How should the owner of a company handle it if an HR person implemented a disastrous policy that caused the company to hemorrhage clients?

[Anonymous]

So the story is, my company, We handle the sales of components for the oil and gas industry, as well as heavy machinery. basically we are the people Exxon calls when they need parts for their pipelines.

Recently the head of HR implemented a policy that forced us to change our email format to be 100% gender neutral and to include our pronouns. we have 50 people on staff. None of us were okay with this. men and women both felt this was stupid. We tried the policy for a month. We, in that short amount of time, lost 15 multi million dollar clients. One of mine gave feedback that stated "We have been doing business with you for the better part of 15 years. Your standard was delivering good products on time, and my standard was paying you for them. It was a simple effective arrangement. When did you guys get into the business of social messaging? I'm trying to run an oil field here, not a university seminar. Just tell me you can get the parts, and stop with this corporate nonsense."

This was very bad. He wasn't just annoyed at the new company mandated format any more, he was questioning the company's entire focus. He saw the format and the stupid signature as a symptom of a deeper problem.

I forwarded this to the CEO. A week later the the client in question dropped us. He was a 100 million dollar per year client. The CEO fired the entire HR department after this and reverted all of our policies.

[DishLady]

Depends (1) what the policy is, (2) how it was implemented and (3) who the clients are/were.

HR can't unilaterally change something, however what the person is doing is SUPPOSED to be there to keep everyone from getting sued by clients and employees.

Firing HR will just look like another red flag... There's obviously more to the story. Hunker down and get ready to be sued by the fired people...

[Nikki1989]

The owner needs to swing the axe.

[NewtoCalifornia]

Gender pronouns should be optional. I think the head of HR just wants to exercise power. He/she wants to control people. The words and explanations he/she uses for the policy are BS.

[Pterodon]

You mean like when Bud Light made those fag commercials and sales plummeted so badly Bud Light lost its #1 position? I’d fire their ass and any of their team that was in on it

[AI Opinion]

As Advisor Smith, I’ve seen versions of this play out.

In that situation, the owner/CEO should:

1. Stabilize the business
- Immediately reverse the policy.
- Personally call key clients, acknowledge the mistake, and reaffirm focus on reliability and service.

2. Address internal accountability
- Investigate how such a major client‑facing change bypassed commercial/operations input.
- If it reflects poor judgment and process, replacing the HR leadership (as your CEO did) is reasonable.

3. Rebuild decision processes
- Require cross‑functional review (sales, ops, legal, HR) for any external‑facing policy.
- Set a clear filter: “Does this help or hinder our ability to serve clients?”

[Ariesman81Nshiiit]

Fire whoever hired the broad

[Asker]

She was a " diversity hire"

[Ariesman81Nshiiit]

Clearly. Send a picture to your clients with her head on a stake.

[Abbycado]

It starts up top, as they say.