How much information should be revealed to HR?

manpreet Best Answer 2 years ago

How much information should be revealed to HR? Should HR calls be anonymous? Can HR calls be limited in scope?

Specifically, one of my supervisor associates in a retail setting is expressing concern toward a manager who is above us. This person is considering contacting HR on their own, and their communication with me makes me feel as though I may have an obligation to contact HR as well.

I leave the details vague on purpose because I don't want answers to be influenced by the specific situation, I am looking for a generic answer. At this point I do not believe laws are being broken, only that behavior is not conducive to productivity and morale. There may be a discriminatory aspect as well.

manpreet 2 years ago

It's baffling to me how much the role of HR is misunderstand and often misrepresented here. So here goes:

HR is not your friend, but they are not your enemy either. They are just doing their job as required by their role. They can be very useful if used in the right context

HR's primary job is to prevent the company from getting sued. They make sure clear company polices exist, that these policies and local labor laws are followed, and they manage cases where laws or policies are unclear or broken. In doing so they protect the company from exposure to bad PR, legal action, massive internal fights, etc.

It's not their primary job to make you happy, feel good, improve job satisfactions or give you back rubs; although most HR departments will engage in some "employee satisfaction" activities.

Once you you understand this, it's easy to decide when and how to engage HR. If anything that happens violates a policy or law, HR will indeed be your friend. Make sure that you have a really thorough and clean documentation of what exactly happened when, where, how, who, etc. The documentation needs to be fact based and emotion free. Then head over to HR and talk to someone face to face. Good documentation is a trigger point for HR since it is primary evidence that works great in court. This would cover things like discrimination, harassment, bullying, payments not issued or wrong, abusive behavior, etc.

If your problem is more related to the actual work: performance, tools, expectations, goals, management style, hours, etc. HR will stay out of it (unless it's so bad that it violates an existing policy). That's your manager's job, not theirs.

So to sum it up: you should definitely contact HR if there is suspicion and/or evidence that existing company policies and or laws are violated. Otherwise, you shouldn't.