The New Human Resources Department
Not too long ago, the human resources department was the place you would go to looking for a friend, a confidant, a place of comfort. If for some reason you were ill, or encountered some personal difficulties, you would retreat to the HR office for guidance and support. I have personally worked in a few places where the HR department was a terrific spot to chart your career path in the company or seek advice. Two of the companies, one in Los Angeles, CA and one in Downers Grove, IL were departments that had terrific VPs of HR. The care, guidance, and advice you received on an individual basis was outstanding. The number one priority was you, the employee; it’s certainly how you were made to feel.
Today, HR departments have one priority that supersedes the above: protecting the CEO; protecting the people in power, sometimes from themselves. The news lately, you may have noticed that many people in power have found themselves powerless, as their inappropriate behavior has finally caught up with them. I don’t know if I would run into an HR department today and trust that the walls were designed to protect me in that office. Sure, laws are in place to make me or you feel protected, but most of the time the lines of communication are drawn directly to the CEO allowing those laws to be bypassed. I will go one step further: sometimes your personal business doesn’t just find its way to the CEO; it can reach anyone who likes to listen to the news of the day.
How can we solve this issue? Well, I want you to partner with your HR department. I want you to use the HR department to work on exactly what they are designed to: employee well-being, payroll, benefits, and keeping up with state and federal laws, training, and development. Remember they do not run your department or company. They are an arm to assist you in any of the aforementioned functions. HR people are highly trained and important; however, you may come across a few that cannot stay inside that box. Sometimes they behave like that kid in school who ran to the teacher about everything just so that they would appear to be helping the teacher, but really they were protecting themselves.
If you work alongside a good HR person, learn as much as you can from them; it will always be important. If you find yourself working with one that falls short, tell someone. You too are a person that should be benefiting from a strong HR department.