What should you talk to HR these days, most HR
teams really brand themselves as employee
experience...
"We're here to be your friend!" But then people
get burned.
So in today's video, I want to dive into what you
should absolutely talk to HR about when you should
not be calling HR, and when you should deal with
HR, but proceed with caution. Hello, my friend,
I'm so glad that you're back to hang with me here
today. If you're new, if you're meeting me for the
first time, my name is Jennifer, and I'm your new
career bestie. Around here we talk about career
success, navigating obstacles at work, toxic
workplaces, you know, all of those fun things that
you need to really succeed at work. If you're
like, Yes, I need that in my life, tap the
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also, I'm literally on LinkedIn everyday because I
kind of live there, I don't have much of a life.
But I also try to hang on Instagram. So if you're
either or both of those places, let's go hang out
over there too. Now, without further ado, let's
tap that like button, raise the positive vibes.
And let's talk about HR,
Let's start off with when you should talk to HR
and where there's really no one else in the
organization that you can talk to, except for HR.
And under that we look towards the functions of
HR. So anything relating to hiring people, talent
development, compensation, performance management,
that all is something that you are going to be
dealing with HR on and the most obvious and safest
one is benefit. So if you have questions about
your benefits, if you need to make adjustments, if
there's like tax forms, or whatnot that need to be
adjusted, HR is going to be your go to resource.
And they are going to be very helpful with these
things. Also, if you're looking for employee
resources, and maybe they're not in a centralized
place, you're having a hard time finding them. Say
for example, you want to take advantage of the
employee assistance program, but you don't know
where to find information. Or you're just looking
for the employee handbook, asking HR for help
pointing you towards any of those things, or, you
know, connecting you with the right people is
something that they are there for. One thing that
I've also seen HR teams be a good resource for is
to discuss internal growth paths. So if you're
looking to transition to another role, or if
you're looking to uplevel in yours, they can be
helpful, I don't always honestly think that they
are the most helpful, typically, your manager is
going to be a very good resource for this as well.
In addition, just talking to other people on the
team that you're trying to move to and whatnot,
but from a whole org design and competencies and
stuff like that, HR definitely is going to be able
to share with you the stuff that is on paper, of
course in terms of overall career design and
career success, you're not going to go to them for
that. Now finally, one of the most important
things that legal does, at least from the
company's perspective, is ensure legal compliance
with employment laws for local, regional national
levels and all of that stuff, they're also going
to be administering for programs such as FMLA, and
things like that. So really, if you feel like your
legal rights are being infringed, HR should be the
team that you go to, but put a pin there, we're
coming back to it. But first, we need to talk
about this when you should not talk to HR. And
honestly one of the trends that I've seen, and
this isn't true at all companies and with all HR
team, so don't get it twisted. But I do see a lot
of them kind of marketing themselves as being an
advocate for the employee, when they're really not
the Human Resources team is a function of the
business, they work for the business and they are
there to protect the assets of the business and to
you know, prevent the company from being sued with
that in mind do take into consideration especially
because they're coming at it from a legal
compliance perspective for a lot of things that if
you're bringing something like interpersonal
issues to them, it goes from, I'm just looking for
some advice to there is a serious issue and now
it's being treated by the business. So don't go to
HR at least not as your first stop for something
like interpersonal issues. If you're having
conflict with a co worker or do your best to
resolve it on your own HR really should be your
last job if it even isn't stop in situations like
this saying goes in terms of navigating office
politics and kind of complaining about difficult
co workers. One thing that's come up a lot in the
comment section on my videos is instances where
people have gone to HR to complain about their
boss. And of course, HR is gonna talk to your boss
about that and that can create a weird situation
for you. Now, I don't want to dive into that
because that requires like that deserves a little
bit of discussion. So that is actually going to be
the topic for my next video. So if you are in that
boat or if you want to know why you shouldn't
necessarily be talking to HR about your boss, at
least not straightaway. Make sure that you are
subscribed so that you get that video as soon as
it comes out. While sometimes HR can give some
insights and I've definitely seen where human
resource business partners are hrbps partner with
managers and coach them through navigating
difficult situations, especially with team
members. But remember, they're doing that from the
lens of company protection and making sure that
they're in compliance with laws and regulations.
And the thing is, if you go and you ask your HR
person how to deal with some drama with a co
worker, they don't necessarily know the best
answer. They are not the experts in workplace
politics. And they're not necessarily the experts
in career success, either. This is something that
you really have to take into your own hands. And
that's where you would work with someone like a
career success coach, such as myself in order to
help you map what you want from your career,
define your career success, and figure out your
pathway to actually achieve it. And the first
thing that you need to do to chart this on your
own is to really understand your unique
awesomeness quotient, your UAQ this is the thing
that is going to make you stand out at work help
you make an ignorable impact, and even help you
build the right foundational relationships to
accelerate and elevate your career. If you want to
snake by free UAQ Starter Kit, it is in the link,
the link thing is in the description bar down
below. And that brings us now into the
circumstances where you really should talk to HR,
but you need to use some caution when you do so
when a legal behavior or behavior outside of the
standards set by the organization is in place and
you can address it on your own, then you should be
interacting with your HR team in order to assist
you and truly most HR teams are going to assist
you and I truly believe that most companies want
to make sure that they're doing the right thing.
And they don't want those illegal antics and
terrible antics happening within their
organization. However, I would be remiss to say
especially with all of the stories that I've heard
about times that people have been burned, go into
HR for these things. If you're going to HR, make
sure that you are bringing your receipts, so have
notes about what has happened, things that you
have done in order to intervene when the
incidences happen, who was there what was said you
want as much information as possible. If you have
any emails or instant message exchanges that are
going to back it up, also gather that information.
And you will want to provide that to them as well.
The reason why I say to proceed with caution isn't
because it's illegal retaliation is illegal. So
it's not going to happen is because even though
these things are illegal, I have still seen
instances where people have complained about being
discriminated against at work. And they have ended
up being retaliated against and losing their jobs
as a result of making those complaints. Just
because something is illegal. Just because
something is wrong does not mean that it does not
happen. So I want you to be prepared for anything.
If you ever are in a circumstance where you have
to have that conversation with human resources.
Ultimately, the thing that I want you to remember
is that human resources works for the company,
they are being paid for the company, they're there
to protect the company in situations such as this.
And there is a whole bunch of politics that really
come into play. And ultimately, what I've seen
frequently within organizations is that human
resources wants to do the right thing for the vast
majority. Honestly, HR people that I know, are
some of the best people However, they may have
pressures and they might not actually have the
authority to make decisions. They might be
overridden by leadership, they might have a toxic
leader in place, which I've heard a lot of those
stories as well. So by no means am I telling you
not to report illegal behavior. What I'm saying is
be ready having a plan B, having an active job
search or being ready to head into one and maybe
even consulting with a lawyer before it gets to
that point to understand your rights. And to be
really really clear on them can be something that
is very helpful. Now if you want to dive in a
little bit deeper into what HR actually does and
why HR is not your friend I want you to go and
check out this video right now where I really
spill my tea on that. But before you go if you
enjoyed this video if it helps you know when you
should talk to HR, all of that stuff, give it a
thumbs up it really helps my channel and it makes
you my favorite career bestie as always, my friend
thank you so much for watching and I will see you
in the next video. Bye for now.