oppenheim Group is run by twin brothers, and is staffed by an entirely female (and utterly gorgeous) team. While this absolutely makes for great TV, there is a complete lack of diversity. What’s at play here is a “cultural fit” approach to recruitment, and while I can understand a company’s desire to ensure employees will all get along and work well together, I can’t say I’m on board with this kind of recruitment strategy. It’s utterly subjective (and therefore vulnerable to challenge when disgruntled applicants are unsuccessful) and stifles diversity.
So what approach should you take when recruiting? Personally, I feel the more objective you can be, the better. It’s far easier to give interview feedback to a candidate when you’ve compiled objective questions based on a detailed job description and person specification, than it is to try and fluff your way through feedback when the real reason they didn’t get the job is because they “weren’t the right fit”. It also helps to demonstrate fairness and a lack of bias if interviews are conducted by more than one person, and if an actual scoring system is used. At the end of the day, surely you want to hire the candidate who is going to perform best at the job, and not take the Oppenheim approach of who will look best in the group photo…
So there you have it – my thoughts on key HR takeaways based on the delightful drama of Selling Sunset. On the surface, a lot of these issues seem far removed from reality of normal business operation, but it’s amazing how many of these situations I’ve seen play out in the work I do every day. We are all human after all – and whether your office is full of feisty Christine’s or straight talking Maya’s if you’re fair, consistent and sensible in your approach you should be able to avoid that explosive Christmas party and keep things relatively harmonious.
Now, where did I put that remote again….?
References