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Lucy van Pelt: Not the ideal HR modelBy Amanda Kramer
A. Think of Lucy van Pelt, the beloved Peanuts character who sat behind her 5-cent "Psychiatric Help" booth waiting for Charlie Brown and friends to seek her out. If that image accurately describes your human resources department, then you need to readjust your approach. "When (human resources managers) are doing their job, people will come to them," says business consultant Karen Ostrov. "I think that if an HR person is even getting goofy complaints, then that's a good sign they have a good relationship with their people." Ostrov, who owns Konect Consulting in Madison, explained that a human resources department and its managers should aim to fully integrate themselves into a company so employees feel safe when they've got tough issues to discuss. She said it's OK for employees to go to their human resources managers with emotional problems, marriage problems and health problems. She explained that often the human resources manager is the first point of contact for these problems, which may directly affect the person's performance. The manager can eventually refer the person to the appropriate source for help. The human re-sources department should also handle standard concerns such as sexual harassment, she said, as well as conflicts between workers and conflicts between workers and managers. If you're a supervisor, the human resources department can be an excellent source of advice on managing techniques, Ostrov said. "You should go to your HR person when you need assistance in dealing with your employees," she said. "Go in and get help on how to handle a report, or a typical performance issue like a person coming in late and leaving early." "Most managers I've worked with are highly technically skilled but weak on management skills," she continued. "A good HR person can handle that." Ostrov said human resources managers also should be well-versed in how to handle performance evaluations, a source of concern for many supervisors. "Maybe you have to write things that are negative and a manager doesn't know how to say it or you may be in danger of saying something that could be a liability to a person," she said. "Human resources can really help a manager walk through how to successfully perform that performance evaluation." Ostrov said it's important to make sure that a human re-sources department does not isolate itself. "Goofiness and whining and complaining (to human re-sources) are all better than companies where human resources is avoided," she said. kramer.news@gmail.com madison.com ©2009 Capital Newspapers. All rights reserved. |
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