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2. Employees are a company’s greatest assets.
That’s why businesses hire HR professionals to
take care of employee needs, manage benefits
and deal with any staff problems or concerns.
Usually, HR staffers do a great job, but
occasionally, they may display poor judgment,
such as sharing private employee information or
failing to follow up on complaints.
HR professionals may fall into the following bad
habits from time to time. By identifying these
detrimental behaviors, you can hopefully work
to eradicate them from your organization.
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3. HR staffers have access to a large amount of
sensitive information, such as employee salaries,
medical details and performance reviews. Water
cooler gossip on these subjects can not only hurt
feelings, but also lead to legal action over
privacy concerns. Imagine the uncomfortable
situation that could arise if an employee’s co-
workers learned that he or she was misusing the
company’s medical insurance package. Try to
keep a tight grip on gossip by clearly spelling out
the consequences of loose lips to the entire HR
staff.
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4. Willfully spreading gossip is one thing, but
there’s also the danger of unintentionally
leaking information by talking loudly in close
quarters, using the speakerphone during
private discussions and forwarding emails
containing sensitive information.
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5. HR professionals are on the front lines of
acclimating new employees, so when they
drop the ball on delivering pertinent job-
related information, it can spell trouble down
the road. Employees may be confused about
their benefits and job expectations, which
can be harmful for both the employees and
their managers.
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6. Failing to perform a thorough analysis of a
job and its requirements can lead to bad
hires, which can cost a company serious
money. Make sure that each open position is
thoroughly researched and that managers
provide input as to what skills are required
in order for the new hire to succeed.
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7. HR staffers are often inundated with requests
for benefits changes, procedure documentation
and training, among other tasks. With so many
responsibilities, it’s easy to lose track of
individual employee requests and complaints or
forget to follow up with interviewees who didn’t
get a job. However, all of these seemingly small
tasks can be very important to employees and
potential hires and should be prioritized.
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8. Your company has laid out myriad rules and
procedures, but what about the rewards?
Employees need to be recognized for a job
well done, so work with managers to set up a
reward system if there is not one in place
already.
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9. Perhaps your company has a reward system
but lacks clear policies. Without public – and
better yet, published – procedures in place,
HR professionals face many more questions
and misunderstandings than they otherwise
might.
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10. Is your team busy writing up policies and
procedures for every possible contingency?
Too many rules can make employees feel
restricted and can also stifle creative
solutions and suggestions.
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11. While it’s important to have some basic procedural
and behavioral policies in place, they are of little
use if uninformed. Take evaluations and reported
complaints seriously and follow up with employees
who habitually cross the line.
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12. If there’s a problem between an employee and a
manager or a dispute between two employees,
the ideal solution is for them to resolve it
themselves. HR professionals can help facilitate
communications, but they should not attempt to
play referee between the two sides. If the parties
cannot resolve their differences among
themselves, sit everyone down together to help
resolve the issue.
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13. An atmosphere of suspicion can make
individual employees and entire teams
nervous, and eventually, they will stop
trusting the company. Therefore, HR staffers
should avoid excessive monitoring.
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14. HR departments spend most of their time
making sure that the needs of employees and
managers are met, but they sometimes forget
to follow their own policies, especially when
it comes to reviews.
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15. Working in HR is not always fun, since you
sometimes may have to lay off employees or
deliver other bad news. As uncomfortable as this
situation may be, make sure that you talk to the
affected employees in person so that you can
show empathy and answer any questions that
they might have. This will also foster an
atmosphere of transparency, which can help
create a mutually respectful environment
between HR and other departments.
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16. It may be tempting to put someone you
personally like on the top of the pile for a
promotion or new position, but favors such as
these are unfair to other candidates. Also, if your
biases ever become common company
knowledge, your professional reputation will
very likely be at risk. In addition it is utmost
important to maintain integrity of highest
standards. Accepting favors from others like
vendors and soliciting for favors is also an
equally bad and tarnishes the image.
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17. Whether you like it or not, the fact of the
matter is that HR professionals are seen as
role models for how other employees should
behave. Making an off-color joke or dallying
excessively can dilute the HR department’s
image.
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18. Once HR professionals know what habits
they should avoid, they can focus on their
core responsibilities and their own personal
strengths. After all, if each member of the HR
department concentrates on doing what he
or she does best, the entire company wins.
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19. Anything HR Solutions