Many people will have read the story about the former Sainsbury’s employee Mrs Salomon who was able to continue to work despite living with Alzheimer’s.
She managed to do it only with the support of her employers who made reasonable adjustments to keep her at work for as long as possible. It is a real heart warming story and one that demonstrates what can and should be done for people dealing with all kinds of illnesses.
But there was also something else that stood out in this story and that was how it came to light. It was only spotted when her son Doron tweeted about what the supermarket had done and thanked them for all the support they had given.
The important element here is that this was done to help Mrs Salomon. It wasn’t about a process or about getting some positive publicity rather it was about doing the right thing for their employee. It is those genuine cases where people speak up about the good service or experience that they have had which is worth more than many, many PR stories.
It is the honesty that shines through from these cases. Genuinely good service or work that is focused on people and not achieving a goal, meeting a target or following a policy. We had a similar experience at work a couple of weeks ago with the officer who dived in a river to rescue a man. It was a human response to the situation being faced and wasn’t about getting publicity.
Sometimes as communicators we try to hard to create news when really it is happening all day every day at the frontline of the business.
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