Despite the work HR professionals do to improve their organization, it seems like corporate system critics are increasingly taking aim at human resources departments. Specifically, these pessimists claim that due to ambiguous language, disorganization and misinformation, human capital management is more of a hindrance to employees than a help.
Whether your organization has issues or not, your employee’s perception of the HR department will have a major impact on the degree to which they utilize it. In order to have a workforce that takes full advantage of the resources, benefits and training you provide, you need them to see you in the right way.
If your HR department has a similar image problem, there are ways to turn around these negative stereotypes.
Argument #1: Benefits/healthcare documents are too difficult for employees to understand.
HR professionals continually strive to make the benefits and healthcare claims documents easier to manage. Many larger corporations have already invested in future technology-driven HCM solutions. In fact, Best-in-Class organizations have been shown to be 42% more likely to pursue socially-enabled technology. These online portals connect employees with HR experts in real time, with 24-hour access to information about compensation, ESS and MSS. Thanks to these third-party CRM providers, benefits and healthcare claims have become less complicated, not more.
Online access to benefits and healthcare documents and applications is advantageous to both employees and HR professionals. These solutions are managed behind the scenes by the HR department, and are typically well received by the employees who use them.
Argument #2: Training is for the benefit of the company, not the employee.
Training benefits the company and the employee, not just the company. According to the Dale Carnegie Training Institute, organizations with engaged employees outperform other companies by up to 202%. Engaged employees are defined as those who have an active interest in their own success and the success of the company. Employee training, whereby an employee learns new job skills or how to do the job they were hired for, is an integral part of creating an environment where employees can feel engaged. Employee training empowers people by providing the educational support they need to succeed.
In the 2013 Aberdeen Learning study, compliance training (for the sole purpose of satisfying regulatory mandates) comprises less than 25% of all employee training. The remaining 75% of training—or learning—programs are provided with the intent of job education.
Argument #3: Performance improvement programs are a precursor to termination.
Performance improvement programs can indeed be a precursor to termination, if the employee opts not to take advantage of their employer’s last all-out effort to help get them up to speed on their job. Of course, no one likes to be told that their job is on the line, which is why most HR professionals won’t phrase it that way.
Employees would do better to see that being offered enrollment in a PIP is a vote of confidence in their ability to turn things around. HR professionals can help. Instead of trying to avoid the conversation of the job threat, be open and sympathetic. If an employee is underperforming, it’s unlikely they aren’t aware of it. Recognize their struggle, and allow them to give you feedback as to what they think the problem is. The answers may surprise you. It could be personality-related, something personal—and temporary—they’re going through at home, or a non-fit with the job role. Whatever the case, if you can turn the attitude around from one of resentment to one of help acceptance, the PIP is more likely to prove successful.
Don’t allow your HR department to be impugned on the basis of one or two narrow-minded critics who refuse to recognize the outstanding job you do every day. Two of the best ways to achieve understanding are transparency and communication. You know that you are doing everything and more for your employees. Let them know by challenging naysayers and pessimists, and by opening the channels of communication.
