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Communication by HR Manager to Superior
Life in Workforce Management
Communication by HR Manager to Superior
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I am the VP Of Finance & Administration for a 57 employee company. Part of my responsibilities is HR. The company has a HR Manager who reports directly to me. There have been issues that have come
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Forums » Topic Forums » Life in Workforce Management » Communication by HR Manager to Superior
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Communication by HR Manager to Superior
posted at 1/21/2002 6:16 AM EST
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Posts: 2
First: 1/21/2002 Last: 10/18/2002 |
I am the VP Of Finance & Administration for a 57 employee company. Part of my responsibilities is HR. The company has a HR Manager who reports directly to me. There have been issues that have come about in the past where I have had to openly disagree with their (HR Manager) views on how to handle certain situations. Because of these situations, I have directly requested that I be brought into the loop when any "HR" event of significance occurs in the company.
The current issue surrounds a male employee who was accused of making lewd comments about a female employee. I found out about this from a briefing with the President of the company, and have heard nothing from the HR Manager. (The “event” was handled through and investigation and closed the same day.) I just finished my regular weekly meeting with the HR Manager and asked an open ended question about events that I should be aware of. Nothing was brought up by them. My question is more one of validation: Am I asking too much to be kept informed about HR Situations, and specifically this type? |
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Communication by HR Manager to Superior
posted at 1/21/2002 7:03 AM EST
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Posts: 378
First: 1/8/2002 Last: 9/14/2011 |
Good question, but I'm not sure that you have provided enough information to allow us to fully assist. In reference to the previous situations, why were there disagreements? Were they differences of opinion, poor judgement, or were they violations of company policy? What subsequent damage was caused, if any? If the differences were purely opinion based, try to realize that your boss could do the same thing to you. Hindsight is always 20/20 and "Monday morning quarterbacks" are a dime a dozen. Delegating authority to subordinates means giving them the latitude to make decisions. If they are not allowed to make mistakes, they will never learn. Nobody wants to be micromanaged and an HR Manager's job description should allow a considerable amount of free rein.
If you directly supervise the HR Manager and are responsible for that department, then I agree that you should be privy to HR information, but I would suggest defining what type of situations you wish to be informed of so there is no misunderstanding. If you have already done this and are continually left out of the loop, it's time to follow up. I would find out if the President or CEO is communicating directly with your subordinates or vice versa. If their is a chain of command, this should also serve as the communications "wiring diagram". It sounds more like HR and the CEO are perhaps both going around you. You mention the alleged sexual harassment. Do you feel it was mishandled or were you simply not informed? Unless the complainant chose not to pursue the issue or there was compelling evidence, one day seems a bit quick to investigate and close. I have investigated quite a few of these, however I wasn't there and don't know the details of this one. Best of luck and I hope this response helps. Chuck |
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Communication by HR Manager to Superior
posted at 1/22/2002 7:21 PM EST
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Posts: 495
First: 9/30/2000 Last: 8/19/2011 |
If this position reports to you, you should be well aware of any issues or concerns. After all, if any incident was to result in legal action against the company, you would no doubt be called to task.
Sit down with the HR Manager and let him/her know that you need to be kept aware of what is going on. I am an HR Manager that reports to a VP - and I certainly want to make sure that he is not blind-sided by issues or concerns that may come back to haunt the company. |
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Communication by HR Manager to Superior
posted at 12/24/2002 4:34 PM EST
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Posts: 1
First: 12/24/2002 Last: 12/24/2002 |
[quote]
On 2002-01-23 00:21, spencers wrote: If this position reports to you, you should be well aware of any issues or concerns. After all, if any incident was to result in legal action against the company, you would no doubt be called to task. Sit down with the HR Manager and let him/her know that you need to be kept aware of what is going on. I am an HR Manager that reports to a VP - and I certainly want to make sure that he is not blind-sided by issues or concerns that may come back to haunt the company. [/quote] VP needs to sit with HR Manager and brief him cleary about what all he wants him to be briefed about events/incidents taking place in the company. VP being a man of Finance needs to understand the HR techniques to handle situations say not making too much noise but settle the issue because to discuss it more, can create more problems. Make HR Manager more comfortable in decision making and handling situations. |
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Communication by HR Manager to Superior
posted at 1/14/2003 6:36 AM EST
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Posts: 17
First: 2/21/2001 Last: 4/1/2003 |
There is not enough information given to make a full assessment of the situation. But it sounds like the HR Manager may feel like he/she gets more support from the CEO than from you. Perhaps he/she feels from past situations that you have not given issues sufficient support or that you are not as knowledgable about HR-related issues. Again, I do not know the full facts of the situation. Was the lewd-comment issue poorly handled? In any case, since you are the HR Manager's direct report, you should be notified of issues such as this. However, you should also demonstrate your support for such delicate matters; otherwise, he/she will continue to go above you for such matters. Explain to this person that you would like to be briefed on such HR issues, so that you can fully support him/her in the decisions he/she makes. |
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