Good HR people do care about whats fair and right but keep in mind that their job is to assess issues through the lens of what makes sense for the company. This for example is some of what was involved in the infamous hot coffee lawsuit the original ask was for paying some portion of the persons medical bills (I dont even know as it was all of them; it was a surprisingly low amount and she was very badly injured), the company responded with a lowball offer in the hundreds of dollars, and okay, asshole, court it is then. No -- I won't tell you who visited with me or what we talked about.". arrange for training, including mandatory training (according to regulatory requirements) and informational workshops about benefits (how does the get-a-partially-govenment-sponsored-bicycle scheme work) It took a long time to build that trust with the employees but turnover in the health clinic tended to be very low (MUCH lower than the rest of HR) it git there. I'm on your side and their side at the same time. I love so many aspects of my HR role but it is a balancing act! Thats because trying to curtail worker communications can be seen as an illegal attempt to prevent them from unionizing or organizing. Its taken me a long time to trust HR again because in my first full time job I was sexually harassed along with two of my coworkers on a daily basis. It only seems weird until you work in that environment, and then it quickly becomes unremarkable. In most cases of minor interpersonal conflicts with co-workers, youll generally be expected to try to solve the problem on your own through direct communication with your colleague, and then bring in your boss if the problem continues and you judge it serious enough to escalate. Can an Employer Speak to Other Employees About Other Coworkers? Even though I ended up leaving to escape the boss, I am so grateful to HR for helping me preserve my sanity. Yes, during onboarding and at the ends of webinars there will be disclaimers about how you cant bring every little issue to HR, but Im not really surprised that the were here to help you achieve your best work-life balance part (mandatory accompaniment: stock photo of hot-stone massage) drowns them out for a lot of employees and gives rise to the subconscious expectation that HR is there to make them happy and give their meanie-meanie coworker a time-out. Im wondering why HR never reached out to you proactively when they got multiple reports. Id much rather volunteer for a charity day on my employers dime. They can develop and follow some best practices and the time dedicated to event planing isnt taking them away from their official responsibilities. A big concern for employees when they speak to human resources is confidentiality. Even if you can't legally be fired while on leave, you could still be moved into another department or gives less prestigious work when you do come back. UNLESS it is illegal (or truly dangerous) behavior/conditions. I miss her a lot. But, you would be wrong. update: is my job the problem or is it me? Definitely true for the two coworkers I had who sued the company they both had good reason to feel disrespected. What if Im having problems with my boss? Human resources departments must carefully balance the needs of employees, managers, and the entire company. Sure, the salary analysis allowed them to adjust my salary to something more in line with my experience, but the reason they do those salary surveys is partly to keep themselves out of lawsuits in situations like mine. In retrospect, I would have preferred to know HR arent on your side so I could have been more reserved in my dealings with them, and so I knew to document our meetings from the get-go. For me, on the legal compliance factor alone, HR takes care of itself, especially over the last year with compliance with COVID-related laws/regs. I dont work in HR, and probably every place is different: my understanding is these activities usually fall under the bucket of Employee Engagement or Workplace Engagement. Theyre trained to handle those situations and have a legal obligation to investigate any good faith complaint of harassment or discrimination thats based on race, sex, religion, disability, or other protected characteristics. But some situations in which some employees feel that they won against the company getting a leave approved, a raise, a bonus are not at all of this type. How to Talk About Your Mental Health with Your Employer If youre being discriminated against on the basis of your race, sex, religion, disability, or other protected class. Once youve decided to share your experience, set up a time to talk one on one in private. One of the keys to knowing what you might talk to HR about is to consider how their perception of you would change if you told them something. But I do want a well-trained and managed HR department at my employer. Im amazed at reading some of these comments that some folks have positive things to say about their interactions with HR. what should you do?) If you know that a change in your partner's career will require you to reduce your hours, job hunt, or move to a new city, you should talk to your employer as soon as possible. Too often, people mistakenly think HR is a neutral referee thats there to mediate problems with coworkers or managers. When you have questions about or issues with benefits or rights guaranteed to you by law. This isnt only true for HR. Thats who they answer to. One of the groups they want to keep the company from being sued by is their employees. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". This wasnt always the case, but in the last few years has become increasingly clarified, I think to everyones benefit. 1. And if my job morphed into that, I would know I had died and was in hell. Just calling a boss or another employee names isnt protected under the NLRA. Striking over issues unrelated to employment terms and conditions or coercively enmeshing neutrals into a labor dispute. when should you go to HR -- and when should you not? I lost a previous job when HR investigated a matter involving my boss that someone else called them about. In my experience yes. In fact, with reports of harassment or discrimination, theyre legally obligated to act. 6/18/2020 Thomas Barwick/Getty Images Whether youre going through a breakup, grieving a lost pet, or dealing with something even more serious, personal problems dont always go away when youre at work. Doesn't an employee have the right to go to HR if an issue arises? If you work in such a fearful environment that you suspect you'll be tagged a troublemaker for asking to view your personnel file, don't do it -- but in that case, start a job search right away! When you must not go to HR You've done nothing to solve the problem yourself. ", Right away I could see that something fundamental about HR was broken. Meanwhile, I could just go to Linkedin and assemble a shortlist of 10-20 people with various levels of seniority and different current employment situations who could fill the role reasonably well. At that point HR needs to get involved so they can coach the manager on how to coach person A and how to respond to complaints about person A to reduce turnover. Firing could be an HR function, and HR has to be involved with firings anyway. Its wild that your org would invest to get you that far and not support you for the very end. There are often metrics and KPIs associated with these activities, and Im sure the HR fun stuff person need to be deliberate about meeting them. You dont get to dictate how employees spend their free time. Can If I actually hear you being an a$$hole at work, I will call you on it keeping good employees is a lot cheaper than replacing them. And the article mentioned that HR cant keep everything in confidence if you went to HR about those issues with your manager, what outcome were you wanting? But if your boss is being openly abusive, asking you to do something illegal or unsafe, or otherwise doing something that your company would likely be horrified to know about (like dating a subordinate or refusing to allow anyone to ever use paid time off or another benefit guaranteed by the company), then it usually makes sense to talk to HR. They looked into it to keep themselves out of a lawsuit. In general, if the employer can show they have a legitimate business interest in prohibiting communication, that might carry the day in a lawsuit, she says. not strictly work related) for employees. Ive had a couple jobs where I needed accommodations, and the places that had robust HR departments were always better about it than the places without HR. Note, though, that they generally wont have the authority to resolve the problem on their own. I am admittedly a confirmed cynic when it comes to HRI do think its good when some of the HR folks are focused on things like working against unconscious bias and working for equitable compensation for employees of color, women, and marginalized groups in general. 2. Right to Discuss Wages Thats a good way of putting it. At some companies, the managers manager may be a better resource, but it depends on the company and the role they have defined for HR. If You're Being Investigated by Human Resources - Ask #HR Its a garden-variety who gets to decide how we do X problem. I wanted to add these are occasions when an individual (non-manager) should go to HR. Your manager can have conversations with HR about you and you won't know about it until you're called into HR to sign a Performance Improvement Plan -- another bit of Here are five things the HR department will not tell you: How confidential your conversations with HR really are. Im a seasoned employee. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. I have also had the everything you say to me is in confidence, by which I mean Ill be telling your boss immediately conversation with HR. Before you share a secret about yourself or your career with your HR department, think about how it will be perceived by your employer. My husband always refilled the Twizzler jar for the secretaries after a Certain Un-Named Vice Principal would clean them out. But lies and excuses can come back to haunt you, especially if you end up needing time off for genuine reasons in the future. Careers 13 Things Your Boss Can't Legally Do Laws protect employee rights in the workplace, and here are some things they prevent your employer from doing. HR might be most visible to you when youre first hired since theyll generally be involved in your hiring and onboarding but theres a lot going on behind the scenes. On the other hand, a similarly sized company (ginormous) at which a colleague works *does* very specifically want you to set up a one-on-one with the person to resolve interpersonal conflicts. Sharing criminal charges that have been brought against you will make you appear untrustworthy. For example, places with cafeteria perks (free froyo, fancy barista) and nice break rooms are glossing over the fact that youre gonna eat 3 meals a day there because they will work you like a dog. They might try to comb through the best, and send me a list that I tell them doesnt have what Im looking for. Im an HR Business Partner now, but when I was an HR Generalist for a small software company, I did: If the issue isnt a legal one like harassment or discrimination, this can be a really tricky question. That doesnt mean that you can never talk to HR in confidence. Also, one of the classic ways lawsuits happen is that a person had some sort of grievance that could have been resolved amicably and perhaps even mostly by attending to their feelings, but when they raised it the other partys response was such that it caused further offense, and they tipped over to fuck it, getting a lawyer. And even if that person feels bad and learns from that mistake, the organizations events dont actually improve over time because the next event might be arranged by someone else who doesnt have the benefit of that experience. The last interaction I had with HR was asking what the current bereavement policy was because I was having trouble locating it in our handbook after my father passed away a month ago. Ive had it go back and forth but usually I feel like HR has their hands in it in some way. If youre being sexually harassed or harassed on the basis of your race, sex, religion, disability, national origin, age (if youre 40 or over), or other protected class, HR has a legal obligation to investigate and put a stop to it. To Talk The HR person at my work actually is the person to go to if the toilets are acting up, because she has the contact info for the plumbing person and our toilets act up even when not clogged. Can HR tell you not to talk about something? Our payroll people have always been great, too. My experience with it was great and the feedback Ive heard from our boss is that it really frees up his time to deal with the stuff that truly matters and not stupid stuff that inevitably happens when you have a department of 50+ people. Theyre trained to handle those situations and have a legal obligation to investigate any good faith complaint of harassment or discrimination thats based on race, sex, religion, disability, or other protected characteristics. Waitisnt everyone paid by their employer? WebYou also have the right not to engage in conversations or communications about your wages. When you bring the boss in, it tends to make issues that tend to be minor/personal preference into a boss-level performance issue. HR Is Not Your Friend. Here's Why Hence, remain calm and respectful. Im probably going to retire in the next year, and I suspect that realistically, working with Fergusina would become awkward if I lodged a complaint, no matter the outcome. People may not see the value in HR, but often were the only ones who know anything about the laws that employers have to follow, and with few exceptions, even when HRs not great in an org, the alternative is waaaay worse. It really went smoother when we had a relationship with HR. As a result, the employee was given back pay and offered reinstatement, and the employer changed its handbook. Continue to work in a uncomfortable environment, take it to HR (being that Alice was warned not to), deal with the problem, just find a new job, or report the situation This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. At mine, accounting does it, HR handles issues with time entry and is a double check for the accounting system to keep the powers somewhat separated. Repeated pattern of horrible stuff, especially said in front of othersthats an HR issue. 4 Can my employer dictate what I do in my personal life? HR employees whose entire jobs are about things like employee engagement, or compensation analysis (like benchmarking), or management training. Those are good things. When you must not go to HR You've done nothing to solve the problem yourself. You'll get the news when they decide to tell you. Russia-Ukraine war latest: Lukashenko claims he warned Prigozhin Like all employees we have a range of skills, ideas, roles, concerns responsibilities etc. Stories about your failed relationships, a lawsuit against your neighbor, or family troubles dont belong at work. They may seem faint and distant but the more you focus on them, the stronger your spidey sense will become. Thats a common title, because folks in that role do generally everything! an Employee Gives You Info in Confidence At my old job, we had a one person HR department and she was AMAZING! Sure, itll slow you down a hair, and you dont get to do it the easy way. The HR manager at the last place I worked was an awesome sounding board and had a great finesse with mediating things so it wasnt super obvious you went to HR about it. A week later, the payroll administrator, who was part of HR, texted me and told me that she wished I went to HR instead of resigning. New Season Prophetic Prayers and Declarations || NSPPD - 22nd I had to be steadfast when managers pressured me to spill the beans on confidential conversations --a tricky proposition when part of my job required me to build trust with managers as well as with their employees. (Discussed with an HR lawyer as well to be sure it wasnt my issue. If your employees don't like working for you, nothing good can happen! I cant even figure out the link there. Sharing: Start the conversation. But if you tell human resources, your employer could end up uncertain of your reliability or commitment. If youre being sexually harassed or harassed on the basis of your race, sex, religion, disability, national origin, age (if youre 40 or over), or other protected class, HR has a legal obligation to investigate and put a stop to it. Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors. (If your boss is at the top of the organization and theres no one higher to talk to, your options are a lot more limited, although in the case of harassment or discrimination, you could speak to a lawyer or file a complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or your state labor department.). The Human Resources office cannot discuss your salary with Bob because that is considered part of your confidential employee record. The department's job is the balance the needs of the company while ensuring that employees receive the protections and information they need. Can HR tell you not to talk about something? update: is my job the problem or is it me? It can be lonely, because you usually cant have work friends outside of the HR department for assorted reasons. payroll when should you This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. What issues or problems surrounding your performance your manager may be talking with HR about right now. No need for short-term disablity/FMLA, no work conflicts, their documentation makes sense so I can figure out questions on my own, etc.. My HR showed me how to access my FSA account since I did not know I was auto-enrolled in it. As for your hiring example, it seems like HR is involved in tech interviewing beyond its area of expertise but thats not an HR problem. At my last place we had super thoughtful and considerate HR folks and they helped me to navigate my boss making things up on performance reviews. Five Things The HR Department Won't Tell You I have consistently worked with HR teams that are trying to recruit for highly specific technical talent, but are not competent enough to judge people with closely related backgrounds. Your direct manager is likely to hear about the conversation at some point, and if their boss doesnt handle the situation skillfully, that can make things worse. In larger organizations, these functions are generally separated within HR; youll typically find a group of HR staff who are dedicated to recruiting and hiring, another group dedicated to compensation analysis (like benchmarking salaries and making sure salaries are fair and in line with the market), another dedicated to training and development, and so on.
