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HR's Reputation
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HR's Reputation
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Hi everyone...just curious to know how your organization treats HR. Do the managers listen to the advice you give them? Are they resistant to work with you? Do you ever feel like you are looked at as
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Forums » Topic Forums » Work Views » HR's Reputation
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HR's Reputation
posted at 10/9/2007 9:01 AM EDT
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Posts: 17
First: 7/17/2007 Last: 12/4/2007 |
Hi everyone...just curious to know how your organization treats HR. Do the managers listen to the advice you give them? Are they resistant to work with you? Do you ever feel like you are looked at as the bad guy from members of management who don't even know what you do and the importance of what you do. I am just wondering because it's like that for me at my office. We have several locations and each location has 1 HR Generalist. The manager her does alot of things without me (terminations/writeup/employment relation issues) just to name a few. How do I let this manager know that he needs to follow policy when dealing with certain issues without sounding like the bad guy... please help. |
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HR's Reputation
posted at 10/10/2007 6:38 AM EDT
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Posts: 1771
First: 10/24/2002 Last: 9/14/2011 |
I have started work at several organizations where HR was considered to be be a low-level clerical function and therefore to be generally ignored by management. When I left the organizations, HR was considered by management to be a key function without whose advice they would not be able to do anything.
I was able to implement this change in their mindset by ensuring that I always had a good business reason for them to do whatever it was I wanted them to do. (And if I couldn't come up with a good business reason, then I scrapped whatever it was I wanted them to do - because if it ain't gonna help the business somehow, then we shouldn't be doing it - and I heartily agree with this.) Within that "good business reason" I always inserted an answer to the question "What's in it for me?" - because while most people are willing to do things that are good for their companies' business, you may sometimes need a little extra something to sweeten the pot for them. This is especially important if what you're wanting them to do entails a lot of work/time on their parts. |
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HR's Reputation
posted at 12/4/2007 2:06 AM EST
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Posts: 1
First: 12/4/2007 Last: 12/4/2007 |
We have six sites at our Agency. We only have 1 HR Director. She sits in on all Executive Team Meetings with the Exec, Director of Operations, Finance and Development. As Director of Operations, she and I work very closely together on all hires, terminations and disciplinary action. I expect my program directors and managers consult with her prior to any HR action being taken. I think it works well here because we have a very clearly defined hierarchy and HR is part of the Executive Team of the Agency. How are policies, etc... communicated within your organization? Does HR sit in on meetings. What part of the process does she come in at?
Laurie |
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HR's Reputation
posted at 12/4/2007 3:05 AM EST
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Posts: 1103
First: 3/16/2007 Last: 8/19/2011 |
There is no doubt in my mind that HR has a poor reputation. Most often this is caused by a high level of inexperience by the HR practitioner coupled with a perception that is from a business perspective fundamentally flawed.
In this thread we have an objection to management actioning without HR's participation Does HR sit in on meetings? How are policies communicated? Issues almost on the right track but not really there yet. Does HR drive strategy? Does HR create and contribute to strategy? Does HR, in consort with management, create an atmosphere of accountability and productivity. How? How does HR measure and communicate success? It isn't about meetings and how many phone calls or e-mails you get. When you can say HR added $6M to the bottom line this year through productivity improving processes, and then prove it, you are contributing. Proof is never reducing expenses or imaginary un-filed lawsuits. Proof is profit or for the NFP's, margin. Semantics? perhaps, but I will suggest that it is how the words are used to communicate the message. We are not company police and management has every right to act without our involvement. They don't need our permission and in that often management has significantly more experience in running a business than does the newly minted "HR Generalist" why should they listen to you? Or, to paraphrase Hrbth "what's in it for them" and the second you say fewer law suits, reduced turnover and improved morale you lose them. If you want to be respected as a business person (forget the BS mantra of "HR, Leading people, leading organizations" because its inept)then conduct yourself as a business person. Understand the impact of what you do on the bottom line, know how to interpret EBITDA and the diluted/undiluted value of stock. Use your education for something other than a space filler on the wall in your office or cube, use it to apply to business issues. Forget the words to Kumbaya and forget forever that you heard the term "employee advocate" you are a business person. Never ever utter the inane expressions "strategic business partner" or "seat at the table." Talk in ROI, dollars and cents, cost-benefit ratio, etc. Learn statistics, and most importantly learn your business or industry. And never answer the question - "so tell me, from an HR perspective..." Instead, respond with, "from my business experience and knowledge of my profession and this industry my advice on this course of action is..." And then give a financial reason or a metric driven reason why. It's fair, it feels good, its the right thing to do are all nice words. Hardly the real reason for a business decision and expressions like these will dilute your respect and value in the workplace. That's how it starts and that is how it is done. |
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HR's Reputation
posted at 12/4/2007 3:37 AM EST
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Posts: 1
First: 12/4/2007 Last: 12/4/2007 |
From an HR professional's perspective, there are two types of managers: one who is open to input and values the advice and counsel of an experienced HR consultant, and one who is resistent to any and all input and suspicious of anyone telling him or her what to do. (I have some of each in my current job.) My feeling is that the latter is simply someone who is not really a team player nor has an organizational view. How do you change somelike like this? My experience has been to plug away and sooner or later it will become widely apparent, particuarly to upper management, that such a manager is a potential liability to the organization, no matter how long skate by on their own. |
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HR's Reputation
posted at 12/4/2007 4:19 AM EST
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Posts: 17
First: 9/27/2005 Last: 7/10/2011 |
I agree with the previous posters. One suggestion to help the situation directly would be to organize an evaluation of HR by business heads throughout the company. Survey them (ideally face to face, say via focus groups if not personal interviews) about how and what they see as the role of HR and how it's been carried out presently... and then do something with the results to modify things. Periodic reviews of operating departments can be helpful if not overdone and if they generate feedback and visible action. If it's just one boss giving you trouble, your "interview audience" is small. Try that first, but if you get nowhere, does this individual's boss have a viewpoint? It's to their boss they will respond, not to HR. I'm not suggesting going directly behind the problem person's back, but the organization needs to take a stand on renegade managers. I agree we don't order line managers, but if they never ask for advice, they're absolutely going to go wrong at some point |
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HR's Reputation
posted at 12/4/2007 4:31 AM EST
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Posts: 14
First: 4/26/2005 Last: 1/23/2008 |
I believe HRPro has nailed the answer for you - hard as it might be to hear. I'm also willing to bet that the manager is male and you are female, that the mangager is 15 years older than you, and that you are working in an industry sector where the majority of managers are male because of promotion from the ranks.
If these are accurate guesses, then the most important thing you can do is to build your credibility in terms of understanding the business, and the business imperatives first. Then you need to take a hard look at how you present yourself - from the email signature you use (krazyb. . . ?) hmmm-to what your office looks like, to how you dress, to how you talk. All of these "subtle" things paint a picture of a person in whom one has confidence or not. Of course, it is entirely possible that you are dealing with a dinosaur from a previous age - pre industrial, probably. In which case, there is probably not much anyone can do as long as he is successful in running his shop, making a profit for the company, and avoiding lawsuits. If this is the case, then keep your eyes and ears open for a transfer to another location, or start looking for a more enlightened organization to work in. Not all situations are managable or fixable. Some people don't need management, they need therapy. |
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HR's Reputation
posted at 12/4/2007 4:33 AM EST
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Posts: 31
First: 8/5/2003 Last: 11/12/2009 |
You don't say how much HR experience you have, but I'm going to guess that you may be new to the profession. While not absolution for your location's manager, that may be why you are not in the loop. You may want to network with the other generalists to get their input. If you are experienced, then I'd say, find a job with a company that has positioned HR as a business partner. Any time spent working with "jerks" is a part of your life you'll never get back. Why waste yourself?! |
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HR's Reputation
posted at 12/4/2007 5:55 AM EST
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Posts: 3
First: 5/29/2007 Last: 4/2/2008 |
Perhaps the single most important thing an HR Generalist can do is study business and accounting. If you don't speak the language of business, nobody of importance will hear you. Sure, you might be a PHR or SPHR, but that is meaningless to anyone not in the HR field.
I came to HR after 14 years as an accountant, working up from assets manager to company controller, and I continue to be amazed at the lack of knowledge of my colleagues who think they know it all. Many of the people in HR have no concept of "the good of the company" and instead see themselves as ombudsmen or employee advocates. The true HR professional is someone who can balance the needs of the business and the needs of the employees to bring about the best possible outcome to benefit both sides. In the real world of business, HR Development, Warmup Exercises and making people happy by organizing company picnics is totally worthless if the business cannot meet payroll or cannot survive the competition. If you want to be a great HR Professional, you have to educate yourself in the language of business, read, read and read books by top business managers, and show your non-HR colleagues that you DO understand business, and that you can help them do better in their business if they participate with you! |
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