HR expert reveals how Coldplay kiss cam scandal will impact AI start-up

By Amy Reast

A HR expert said the scandalous kisscam moment at a Coldplay concert "looks awful" and will require "a robust investigation" and "some serious crisis planning."

Melissa Stone, 43, a HR director, shared her insights into the viral clip showing an intimate moment between a CEO and a HR director.

She shared what may be happening internally at the billion-dollar artificial intelligence start-up in the wake of the clip - including a rigorous investigation.

They were caught on a kisscam cuddling at a Coldplay concert in Boston on Tuesday, before both panicking and darting out of frame.

Social media sleuths have named Andrew Byron, 50, the CEO of artificial intelligence start-up Astronomer, while the woman, Kristin Cabot, is the chief people officer.

The moment raised suspicions of an affair, or undisclosed relationship, between the two colleagues.

Melissa, from County Wexford, Ireland, who has two decades of HR experience, admitted the clip "looks awful."

Melissa said: "When something like this happens, there will be a damage to the trust and confidence in a company's leadership - both with staff and investors.

"It's all allegations at the moment, but it does create issues from a perception perspective.

"People in senior positions are always representing the company, even just out and about - it's about the company's ethical credibility.

"And perception is enough to cause reputational damage, even if it isn't true.

"It's become such a mess, but things like this do happen.

"As someone from HR, I am engrossed in this and seeing what happens."

Melissa said there are "many moving parts" from a HR perspective in the wake of the scandal.

The first issue raised is that it creates "psychological safety issues" amongst other staff in the company.

She said staff may no longer feel safe reporting issues to HR or the CEO because of the risk of preferential treatment or breaches of confidentiality.

She said any company of size should have clear and well-laid out HR policies in place that have been agreed by a board.

Melissa said: "The organization should have clear policies and training on workplace relationships.

"They would have to disclose a relationship so people can ensure there is no conflict.

"But if it is indeed an affair, they wouldn't have disclosed that.

"Even if there weren't any policies in place, common sense should prevail - this is poor ethical conduct."

Melissa said, if it is the case that it's an affair, and that it wasn't known to the board already, she would expect an emergency board meeting to have been called.

This would typically include HR, the CEO, the head of finance, the marketing and comms team, and another board member to keep everyone updated.

But she people at the heart of the video, Andy Byron and Kristin Cabot will have been asked not to come to work, and the meeting would take place without them.

From there, decisions would be made over what happens next.

She said: "Normally, if you're in breach of policies, that needs to be dealt with, like termination.

"But if he is CEO, he may be an essential component of the business, and without him it doesn't exist.

"They may throw HR under the bus - and the fact that the HR is female and the CEO is male hasn't escaped me.

"HRs are often the ones thrown under the bus and blamed, it's really tough.

"Or maybe, I can imagine, in six months time, they both make a quiet exit that has been agreed with some sort of settlement package."

Given rumors that another of the HR team was also in attendance, Melissa said it could have damaged the reputation of the entire industry.

She suggested it may "do a lot of damage to the credibility of HR teams in general".

Melissa said, if she were responsible for dealing with the fallout, she'd need to do some digging first.

"The first thing I would do is a full investigation - I'd need to know absolutely everything," she said.

"I'd want to speak to witnesses, to get a really robust understanding of the facts.

"And then we'd have to make a tough decision."

Melissa said however unlikely, we must consider the idea that, perhaps it's a legitimate relationship with two individuals, who are married but separated from their spouses.

In which case, it may be handled entirely differently - and why it's so important that it is investigated thoroughly.

She said over the coming weeks she'll be paying close attention to what comes next.

She said: "Even if people have got the wrong end of the stick, it still looks awful.

"A robust investigation needs to happen immediately - and some serious crisis planning.

"In the HR world, people will be talking about this for years as a prime example of why training and policies need to be in place."