Whether you’re being bullied, struggling with being treated unfairly by a manager or a colleague isn’t playing by the rules, it’s your company HR department who you typically turn to for help. HR is more than simply the team who deals with hiring and firing – with the use of HR systems, they’re also on hand to help with everything from administration and employment law to ironing out issues within departments. But who’s side is HR really on and can they be trusted to be impartial or are they biased towards the employer or employee?
“HR Works for the Company”
Many people believe that HR works for the company, not the staff, and therefore employees should never assume that their conversations with HR are confidential. But is this just hearsay? While HR does, of course, have to take the company’s reputation and goals into consideration, it’s also important to remember that staff in HR have a responsibility to look after the working conditions, equal opportunities and welfare of the staff. HR is under no obligations, legally, to take the side of the employee but a company also has obligations to their staff, and it is HRs job to ensure these obligations are met. In other words, HR may take the employer’s side but through fighting for the rights of an individual employee. One of the key ways that HR protects the organisation is by defending employees within the company and preventing lawsuits or PR disasters from damaging the reputation of the business.
HR is Fairer than People Think
HR staff aren’t only protecting employees because of PR horror stories. They also want to ensure that fairness and disputes are well-managed for a fairer outcome overall, so that everyone in the organisation is happy. There’s a stereotype that HR departments are only interested in protecting the needs of the business but it’s an unfair reputation that doesn’t take into account the work HR professionals do to instill workplace fairness. That said, HR professionals could do more to manage this reputation they’ve developed and encourage staff to see the work they do in being mindful of the needs of all parties.
Are There Sides?
Instead of being a mediator between two sides, it would help if HR worked towards facilitating constructive decisions which move all parties towards unified goals. There should be less pressure to think about organisations as a ‘us’ and ‘them’ system and more about working as a team that is the organisation as a whole. This would help HR to take a more balanced approach and look to maintain a fair level of justice within the business, rather than feeling the need to pick the employee or the employer. A business is made up of everyone, not just those in power, and it’s not just HRs job to remember this in times of disagreement. By encouraging people to work as one unified team, HR departments can help to minimise the stereotype that they only ever support the employer.