You could say that opinions on HR departments are divided. We all know good professionals in the HR area. HH. However, there is also some dissatisfaction with the way certain problems are handled.
So we wanted to investigate further how well the departments of RR. HH. The short answer: not very good. But there are many ways to make small, simple improvements that could benefit both employees and businesses.
We surveyed 926 people to ask about:
- Your opinions on how good RR. HH. does its job
- If they would seek help or advice from RR. HH. having problems at work
- The most unusual situations they have had to report to RR. HH.
RR. HH., we have a problem
Some problems within the work environment are just simple incidents. Others are at a criminal level. But, how willing are we to report them to HR?
To answer this, we created a list of scenarios with certain incidents to ask respondents if they would report them. As you will see in the following image, we divide the scenarios into three categories: incidents with a crime, incidents with workers, and personal problems. The percentages in the image shown represent people who would not report them.
First of all, we are going to analyze in-depth the category of crime incidents. Think about this: 37% of people would not report being sexually harassed at work and 43% would not report experiencing discrimination.
This is outrageous. HR should solve these problems!
So the question to ask ourselves is why wouldn’t they report these incidents to HR?
- Fear of retaliation. 46% of those surveyed said they were afraid of possible retaliation if they reported someone.
- Lack of objectivity. 39% stated that their complaint would not be treated fairly.
- Gender. Incidents reported by men had a 26% chance of being investigated. Complaints from women tend to be more ignored, as evidenced by this comment we received.
“A co-worker had become ‘friends’ with a student at the institute where he worked and could regularly see how he shared pornographic conversations on one of his social networks, with things that were degrading to women. I reported it and nothing was ever done.”
With these reasons in mind, it is normal that many incidents do not end up being reported within the work environment. But, regardless of whether HR works well or not, reporting abuse or discrimination is a must. Why?
You may not be able to hold the company legally responsible if you do not follow reporting procedures. This is what you should do:
- Present a complaint. Consult your company’s employee manual and follow the established procedure. If there is no procedure, or the person you are supposed to report to is the harasser, contact Human Resources and tell them you want to file a complaint.
- Reporting the harassment will protect your rights. Once a company learns of the harassment, it is required to take action and is legally responsible for any harassment that occurs afterward.
- Protect yourself from the consequences. After filing a complaint, you won’t be legally fired or demoted just for reporting the problem. Yes, it could happen, albeit illegal. However, by filing a complaint you will strengthen any subsequent complaint in court.
- Seek legal advice. These situations can and do end up in court. An attorney will be able to advise you on the best course of action.
Now let’s take a look at the category of personal problems. The mourning sample scored surprisingly low with a whopping 87% saying they would not report the death of a loved one to RR. HH. In fact, more people would report a co-worker dressing extravagantly than would report getting a divorce.
Again, this is understandable. Previous data showed that people know where and how to report problems, but are not comfortable doing so or do not trust the processes that are being followed. Another contributing factor is overly severe HR policies.
For example, it is not uncommon for companies to have policies that require “proof” of death. of a loved one if a worker has to be absent for that reason. This is something that only aggravates the pain that workers who are already suffering from the loss. Such policies make workers decide not to communicate their problems.
It stands to reason that the same factors that prevent people from reporting harassment or discrimination also apply to questions of your own. But don’t just assume that your superiors will be this cruel and indifferent. This is what you should do in case of the loss of a loved one or other personal problems that could affect you at work.
- Ask about the guidelines of the company, talk to your manager or human resources and follow the procedures they request.
- As established in article 37.3, “the worker, prior notice and justification, may absent from work, maintaining the right to remuneration, for 2 days due to death, accident or serious illness, hospitalization or surgical intervention without hospitalization that requires home rest, of relatives up to the second degree of consanguinity or affinity. If the worker needs to make a posting for this purpose, the term will increase to 4 days.”
And this is not just a moral issue of human resources being more compassionate. Personal problems can end up leading to anxiety and depression. If they are not treated correctly, this can end up leading to a decrease in productivity.
In fact, who has estimated that factors such as depression or anxiety have a cost of 1 billion dollars in productivity annually? Imagine how much this figure could be reduced with greater support for workers.
Human resources departments, you have work to do. Not only out of compassion for employees but also to improve the results of your companies.
Below we will analyze the situations in which workers need to seek advice and assistance from their Human Resources team. There was one problem that stands out above the rest.
Coaching workers
When it comes to basic advice and advice, the results were amazing. Most workers will only go to Human Resources when they notice that the money does not arrive.
Unfortunately, even the Salary issues don’t get the attention they deserve, as respondents showed.
“There were a couple of times when I just didn’t get paid. Human Resources admitted the mistake. But instead of paying me on the spot, they decided to wait two weeks for the next payment.”
So why are the payroll and benefits issues so clearly highlighted in the results? 82% of our respondents would comment to Human Resources.
It seems quite logical. People need their payroll and they have to. Life is expensive. On the other hand, our survey shows that there is little confidence that RR. HH. can solve other important worker problems. If wage disputes are the only thing RR. HH. you can help workers, why not fire them and hire an outside company to take care of the payroll? Tempting but ill-advised.
This is because employers must also think about the other side of the equation. Good human resource practices make employees more engaged. More engaged employees are more productive.
And having productive workers less likely to make compensation claims for mishandled workplace incidents also has a direct effect on the bottom line. More profit, less operating expenses. But then, what do workers really think about their fellow HR workers?
Good friends
For this section of the survey, we took a look at the most common criticisms of human resources. From there, we formulated them as statements to ask whether he agreed.
Here’s what we found.
| Statements | Disagree |
| RR. can be trusted HH. | 50% |
| RR. HH. is technologically up to date | 43% |
| RR. HH. gets too involved in office politics | 44% |
| RR. HH. is consistent in making decisions from him | 50% |
| RR. HH. has the information you need at the moment | 42% |
| RR. HH. you do not have enough experience working with people | 55% |
| RR. HH. focuses more on procedures than people | 52% |
| RR. HH. offers effective advice for career planning | 44% |
| It is difficult to get a quick and direct response from RR. HH. | 60% |
| RR. HH. cares more about his department than about others | 64% |
| RR. HH. side with the worker | 69% |
| RR. HH. does not have enough experience about business | 66% |
If these data didn’t convince you that HR is far from perfect, then maybe it is. Workers just don’t trust their HR teams. The data that most supports this statement is the following:
Just take a look to what one of the respondents said regarding a problem that many workers go through:
“I never informed RR. HH. about no problem. Basically because I don’t trust them. The lady in charge of Human Resources was a gossip and didn’t want any of my personal problems to reach the ears of the entire company.”
Imagine that feeling in jobs across the country, and it will show. Of course, a great deal of work is needed to change this. Ultimately, HR must live up to its name if it wants to improve its reputation. They need to treat their resources as humans.
Plus, HR professionals seem to know, too. Maintaining employee engagement was named the biggest human capital challenge in a survey of professionals HRM conducted by the SHRM.
So employees know that something needs to be done, and so do HR professionals. What can we do to fix it?
Well, this may be the beginning. Dr. John Sullivan wrote a great piece for TLNT, in which he suggested some actions that can be taken:
- Pay attention to the numbers when trying to increase trust. Monetically quantifies the commercial consequences, resulting from the reduction in worker confidence. Use these numbers to change behaviors.
- Look for employee confidence through data. Use data to identify the best ways to measure employee confidence and identify the specific factors that contribute to it.
- Become more responsive. Employees are almost universally frustrated with the lack of response from HR It is essential to continuously measure and improve the time it takes for Human Resources to respond to employees. It is also essential to measure the satisfaction of responses to ensure they meet expectations.
- Develop effective listening mechanisms. Almost all definitions of trust include the HR provision And the management to listen. Use the data to determine which forums, processes, and mechanisms are viewed by your employees as the best ways for HR. and HH. Become an active listener.
- Be more proactive in communications. Don’t hide problems from employees or wait for them to explode. Communicate proactively with workers using multiple approaches to issues that may concern them.
- Be transparent. Suppose most employees, especially younger ones, have reached expect transparency. And that means HR must provide detailed information about your goals, why rules and policies are necessary, and how HR processes work. HH.
- Fully explains the role of human resources. It begins by explaining the role and objectives of HR during onboarding. It also clears up any HR biases on business performance and performance and identifies areas where HR strives to act as a neutral party.
- Helps increase productivity. Finally, turn human resources into a productivity improvement hub. Rather than focusing exclusively on regulations and legal compliance, HR professionals should spend more time helping employees and managers be more effective and productive.
Obviously, fix RR’s bad reputation. HH. It will take a lot of work and commitment from everyone involved. But the payoff will be worth it: happier, more productive workers and a more profitable business.
Lastly, let’s talk about the most common problems HR teams face.
The biggest problems
We posted an open question to finish the survey. Just to make sure we weren’t missing anything. So what was the most unusual issue that respondents had to report to Human Resources? The answers speak for themselves.
The best of the worst
These were the 5 most reported problems towards RR. HH. by our respondents. First of all, please note that we are sensitive to the fact that racism/discrimination is a criminal act and far worse than the other issues mentioned here. We do not seek any intention to downplay it. This is purely a representation of the responses we receive.
Fun fact: Body odor was also one of the most unpleasant situations mentioned in a previous survey. 50% of those surveyed rated it as frustrating. We receive data on alcoholism as well. In another of our “deadly sins at work” surveys, we found that 48% of workers have seen someone under the influence of alcohol at work.
Rat surgery, videos of cats and twerk with the trash
And, among the open responses, these were the strangest. Who said work is boring?
- Changing clothes in cubicles from other people’s work
- I needed to take a day off because my girlfriend’s rat (pet) was being operated on just on Valentine’s Day
- A co-worker was watching videos with cats
- I was being harassed by a co-worker who tried to murder me
- A partner had horrible bad breath
- A partner was twerking a trash can
Conclusion
Unfortunately, the critics to RR. HH. appear to be well-founded. These were the key findings of our survey:
- People lack the confidence to report even the most serious problems at work.
- Very few people would seek advice or HR help, they would only talk to them when money is at stake.
- There is a real lack of faith in HR’s objectivity and reliability.
- There are some really weird and wonderful work problems.
But luckily, there is a way to go. It will require work and commitment from both parties to solve HR image problems. Achieving it will help both employees and employers alike.
