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No - HR isn't your friend. But they also aren't ALWAYS just some empty gesture that simply protects the company at all costs (at least no more/less than any other department). Can they be useless? Sure. But I contribute that to just bad employees/people/process. And from that perspective, any role/department can be ineffective/useless.
HR mainly manage the areas that involve employee services (compensation, benefits, hiring/terminations, onboarding/offboarding, etc.) and the policies that surround them.
People find them "useless" because they don't understand the above. No department within an organization is there to advocate for you without justification or, just because. You complain enough to anyone and people will find it annoying. That's just reality.
HR isn't there to simply make you happy. If a decision was made that doesn't make you happy. You talk to the people that made that decision. HR simply processes those changes. You have an issue with your co-workers. HR isn't there to be the parents (neither is your manager for the most part). They're not there to solve your interpersonal issues.
When do you involve HR? You involve them when a policy has been violated. You are feeling sexually harassed, there is documented evidence that you are being bullied, you've been discriminated against, etc. That's when you involve HR. But you also need to advocate for yourself. You involve HR more as an official process so you have a "paper trail" should you need to take it beyond the company.
When do you involve HR? You involve them when a policy has been violated. You are feeling sexually harassed, there is documented evidence that you are being bullied, you've been discriminated against, etc. That's when you involve HR. But you also need to advocate for yourself. You involve HR more as an official process so you have a "paper trail" should you need to take it beyond the company.
The company I work for has an anti-bullying policy which specifies that conflicts due to differences in personality aren't considered bullying. That's the company's out that they can use to look the other way when bullying occurs. When I've seen and experienced bullying, either management doesn't care or they're doing the bullying themselves. What can you realistically do "beyond the company" about people being mean to you at work? A lot of people are mean.
If you're being bullied, be smart and just look for another job.
At my job right now lots of changes are being made and its making some people frustrated and said...."I am going to HR" What can be accomplished when going to HR when a manager sends you to another dept? I didnt think they could do anything if the head of an agency decided to make changes.
"Going to HR" is usually an express road to being managed out of the company, either on your own or escorted out by security. Such people are given a scarlet letter, not helped. HR protects the fabric and structure of the firm from lawsuits or other serious trouble via rabble rousers on the inside. On very few occasions have they closely listened to the concerns of staffers, evaluated merits, taken concrete and measurable steps, assessed outcomes, and been genuine agents of change. Business analysts build processes that suggest this should happen in an ideal world, but reality is far different.
Such processes require detachment and desire to improve. No; HR's job is usually "preserve and protect" as defenders of the faith via a more sublime paradigm to "defend the leadership."
They are High Priestesses of the Temple, disciples of the Word not interpreters, and heretics are usually to be singled out and immolated vs. helped or converted. I've seen this in companies w/80,000 staff to 30. Always the same personalities involved. Always. I even dated an HR Lead once...not from anywhere I worked...and her relationship behavior was essentially within that paradigm. Watch what they do, not what they say.
Bottom line is that, absent contract specifications (and even then there are probably some built in work arounds), a company can move its employees around to different jobs/tasks at will, especially non-management ones (the fallacy that some have about how pushing electrons around means you're "management" is just that, a fallacy).
No - HR isn't your friend. But they also aren't ALWAYS just some empty gesture that simply protects the company at all costs (at least no more/less than any other department). Can they be useless? Sure. But I contribute that to just bad employees/people/process. And from that perspective, any role/department can be ineffective/useless.
HR mainly manage the areas that involve employee services (compensation, benefits, hiring/terminations, onboarding/offboarding, etc.) and the policies that surround them.
People find them "useless" because they don't understand the above. No department within an organization is there to advocate for you without justification or, just because. You complain enough to anyone and people will find it annoying. That's just reality.
HR isn't there to simply make you happy. If a decision was made that doesn't make you happy. You talk to the people that made that decision. HR simply processes those changes. You have an issue with your co-workers. HR isn't there to be the parents (neither is your manager for the most part). They're not there to solve your interpersonal issues.
When do you involve HR? You involve them when a policy has been violated. You are feeling sexually harassed, there is documented evidence that you are being bullied, you've been discriminated against, etc. That's when you involve HR. But you also need to advocate for yourself. You involve HR more as an official process so you have a "paper trail" should you need to take it beyond the company.
How did you disagree at all with what has already been covered in this thread?
At my job right now lots of changes are being made and its making some people frustrated and said...."I am going to HR" What can be accomplished when going to HR when a manager sends you to another dept? I didnt think they could do anything if the head of an agency decided to make changes.
".......and other duties as assigned." That's in most job descriptions. HR will probably tell them that.
Needs of the organization trump anything that might 'frustrate' people.
This is life.
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True, HR will normally support management in that kind of dispute. They will, however support the employee who complains of things like abuse, discrimination, sexual harassment. As long as it's legal and there is no written contract the employer can almost always change job duties, assignments, procedures, and even work locations. "Going to HR" is an idle threat, and the supervisor/manager would just say "go right ahead." Then don't ever expect a promotion, performance based raise, or other favors. That phrase is basically burning bridges.
Also, there is probably a procedure already in place to take complaints up the chain of command. You talk to the manager....you don't jump right to HR unless there is a serious issue and it actually involves the manager (and I don't mean "I'm frustrated because they are moving me to another unit or position.")
Expressing frustration about changes being made isn't going to make much, if any impact. The only benefit could be if they collect and share any impactful data or consequences.
H/R is as trustworthy as a used car salesman. Avoid them..always.
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