I'm going to report my toxic boss to HR. Uou think
that's a good idea? Well, to be honest, it might
get you fired. So it might not always be the best
thing to do before you go calling HR, you need to
watch this to know exactly what hrs function
actually is.
Spoiler alert: it's not to protect you.
The reason why I've only recommended to contact
HR, and maybe one video out of all of the toxic
workplace and workplace issues videos that I've
made on my channel, and what you need to make sure
you have in place before you talk to HR, if you
decide to talk to HR, there might be a little bit
of tea spilling along the way, if you are here for
the tea and tactics to navigate obstacles at work,
and maybe to accelerate your career success,
consider subscribing and turning notifications on
so you don't miss a video. If you are ready for
this one, tap that like button. And let's jump
straight into it. Oh, and real quick. I am a
career strategist, not a lawyer. I'm a big
advocate for working with lawyers, which I'm going
to come back to and touch on. But I just want to
be really, really clear here that none of this is
legal advice. It is just tactical advice, career
bestie to career bestie. You know, the first
reason why you might not call HR to discuss your
workplace issues with him is you might not have an
HR team. And really, in my videos, this is one of
the main reasons why I don't recommend calling HR.
Because if you're in a small or even a midsize
company, you might not have an HR team. And in my
discussions with a lot of you, I know that you are
working in companies where you don't have an HR
team. Or on the other hand, if you're in a company
that does have an HR, they might be small, they
might not be very empowered. I also know that some
of you are working with really big companies, but
you might be remote, or you might be in locations
where you don't have an HR person sitting on site
with you. So you might not have the trusted
relationship that makes them the first person that
you're going to go to, um, because I want my
videos to be able to help as many people as
possible, I keep these things in mind. And I don't
want my advice to be go and talk to HR when a lot
of you don't have an HR person that you can
actually talk to, for example, in a toxic company
that I worked for, there was no HR team, what was
I going to do complain to my toxic boss about the
fact that they were toxic boss, and you might be
in that exact same situation. And even if you do
have an HR team, if the issue that you're having
can be handled on your own, handle it on your own,
like the mature professional that you are, and
obviously if you're at some big company, you're at
one of the Fang companies or some blue chip, not
having HR is not going to be a problem that you
have. And the way that those HR teams is going to
function very differently than an HR team would at
a smaller company. Which brings me to the second
point before you go and call HR. And that's that
you really need to know what HR actually does. I'm
super curious to hear from you. What do you think
the role of HR is in your company, job and in the
comments down below, and I'm gonna explain it but
I really am curious to hear from you. First, to
understand HR fully, we need to look back to the
origins of human resources. And when we do that,
we actually find that human resources emerged as a
way to stop employees from unionizing. So there
were original job was to do things like make sure
that people were being paid an adequate wage, so
that they didn't unionize, to demand more now as
human resources has evolved out, of course, modern
workplaces has evolved from back in the day where
we were like building horses or something like
that. The HR team handles some very specific
things. Some of the functions that fall into the
HR team nowadays include recruiting employee
records, benefits, people policies, discipline,
performance reviews, and appraisals and people
grow. Now I know that all sounds like warm and
fuzzy things. But there's something that's very
important. And this is actually the key function
of an HR team at most companies. today. Human
Resources is there to protect the company
just like how back in the day of yesteryear, their
job was to stop people from unionizing because it
wasn't in the best interest of the company. Today,
they are still there to protect the best interest
of the company. And while I don't want to
completely over generalize because there are
amazing HR teams and HR professionals like my
friend Tiffany, who I chatted with here live last
week, I'll link it because you absolutely should
check that out. And if you haven't already, for
the most part, what this means is HR doesn't do
one specific thing advocate for you. The job of HR
ultimately comes down to making sure that the
company doesn't get sued for something not to make
sure that your boss isn't up to you to further
compound this. I do think that a lot of HR
professionals do have the best of intentions when
they're choosing that as the career path. But what
isn't often discussed that I really want to touch
on today is the fact that the HR team has
constraints they might be disempowered by
leadership, or they might be the enablers of bad
behavior and toxic work environments, because of
the person who's leading the function. Yep, I've
heard a lot of stories about toxic AF, senior HR
leaders, don't worry, I have a little storytime
that I'll come back to on that point in just a
minute. What I really want you to know from this
and how HR is structured, and what it actually
does, is knowing that you are your best advocate.
And in some cases, you might be your only advocate
at work. And when that's the case, knowing your
value and demonstrating it regularly is crucial.
And this is why knowing and owning your unique
awesomeness quotient, your UI IQ is so important.
If you've heard me talking about it, and you're
like, Jennifer, I don't have time for a whole
workshop. Well, I just created a brand new you aq
starter kit, it's a guide, you can download it
absolutely for free, I'm gonna link it in the
description down below, I definitely recommend a
copy because I think it's really going to help you
in knowing that value and being your own best
advocate. And this actually brings me to the next
thing to consider before calling HR. I've seen way
too many instances where this consideration was
skipped, and then had disastrous results you can
be retaliated against for complaining to HR about
workplace issues. Again, not a lawyer not giving
any legal advice here. I know that in most cases,
and most places, this is completely illegal, it
being illegal doesn't mean that it doesn't happen
if the issue that you report is one that they
decide goes against the best interest of the
company. Yikes. And that brings us to toxic HR
storytime. Now, just to preface this absolutely
should not happen. This client absolutely needed
to talk to a lawyer. And this was highly
problematic. But it happened my client was being
discriminated against and not being given equal
opportunities on the basis of her gender at work.
This was a widely known problem at the company and
it just was not being addressed and fed up with
what was happening. My client decided to complain
to HR. Well, you can see where this is going. The
HR leader she was working with happened to be
patriarchy, Patty and patriarchy, Patti decided
she was the problem. Why? Because when there is
legitimately gender discrimination, the company
can get sued. And it was patriarchy Patty HR reps
job to make sure that that wasn't happening.
Spoiler alert, she wasn't doing that job very
well. And instead of fixing the problem, she
decided that my client was the issue, it was
easier for her to construct a narrative that my
client was underperforming. Despite all of the
metrics to the contrary, then to fix the root of
the problem. And as a result of making her
complaint to HR, we needed to enter crisis mode to
make sure that she preserved her job until she was
able to exit safely with another job offer. Or on
the other hand, HR just might not care about the
problem. And this is one I've witnessed firsthand,
I worked at a company where the only HR
representative of the company proudly proclaimed
to the entire office that she had no issues with
any
toxic AF behavior unless someone complained about
it. Because you know, she was cool. And I can tell
you exactly what I thought when I heard her
proudly proclaim this in front of the entire
office. I gotta get out of here. And this probably
leaves you with the question, How can I tell if my
HR team is going to support me? Or if they're
going to be against me, especially when you have a
legitimate workplace issue, which requires Human
Resources intervention, the first thing that I
encourage you to do is to look at ways that HR has
reacted in the past, have your colleagues launched
a complaint about unfair treatment or the demands
of the job when they haven't been heard by your
manager? If you know of any instances where your
co workers have complained to HR was HR helpful,
or were they harmful in the situation, this is
going to be a great indicator for you who you're
actually dealing with if you are in a smaller
setting where you also have access in general to
the HR person or to the HR team, gauge the
sentiments and the relationship that you have with
them when you're interacting with them. And do you
feel like there is a level of trust, what
sentiments have they expressed about how they
improved employee experience and employee
retention and those serious issues like we just
mentioned, because if you're working with mild HR
rep, she made a pretty obvious that she was not
going to be helpful at all. Another thing that can
also be very helpful is if you do have an employee
handbook, which most companies really should have,
the employee handbook will often outline to you
the instances in which you should be engaging your
HR team for assistance, or where you should
potentially be looking elsewhere. And that brings
me directly into the next point that it's really
important for us to discuss when it comes to
calling HR and that is when you should go to HR
and what you need to have on hand when you do so
there is the obvious low risk kind of
administrative stuff that HR does that obviously
you need to go to them with if you have a
questions about a tax form or your benefits, your
HR person is there to help you out. That is their
job. On the other hand if you're looking to come
plane at work to HR about more serious workplace
issues, such as a toxic boss, toxic co workers, a
hostile working environment, or you know any of
those illegal things, you need to have a few
things ready before you do. First of all, pull up
on your detective hat and bring some evidence with
you. A paper trail is going to be ideal is there
emails, instant messages, screenshots, detailed
notes for meetings that you've had with a toxic
individual or about the toxic situation, when
you're lodging a complaint about illegal things
and hostile work environments, you don't want to
make it a matter of opinion, you want to make it a
matter of facts. And having evidence is going to
help you build your case. If it helps just pretend
you're like on one of those CSI shows and gather
everything that you can. The second tip I have for
you, especially if you see any potential risk for
retaliation is to consult a lawyer, I know that
this cost money, I know that not everyone has an
employment lawyer that they work with on a regular
basis. But honestly the money that you're going to
spend to have a consultation to make sure that you
are framed for success in the conversation and in
the complaint at work. And also having someone
lined up in case things go sideways is going to
give you peace of mind. And they will also be able
to give you specific advice on your situation, the
case law and the laws of the land in which you
live. Really my motto here is better safe than
sorry, if you don't have an employment lawyer and
you're looking for one that you can trust, you can
do things such as ask friends, former colleagues,
or even just use internet reviewers to help you
find a good one. And finally, especially in those
more serious situations, such as a hostile work
environment, or where harassment and
discrimination are taking place. And you do fear
that there might be retaliation that occurs, make
sure that you have a solid plan B and either be
ready to execute or already have it in flight
before you make your complaint. This doesn't mean
that you have to have a job offer lined up, though
I mean, that would be helpful. But doing things
like brushing up your LinkedIn profile, updating
your resume and activating your network are going
to go a long way just in case you need it.
Hopefully you won't. But again, better safe than
sorry, I know I said that twice. But seriously,
it's true in this instance. And on that note, I'd
actually love to hear from you. Have you ever
lodged a formal complaint about HR to something
that was happening at work? Do you have any tips
that you would add to the list? Let me know in the
comments down below. In many instances, if you're
dealing with a difficult boss or difficult co
workers or just trying to navigate office
politics, you're honestly better off on your own.
I know those are challenging situations, but HR
probably isn't even the best person to go to.
Because let's face it, they don't necessarily know
how to navigate office politics either. Luckily
for you, you have my channel and I have a whole
bunch of videos that are going to help you and as
a starting point. If you're dealing with difficult
people right now and you just need to know how to
cope. I want you to go and watch this video right
now. I'm usually on some steps to help you
navigate that situation.
But before you go If this video helps you figure
out if you should talk to HR, complain to HR, give
it a thumbs up it really helps my channel and it
makes you my favorite career bestie if you haven't
already consider subscribing for more of the best
career success advice on the interwebs and as
always, thank you so much for watching. I will see
you in the next video my friends. Bye for now.