IN FOOTBALL AND HR, THE 4TH QUARTER IS A tense time. The pressure is on, there’s tons to do, and the hits we’ve taken so far are adding up. So, let’s get prepared early – right out of the gate – to handle these hits! Like a team doctor, HR people, regardless of role or function, have been taking care of people – hiring, training, benefitting, paying, insuring, counseling, and sometimes firing. When you tell a non-HR person you work in HR, you get the usual jokes or Catbert comments. When you tell an HR person you work in HR, you share a subtle look that says more than an hour of venting.