Is HR the most hated department?

By Renjith VP, SiliconIndia   |   Thursday, 11 November 2010, 12:56 IST
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Is HR the most hated department?
Bangalore: Waited so deadly long for an affirmative reply from the HR? An enquiry made to the HR which you thought would be confidential ended up backfiring? Embarrassed every now and then with constant neglect for your queries? If you think you are the only one facing this problem, a whole lot of birds of the same feather can tell you more stories of issues faced while dealing with the dreaded group - Human Resource aka HR. HR department, which has been an integral part of every firm, instituted with the intention of effective integration of all nuances of the firm has been no more 'HR' in the real sense as we run by the several bitter experiences of employees and other low level staff in organizations. It is more a 'Highly Reprimanded' group than a 'Human Resource' management group these days. Employees seem literally nailed when they hear those deadly quotes so politely and strategically framed like "we will get back to you" or "the position is on hold" or " we are waiting for the decision from the top" etc. HR segments which struggle to cater the rising woes of employees really seem to lack well defined principles of human resource management. 1. Transparency in communicating organization motives - Most companies have employees at any given point who whine about the ongoing HR practices and how they wish there complaints were solved as soon as they were posted. Many employees complain that they hate it when HR comes across just as a puppet of the top management hired to issue instructions which relates to a definitive lack of transparency in their actions. Most HR department and personnel seems like doing a formality and not really their jobs since they just follow processes where there's no personalization. They think that it is difficult to even share their views and thoughts with the HR department for the fear of bearing the consequences for being vocal about the visible issues around. 2. Handling exit interviews - Another concern raised by employees is that HR personnel have no idea about the wealth of valuable information that is available at their fingertips. As they assert, exit interview information is not about collecting sour grapes information but about collecting factual data which shapes the future HR strategy and policy. 3. Failing to understand the business challenges - This is another main criticism pointed against HR. HR professionals do not look at their purpose as being strategic, which in itself creates an aura that HR is driving administration, not the strategy of the organization. Other staffs feel that they bother more about hiring than internal employee development. On all occasions HR should keep in mind that it is the current employee's performance that actually reflects on organizations and their performance, which unfortunately is missed out many a time. 4. Lack of responsiveness - A concern raised against HR every now and then as they always ask for paper work whenever there is a concern and the turnaround time is so long that most employees get frustrated before any resolution is reached. Many people find themselves screwed as HR spills the beans on matters which they tell the HR taking them in confidence. With scrutiny like Harassing Resources or Hardly Required, HR is an area which needs constant troubleshooting and a revival at the earliest. In case that HR is not knowledgeable enough to answer questions then they need to be truthful or to a level transparent, get the answers and revert back. The role of HR is to provide overall company assistance and guidance with the execution on a company's missions, values and ethics, while ensuring the right people in the right job at the right time. Unless and until, they change the view of HR as contributing to business results nothing will change. The HR systems utilized, are just some of the tools we can use to provide factual data to support our contributions. Last but not least, all HR personnel must consider the question 'What's in it for me?' and perhaps the quick and easy answer is 'I have a job, and that job is servicing the internal customer'.

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