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Human Resource Survey

Do you trust your HR department?

Note: The comments provided below have not been edited for grammar, punctuation etc.  Only basic spell checking has been conducted.

What one suggestion you would give your HR Department?

Talking to HR is similar to talking to the police, . . . you'd feel better if you had an attorney present.

Keep up the great work!

Someone who has come through the ranks from line staff to middle manager to Manager and now a Director heads the department. She is a pleasure to work with as she keeps us all on our toes aspiring for excellence at all levels

Dispense with the entire department and start over again with individuals that can maintain confidentiality and professionalism

Get real, life as a tech. is different than a manager. But without the tech's who would do the work, managers? They can't even speak to you when passing.

Keep going - you're doing great!

Walk the talk. I've been shocked by the HR manager's idle gossip about employees and their problems/issues. While I still have to work with this person, I find it irritating to have to suck up to them in order to get my recruitment off the ground.

You work like a well oiled machine when performing workforce reductions. Please provide more ideas for retraining employees.

HR generally serves no useful function. They are only a source of trouble for employees. They do a very nice job of getting themselves promoted (to Director/VP) and those selected few, while policing everyone else in their place.

HR serves as the henchmen for upper management. They provide the service of maintaining the status quo, black-listing employees that upper management does not/no longer support, hiring friends and family of upper management, and generally ensuring that the unequal pay scales are maintained.

Stop worrying about how to recruit staff and spending all of the money on them. Learn how to RETAIN your staff. The new ones are only here for the bonuses and then they will leave to go to the next sign on bonus. You need to remember the staff that has struggled through with the system for all of those years.

Put the "human" back in Human Resources

We outsource our payroll & HR. In the past we have found that the company will always side w/the employee and it is up to us to prove any thing differently.

Must upgrade to professional status and stop putting in employees who happen to be available

If you say it is confidential then make sure it is.

The HR dept has always been there for the company's interests only, always trying to 'weed-out' staff rather than support them, at the slightest sign of disagreement. The role has seemed to have diminished down to just walking around offices with varying mood swings, false smiles, and gossip, while playing God. We don't need these attributes in any company so please close down the dept and save lots of overhead.

My HR Department is doing a great job

Look out more for the interest of the employees!

Hire people who have a sense of urgency when it comes to the hiring process

Be more open with the employees

Do not try to have a hand in everything, it spreads the department too thin, and then all the missed deadlines make the department look bad.

There needs to be a better balance between representing the employees and representing the company.

Support management goals and objectives

To present policy and rules is a positive manner rather than punitively so that staff feels watched and not trusted.

To work on our retention issues. To develop more in-depth management training for our new, young managers.

Be a supporter

Take more professional development courses to stay updated on all of the employment laws.

Remember that we, all employees, as well as managers, executives, etc. ARE their customers.

More training on all aspects of HR

Be objective.

Be helpful and supportive--that is what the area is supposed to do. Treat staff like they have a brain in their head. We can talk and walk just like everyone else. We are not servants we are colleagues for the same goal--supporting students to their degree(s).

Follow the "Golden Rule" you learned as a child. Treat others, as you would like to be treated. Be more knowledgeable about company medical and other benefit policies. Many times we get different answers to questions from different people within the HR group.

Look at the whole picture and remember everyone is human. Everyone makes a mistake once in awhile. And don't be so clickish. If I don't like them they don't get hires

Show you care about personnel - human resources are your most important resource

To not form relationships with managers.

Care more about employees

Be aware of staffing needs and wants. If something needs an answer let the member know that effort is being put into finding one. Don't just leave them hanging, wondering if their question was heard to begin with.

Treat employees better

Be available to answer questions and don't make them as short as possible and stop acting like you're being bothered.

Develop a more clear process for hiring (including paperwork once person is hired). Too many key part of the process (or lack of) are being handed off to others.

Support all employees. Review and research policies, practices, and take a look at what other similar companies is doing.

Treat employees as individuals because we all have unique needs. The "cookie cutter" approach that is used does not meet the needs of most of your customers.

Find out what our employees do.

Learn our health insurance and monitor all the changes. For example, I should not be the one telling you that the copay for ALL the medications from a particular pharmaceutical company has "jumped" from $25 to $40.
Know your people and figure out what they want and give it to them.

Be more available - answer calls immediately, don't hole up in office, walk around and talk to staff

Maintain consistency, abide by established rules - or change them, return telephone calls promptly, watch voice inflection to eliminate the sound of impatience.

Get out of the "office" and see what the stores are doing

Don't act like we owe you - You are there to serve us - not the other way around.

Think long and hard about retention.

More hands on with all levels of employees.

HR has become more of the "people person"; they must understand the employee as well as the business and be the major bridge builder.

Research the company's needs

Be concerned about people... Help people and managers vice doing "power plays" that control and demean people who are on your team and who you are supposed to serve. Get your facts straight and get rid of your own "dead wood" otherwise, how you can advise other offices to hold people accountable.

Be truthful

Become the experts at understanding rules/ regulations around FMLA and advise accordingly. Consistently enforce policies and union contract language.

Be more service oriented toward employees

Actually check work and college references

To assume the employee is innocent until proven guilty.

Exercise more confidentiality when speaking to others regardless of positions within the organization.

Get forms available electronically. Make processes less work intensive-to much redundant paper work. Put some humanness into the policies

I work for the county of San Diego and HR does not back up either the managers or the employees who come to the managers for help with problem employees.

HR is worthless here.

Be more transparent

Our HR is currently run by the legal department and is viewed as a head hunter looking to fire those individuals that the Fire Chief does not like nor has an association with the previous administration. They need to turn the Dark cloud to a division for the employees

Too much inappropriate talk in the elevators/hallways and confidentiality is not adhered to at all.

Understand that decisions they make dramatically impact people. HR shouldn't just be about statistics or just cutting costs. Many other methods exist to cut costs in companies instead of employee benefits for example.

Figure out the ramifications of policies and actions upon employees *before* you do them and then be up front and honest about the "why" of the changes, as well as having a little sensitivity to the employees in "how" you enact the changes.

Be fair and subjective

Act as a consultant to the manager and if an employee brings a situation to HR, ask if it has been brought to the manager first. If they don't feel comfortable speaking to their manager about the situation then it would be acceptable for HR to be involved

Communicate more

Act like hourly employees matter

Respond in a timely manner, if I mistakenly apply to a closed posting, don't ignore my application, let me know.

Create a process for consistent application of rules/policies to all employees.
Get a job! Understand that taking good care of your employees is good business!

More resources; better communication.

Work with us to get the best employees possible, then keep them without lowering expectations.

Do what you say you will do. Confidential means confidential (unless someone is breaking the law)

Be consistent

Timeliness of response - employee issues are important to their everyday life, and taking 7-8 weeks to determine the outcome of issues is just not acceptable
Study the contract and treat people as human beings.

Become more sensitive to the needs and wants of the people who depend on you for fairness.

Hire more staff to effectively manage the department

Terminate the current Director.

Follow through with a client and do not make them wait for an answer good or bad for more than a week.

Partner more

Be more professional. Be more interested in providing quality training. Be more trustworthy. Treat information confidentially

Confidentiality must be practiced in a professional environment. Talking maliciously about associates that work for the organization is hurtful to the credibility of the leadership team in an organization.

Realize everyone is not always on the same page and don't talk down to people

Reach out more to employees. Don't protect management when there are HR issues.

Discern the employees exact job position, contribution and value to the company rather than just looking at the assigned "Job Title" given to that position.

Get more training

Select and hire an individual that will focus specifically on the employee(s) interests and challenges.

Give employees a voice. Provide a platform for them to be on neutral ground for airing issues.

Tell the truth! If the institute benefits and/or believes it needs to benefit from a decision, say so.

Hire people into HR that have HR backgrounds and that are people-friendly.

Maintain a high level of visibility within the organization.

Treat everyone the same

Re-examine benefits offered. At such a large organization as I work at, benefits should be a high priority. Work with the employees, find out what they need, want, are willing go trade for. Making decisions for others based on their own ideas has become a major discredit.

I would split the human resources function from the finance function. Currently, one person has been saddled with both tasks. She is superb with numbers (what she was hired for), but does not enjoy human resources. She is not a people person.

Dare to care a little about employees, remembering that the biggest stress for an employee at work is when one feels powerless but still has a high degree of responsibility.

Fair resume screenings

We get nothing but words & no action. They listen but don't hear

Communication and consistency

To treat employees like they are the 'gold' of the company. Good, happy employees make company better, clients happier.

Reduce/eliminate nepotism and favoritism

HR Department employees and managers tend to act or be arrogant and snobby. The pretend to listen to employees, but just as you think they are really listening to grievances; they act as tattletales to management instead of trying to resolve the issues that exacerbate the problems.

Treat people respectfully. Don't gossip. Listen to employees' grievances and mediate.

Stop sugarcoating things and just tell the plain truth.

Work harder to represent employees fairly.

Realize that employees do the work and make the company go!

Give consideration to all employees, like the upper management
HR might consider looking for high turnover within a department.

Be conscious of writings that rely strongly upon other people's opinions: the "boss" is unable to effectively develop a relationship with his/her employees; thus fails to recognize their weaknesses and strengths.

What's the inconsistency when sales figures are in the top 10% and the manager only writes negative comments?

They don't care how and who is been pick for the jobs, most of the tome they don't have the qualification but they know somebody???????

Your responsibility is to advise management on proper HR practices, not seek ways to help management do whatever they want to do.

Hire another person

Stop trying to bully employees

Understand the business you are in. Simple mistakes with the staff do not reflect well on HR.

Our HR Dept is one person, the business office manager along with me the Executive Dir. We do our best to bring balance to the mgt/employee mix. Our company has just been bought so time will tell as to how this arrangement plays out. Suggestion - Represent a balance

Continue to get the buy in of the employees to build the team concept.

Establishment of training modules for new managers dealing with job responsibilities and requirements. Dealing with the how, why and when managers must act...

Shorten the time frame for making decisions about discipline matters. Some decisions seem to take weeks and months.

HR department is more concerned about awards and recognition as "Employer of Choice," etc. Spends too much time on fluff and not enough on data/information reporting, exit interviews, etc. basics of HR.

Communicate more

Collect more qualified resumes'/resources

Be more consistent

Move towards electronic processing and get rid of as much paper as possible

Include the end user when you role out a new process or make a change to a policy and procedure. Too often we are caught off guard with what seems to be small changes to a process. The small change ends up being a huge time drain that would otherwise take half the time.

Leadership of Dept. & agency should listen to the Coordinator who actually knows something about HR & the Laws.

Stop changing the healthcare every year. It is hard to learn the new 'system' just when you get the hang of what, how and where you can go in your network...you change things. STOP!

Continue performing with the employees needs in balance with the management’s goals.

I would suggest that my Human Resources would be more personable like before the company expanded to its present level.

Think outside the box a little bit, things don't have to be done the exact same way all the time.i.e. Christmas lunch, birthday cards. Maybe have a suggestion box for the employees to give ideas.

Be self aware of the comments HR might be making, so that we don't demoralize or break the spirit of the team.

Follow their own guidelines

New motivational goals

Tell the truth. Don't "spin" information to make things that are good for management sound as if they are being changed because that is good for employees.

Explain their organizational role more fully to all associates

Be open-minded.

Get to know the business we are in better.

More global understanding of the complete revenue cycle.

More personability and hands on training needed

Spend more time working within operations to obtain a management perspective on labor relations.

Timely communication of changes and updates.

Resist the temptation to become "Big Brother."

Change the Casual Fri. dress code! It's too stringent, and a lot of people break the rules anyway.

Do a better job with recruiting

Give managers several applicants to choose from! Not one or two and put you on the spot to hire one of the two!

Provide more centralized services and support, especially related to service development. Our company is quite large and unfortunately the company does not see the need for centralizing certain functions and support.

Make yourselves more accessible - provide regular e-mails listing your contact information, a "go to" list for specific issues & questions

Better training for new managers/supervisors

Increase communication regarding their plans for the agency.
Get out onto the floor more often showing support for what the Team is doing on a daily basis.

When responding to questions from both management and employees, be proactive in offering a number of options available. They should not assume "we"

Know the intricacy of the personnel system.

Collect only personal information that HR needs, not the sensitive information that is only needed in payroll. Demonstrate that information is secure in HR - not just with Director but administration as well.

Timeliness of getting applications through the process of hiring could be better
Continue to work communication to bridge the gap between mgmt and the field personnel.

When you tell me you are going to check on something and get back to me, do it. Don't make me call you back to get an update.

Become better advocates for staff

Keep everyone informed

Be more proactive.

Have some one in the office during normal times to promptly deal with issues

Be more timely in their responsiveness

Don't plan so many meetings to take us away from our regular duties. There are enough meetings to take us away from staff.

Start looking at the most current trends within the workplace and market so we can determine where we can make improvements. Benchmark with the best companies.

More effectively communicate the values and nuances of the benefits plans. Not just a generic "total compensation" message, but true meaningful information.
Base decisions on what is rational; do not make decisions for others when you don't know what is even going on,

Take the time to clearly communicate what's happening. It's worth it. Be as transparent as possible.

Direct more resources to employee development

Provide more training for supervisors. Many different tools are used with no details on using them and new supervisors don't know all the protocols and policies. Also be more proactive in assisting staff when their position changes.
Keep employees informed.

More communication with building supervisors/principals so that we know what is going on within the district.

Proactively provide information on benefits early

Be more responsive and accessible to employees with questions. The agency is far too decentralized! Too much is done on-line and not face-to-face.

Need to be more transparent with regard to pay and pay banding. An external candidate is told of what their pay will be before they agree to a position with the company... an internal candidate can be in the new position for several weeks prior to being told what their new position will pay... that is not acceptable. Job offers and pay/benefit offers should take place at the same time regardless.

Look into the possibility of dropping the minimum leave balance requirement for direct deposit.

More manager training on diversity, management, and ethics from an HR perspective

Customer service improvement - we are there because we expect someone to solve our problems professionally, not because their profession is to treat us like we're problem children!

We need to staff our HR department better, even when fully staffed, our HR team was incredibly over worked, working 80 and 90-hour weeks and staying in the office until the wee hours. We burn out too many people, they leave, and then we have open positions for as long as 8 months, so the strides we made when fully staffed are now completely lost as we have had three open positions for months now. So, there is no way for HR to create and sustain the trusting relationships required for solid HR functioning.

Be more timely about returning letters of refusal after job interviews.

Updated information on changes taking place

More empathy, less statements of policy.

Pay attention to the little things - they sometimes make the difference in people thinking you care or don't care

HR Director should return to being, at the least, a balanced advocate for employees with management instead of always supporting management no matter what.

Do not hire un-qualified manager and supervisor.

Listen to your employees and keep confidential information within HR.

Be Confidential!

Listen to the field HR people, and solicit advice on what benefits, policies, etc. should be adjusted. For "corporate HR" to force changes on the various facilities without input create many morale issues.

Let all employees know who handles what

I would say to be fair and to know their own policies and procedures. Make a decision, don't really on Executive Management to make decisions for you.
Be honest with all employees and your own HR staff.

Develop and implement a strategic plan, vision and mission statement. Develop policies/procedures and compensation/recruitment strategies, which supports the company's overall strategic plan, mission/vision. Stop making decisions based on how you feel, verses having definitive data to support your decisions.
Listen to middle managers about whether or not their manager is doing the job as expected.

1. Get to know people 2. Stop treating adults like children 3. Stop gossiping 4. Stop thinking you're better than everyone else

Spend more time focusing on the needs of the employees.

Is current staff and outside qualified other applicants given a fair review before hiring decisions are made?

Be fair, be consistent, and be legal. It has worked for me; it should work for all in HR.

Work better as a team.

Remember your people--keep your promises and confidentiality and protect them instead of throwing them out to the wolves!

Have more than one person trained to perform HR processes.
Don't play favorites and allow raises to be given to those who don't deserve it.
Stop micromanaging the HR employees

Stop saying "yes" to upper management all the time. Although HR needs to do everything they can to be fair, it's just not right to say yes to upper management 100% of the time on ridiculous, sometimes illegal and unethical issues.

Be more open to feedback.

Consistently and uniformly apply the HR rules and guidelines on hiring across ALL departments in ALL situations. Lack of consistent application hurts HR credibility.

View the department as part of a business all the time.

HR should wear multiple hats. You must be a proactive provider of practical solutions to people challenges. You must continuously strive to develop and encourage personal and professional growth and opportunities for ALL employees. You must be in-tune with
Keep everything simple

Remember customer service amongst the group in HR

Get to know people more

We need to be more of a change agent for the company and a service to our employees. Not just maintainers of the policies and procedures.

Ensure we always clearly communicate to all employees that we care about them as individuals and value their contributions to ASA. Must be accomplished by both words and actions with every employee interaction opportunity.

Reduce the required paperwork for processing.

Don't try to be all things to everyone.

Don't allow supervisors to pressure you into a bad hire. Trust your expertise and experience, do what you are here to do.

Find a common language to bridge the gulf that sometimes separates employee needs from company needs. Be able to present information in a way that is understood at all levels within the organization. Be a "straight shooter" to management and employees alike. Understand the "why" behind employee's policies and procedures so that you never have to solely rely on saying "because this is our policy." Remember that we play a major role in our company's success, while our actions/decisions affect the lives of our employees and their families.

Know more about the actual business you serve in.

Hold them more accountable

Be knowledgeable of all aspects of Human Resources so one is able to direct individuals to appropriate parties for assistance.

Empowerment
Continue to challenge the status quo.

While I would encourage any employee to do their job to the best of their ability, sometimes, executives can make that a career derailer. Our HR team supports management. Anyone who does otherwise risks his/her own employment. You might guess at the consequences of such.

Get her extra help. Being one person handling all employees’ related items and issues is very time consuming and doesn't allow time to: think outside the box!

Not the HR Dept but the CEO, she drives the direction of the department. The employees keep everything running, paying them more would pay off in cutting turnover.

Push more employee development

Everyone pretty much does what they should and gets their work done.

Confidentiality is key to trust. Also taking time to go the "extra mile" for an employee and check on things rather that giving a quick "no" or "yes" answer.
Explore more worklife schedules

Sometimes it appears HR is pro company/manager because they assist with performance issues and subsequently terminations. Get to know the staff you support and build a trusting relationship.

Give management more authority in selecting people.

Stay consistent

We have several divisions within the Corp. The other divisions have more perks like taking spouses on trips, casual wear, better compensations, and incentives. The H.R. will not pursue these issues so we have the same perks.

Allow greater decision making at levels other than director.

Corporate HR should try not to be so far removed from the regional office employees. Not become so hardened towards individuals personal circumstances.

Stick to the rules in place and listen to Mgmt. It is totally appropriate to terminate someone's employment when they are ill suited for the position and it's apparent - with the documentation to prove it.

Time management is important.

Get more help!

Get upper management to support the efforts of HR such as requiring and DOING performance reviews. Our GM doesn't do them so the managers make little effort to do them on time and it becomes very hard to address performance issues. He doesn't even follow up with me when I prepare requested performance info for him on his own staff! He ends up stalling until something really critical happens and then he works in a reactive, frenzied way.

More communication

Walk your talk. It is fairly easy to spout off diatribes about management philosophy and caring for others, but when the rubber meets the road, HR can be inconsistent and can play favorites.

More celebrations/recognition

Provide more training to supervisors and upper management, to avoid HR problems with disgruntled employees!

Better Medical Insurance

When someone quits, don't go on the offense of the employee and the defense of the manager.


Get approval for more HR updates

Be honest to employees it makes them trust you more.

Don't compromise when hiring within the department any more than we would condone it in other departments

Improve your cycle time. Concentrate more on finishing projects than starting them.

Focus on the long term goals of the company rather than the short term initiatives. Make all the activity fit into the big picture, not the expedient picture.

Keep on learning

HR departments all over need to outsource the transactional work and focus more on the people, planning, and innovation for improving the workplace. Outsourcing is key...just like it was been for every other department (IT, operations, call center, sales, marketing etc.)

To listen to the employees and not report back to their manager everything that is said. Let the employees know that they are special by "listening to everything they have to say" and then ask the employee when they finish..."What is it that you want me to do to help about the situation since your manager is not here with us?"

Be open to employee suggestions and concerns. Don't discount them so easily.
Spend more time one on one time with employees.

Offer better communication opportunities for line staff and to provide additional training on soft skill development to foster better working relationships
Move along quicker in hiring and create a continuous hiring process so we do not lose candidates.

Remember that HR is a support function - we're here to support the business - the bottom line. We need to be better at understanding how the business makes money, and incorporate that into our decisions. Sometimes we get caught up in making the union happy, which drives business decisions that don't support increasing the bottom line.

I'd like to see an additional focus on talent management.

Show more value to employer.

Get the president to give HR more autonomy. Let HR effectively handle the issues that come up and not make multiple exceptions to some staff per the president.

More flexible hours to meet

I would love to see more collaboration within the department especially in regard to uniting recruiting and retention strategies.

If staff members are not truly pulling their weight in the office, these staff members need to be told and suggestions for working somewhere else in the organization would be beneficial

Leadership starts and ends with integrity, keep your values high and lead with integrity

Transparency and what is right not what management force you to do step in and tell management your frank opinion stand firm and fair to staff and management

TO TAKE MORE CARE OF THE EMPLOYEES TO REALLY KEEP THEM FEEL AT EASE AND MOTIVATED. MONITOR AND FOLLOW UP CLOSELY THEIR CAREER PATH.

Treat "all" employees equally from the President to the Custodian.

Inexperience in employee development program
Measure your outputs

Be more real and honest. Site more legal reasons rather than not divulging any reasons at all why something is not ok. Don't let their personal likes and dislikes of a person shade their actions.

Make sure you really examine exit interviews and don't always believe the employee is out to make trouble leaving. Exit interviews are SUPPOSED to allow the exiting employee an opportunity to be completely honest as to why they are leaving the company.

Hire someone who knows what they're doing!

Go and train for something worthwhile.

Should be seen and appear to be not biased. Should work on building staff trust in the department by what they do
 

Start caring for the people of the organisation and stop pretending.
 

Don't made a lie with your employees

To manage activities in a more timely manner and maintain the confidentiality of information regarding employees.

Get organized

Learn people skills

Needs to take more interest in the training and development of staff. When doing yearly reviews, needs to align salary increases (of which there have been none in the last two years) with KPI's.

HR department should be independent of management
Stop leaking information from management meetings to line-staff (employees)

Don't come into any situation with a hidden agenda.

Move away from administrative work into more strategic HR and more employee involvement

Have a totally independent - Employee/Staff "Ombudsman" type person to be a "neutral" authority to mediate between staff & management conflicts.
Know the law; tell the truth.

The should be a separate "neutral" body that monitors the HR department - what they have in Canada called the Ombudsman - this person or department should be neutral and when employees are being "bullied" by management they could take up their issues to the Employee Ombudsman.

We don't need one. Close it down. The HR roles have evolved/thinned over the years. Create a proper role that serves both the employee and employer.

Treat employees like you would treat customers

Be more proactive in matters regarding employees

Too remote, being in a central office, with no nominated individual contact for staff advice.

Start working rather than politicking
To be a two-way channel of communication rather than just from management to staff.

Be more assertive

Ensure employees have more balance in their lives, by providing reasonable workloads and schedules

Make more training a priority

Revue The Employee Monthly reward program
Follow up, follow up, and follow up

I don't care about interpreting test results. Give me plain results. (i.e. a list of candidates with their grading).

To try and tackle issues head-on and not procrastinate
Gather more information on the requirements of the department.

Communicate better

Do more training with Mgmt staff to deal with today's issues or be more prepared to do so without having to engage HR in every issue. I.e. tips to identify employees who are having difficulties so that EAP offers can be made before we are dealing with sick time issues.

Connect HR with Business strategic

Do more visits to retail locations.

Sometimes policies are issued with very little thought given to the impact it will have on the people who are required to follow it.

Hold more workshops or lunch and learn session to discuss company hr policies, benefit programs etc.

More communications

Do their jobs!

Be more transparent on handling employees.

Always investigate and try to attend to issues, which any staff member may have, and try to deal with them without bias, especially if it is a line staff with an issue with their manager.

Training

To give the first line more attention and double their salaries and opportunities.

Remember that the staff is the business
Get out and mingle.

Group together all HR policies in a single defined place within our Intranet, and keep it up to date!

The HR Department has to care EMPLOYEES so as to create ROYALTY of the employees towards the organization

Enhancing the HR knowledge, they need more consultancy work and more sable and strong strategy plan to create more positive work environment.
Human Resources becomes more important who earn you money in the communication explosion era.

To make a comprehensive survey and evaluation for our Group Of Companies in respect of all the staff and the related policies to decide upon certain strategy for Institutional Development in various aspects.

They should listen more to employees and not just implement policy statements from management

Review of processes and procedure

The human resource division as it is currently needs to be headed by some one who is more concerned with both employee welfare and departmental outcome. According to my observation the incumbent head of division is more on character assassination of some members of the human resource since has joined from another division within the department.

Everything must be systemized and organized and completely followed up and evaluated and working continuously on improving the performance.
Everything must be systemized and organized and completely followed up and evaluated and working continuously on improving the performance.

We should focus more on employees

Better communication regarding issues that impact employees.
Making sure that when you represent the company somewhere, you dress correctly, this does not mean a three piece suit and neither ripped jeans and a polo shirt.

Recruit best people and take proper steps to retain them

Believe always in organization means people... there is always a better way

Every employee is precious.

Employees in HR must constantly remember they are the face of management as well as represent employees themselves. Hence they must be empathetic to employee concerns and earn their trust and respect, yet they should strive to gain the confidence of the management.

To really care for what HRD is for.

Don't be too prescriptive - allow flexibility

Be proactive and give a patient hearing to all
They should become more customer focused

Strive to know the business, be seen in the business

To apply a mix of both hard and soft Human Resources management accordingly so as to achieve balance.

Walk the talk

Act now when issues come out

Hire more employees

Support core values of company in all dealings with employees.

Do not be mechanical in your work; add the human touch in all you do in HR.

Responding more to employees feedback (quick fixes)
Communicate more

Be more strategic than administrative

Should regularly conduct internal employee surveys.

To be more concern about employees well being and stood up for them.

Be fair and consistent. Follow the same rules and guidelines you expect other areas to.

Clarity in Key Result areas Goals and Mission statement

Keep in contact with the employees all the time. Continuous communication helps to understand the employees and attend to simple issues before they become difficult to deal with

To stream line a better database for the human resource records.

Hire more staff.

Focus more on employees' needs

I have worked in several companies and all HR departments are the same. All are hated by the employees.

In my company HR has one of the highest turnover rates in the company because of policies and leadership

We had a situation where a male employee in our department was offered overtime, while a female employee who was not even getting in her 40 was skipped over. When confronting the supervisor he said he figured she "needed to get home to her family." Clearly gender discrimination, yet human resourced did nothing. The same male employee would disappear for hours at a time during his shift. When copies would need to be made he would leave it for the next shift because it was "woman's work." He was caught playing computer games during work. Complaints by all the women in the department resulted in nothing. I was even told I was being petty. How can you trust that?

Get some managers that care more about the people than themselves

Chain of command is the worst. I do not work for the military.

We don't have a HR dept. it's a large family run company,

When the head of the HR department is not ethical in many situations, and does not have the knowledge needed, the rest of the department has to try and pick up the slack, however, the employees know that there is a problem and do not trust the department head at all and so they feel unsupported and not important.

Understand our business needs.

Per the dictionary, a resource is a source of supply, support, or aid, especially one that can be readily drawn upon when needed. HR should keep that in mind when they interface with staff.

Our HR dept. is very untouchable, even located in the building furthest away from the offices. They are not in touch with the employees.

HR should be the leader in how to treat and how to motivate; not an example of how not to.

I've got several critical positions that have been open from 1 to 2 years. We've repeatedly shown that compensation is a leading factor, but HR doesn't seem to want to recognize that as an issue, but wants us to figure out another way to advertise, rewrite, and "sell" the positions. They don't seem to get the point that they are the internal service organization and we are not the HR department.

As part of the management team, I realize the number one responsibility is to management and then to the employees. From a management prospective I understand that. From an employee prospective, I would never go to them with a problem unless it was regarding one of my employees, as I know they go straight to the manager to let them know there is a problem.

Poor at communication, supporting management in union issues and follow through.

I work for a Fire Department that is dysfunctional and under poor leadership. I am trying to improve my leadership skill on my own; developing leadership skill can be very expensive.

I worked for a utility company for 5 years, had to leave because my husband was transferred to another State. I left on excellent terms and kept in touch with many associates. Three years later we moved back; I physically dropped off my resume at the HR o
On question 5, you should add the option neither or Only Themselves! (Sorry just issues we have had in recent months and the hiring of a new HR Mgr that is a LITTLE (or lot) too involved in the day-to-day stuff.

Our HR Manager is a Tyrant, and our GM has allowed this condition to worsen.

In today's competitive market, we may have to spend more to get quality associates, and once we have them, we need to have incentives in place to keep them, especially those who are performing to a high standard

I work for a Government Agency. My HR person is uninformed, unorganized and does not communicate. She has lost employee performance reviews, and frequently gives incorrect information. There is no accountability in this agency.
Never have I ever had to deal with people as cold and as calculating as those in H.R.

Hire recruiters that have been trained as recruiters. Make sure that recruiters smile, are friendly, and know how to assist customers. This is our front line not the end line.


HR managers in an organization need to be confident, secure, and professional in their own mind set and behaviors.

Don't trust any of the management and people that run the show at this company.

My position is hourly, however it truly should be salary. In this division I work under an HR manager - while in other plants my position is under the Operations Manager. My point: being on the periphery of the HR department - I see and often hear more than I want to know. In other industries I don't remember the HR department being so biased. I say this because I am not sure if we are reflective of a trend or an isolated case. To many employees here, there are major issues with their management. However they have no recourse - since no one apparently listens. Unfortunately for us...we are loosing a lot of industry specific talent-because of this fact.

The latest "call the Helpdesk" approach to human resource issues is appalling.
HR is often the first part of the organization that potential employees see...make it the best part.

I've worked with some very large organizations and I couldn't trust anyone in the HR department. You would go to them for help and you would be the one that got into trouble.

Become more proactive and supportive towards employee work product recognition/reward. Recognize and improve outdated positions and job-descriptions with reflective pay scales. Provide and display openly employee support.

HR probably makes good decisions, but there are no funds in the trust bank! And the communications are poor, opting for lawyer's cautious communication.

Those that are the management of the organization are special in the HR "eyes"
Here's a quote that I found on the Internet. It's interesting, because the author compared a bad bass to the Battered Woman Syndrome: "Also unfortunate is the situation wherein management refuses to acknowledge that the supervisor is a problem.
HR seems to have a conflict of interest because they, too, work for management. They seem only interested in the individual worker when the prospect of litigation is looming or to avoid union formation.


With respect to reorganizations and job placements, etc. versus the kinder professional development work (talent management), HR is not trusted. HR is charged with executing the direction of leadership to achieve business strategy. They work in a very litigious environment and by necessity have to "carefully word" or withhold information that would have been more comforting, but could be used against them in litigation. The appearance of mistrust is in direct correlation with the carefulness applied by the Law department. As individuals I think HR people are caring but they don't have a choice if they want to keep their job. CURE: stop the lawsuits and let's be sharing human partners again. My teams have always been like family but I have to do HR work with a black cloak on my shoulders because it is at it's heart in today's corporation, legal work.
Prior to our current HR manager we were in a situation where we could not trust our HR department. It is a long road back to building the trust level.

Deadlines need to flexible to ensure the needs of the business are met.
Our new "clerical" HR person has experience in HR issues and is knowledgeable about the requirements and Laws. She's a Great breath of fresh air and HOPE for the rest of the employees. The current Dept. Head & previous Dept. Head (who is now the CEO) don't know. At least the current Dept. Head is willing to listen some (until he gets caught up in the "Ole Boy" Network pressures around here).

The HR department works very well in making our business in the community a wanted place to work.

Current HR is somewhat chaotic, due to previous not-quite trustworthy HR.

I work for a company that employee about 25,000; I have had 3 Human Resource Manager in the last 4 years. We have policies in place, that protect us, but it would be nice to have consistently the same person.

I trust my HR department as a whole; however, I absolutely do not trust our direct HR contact for my group and many others in the group feel the same way.

Our current Regional HR Manager is the best HR employee I have ever worked with. He understands management philosophy and company needs but does his best to understand how our division works and how to integrate company needs with manager and employee needs.

Trust isn't the question... they have a job to do, to protect the company... that's where they stand... Care for Mgmt AND Employee last only as long as it takes to protect the company.

Better planning for implementation of new policies/procedures. Frequently management receives word on Friday of a new policy effective the following Monday. This does not provide enough time to inform employees of the change and answer questions they may have.

Trust in HR is heavily dependent on the person in the position of Director, not the department itself.

I'm glad the HR department is there for the employees. It keeps everyone honest - managers and employees. Some directors encourage managers not to use HR but to resolve issues within their own departments. There are some times when the HR's involvement is needed.

We are transitioning a new HR Manager for our corporate employees and we have a brand new HR Manager for our work site EE. Any assessment at this time would be premature.

Our HR department provides great customer service. They look at situations objectively and provide alternatives, not recommendations.

Under the direction of new management, improvements in the system have occurred.

HR is not set up for the people but for the company... I am on the development side - and am glad I do not have deal with what HR must deal with...they are so busy doing for the company they lose site of the individual and their needs.

We are a privately owned company and there are times when HR's hands are tied due to owners making decisions.

In my prior life in HR the VP of HR was known to run her mouth to everyone about other people. She created a lot of tension in the dept and it seemed like her mission was to "divide and conquer"

Some of the questions were difficult to answer. I believe that a number of the key individuals in HR care a great deal about both the employees and making our company successful and a great place to work. My concern and issue is that the leadership in HR is extremely political and vindictive. The leadership is distrusted and disliked, and does not have the good of the organization nor the people as a driving goal, therefore it significantly impacts the ability for the function HR to be effective within the organization.


Unfortunately, I do work for the HR department, however am in the area of Training. The Director is not ready for this job. This person cannot make a decision and therefore does make it hard for me as the Manager for the HR Training Department to have a vision or mission to move forward. With no direction, it is hard to move forward on making things happen and the support from her is a lack of education on what her secondary area, training, is all about. Thus making it hard for her to defend or asking questions about the involvement of our area to higher management.

Communication! Communication!

I work as a Coordinator. I have a boss above me and an admin. asst. below me. I am the new person on the block, and I have employees come to me with their issues because I am the only one they trust and they know if the situation warrants attention I will speak up and say something.

In an acute care hospital, HR must be concerned about the nursing staff, - they're the front line in care delivery and the largest percentage of the workforce.

Be a team. No one likes or puts up with "silos" especially in a department that a) teaches teamwork and b) talks about how well they work together. Don't lie to people- especially other HR employees. Understand the business. Share information. Don't be so defensive.

Question #5 should have a 4th choice - Executives. I consider this class different than Management. I would have selected Executives in answer to this question if provided that option.

Great Leaders can communicate at every level. They never lose site of the goals or challenges and they bring the right attitude, which is dosed with confidence, openness to new ideas and humility. It is always about we and not about me!

HR is a tough job, straddling the employees and management, trying to make them both happy. It is a tough job, and HR is often seen as the bad guy. We need to change our image.

The HR Dept needs to be strategically involved and currently is not. It appears to be consistent in our industry.

I am the head of HR. It is kind of silly for me to complete this survey.

I am H/R, so I'm a little biased. I really enjoy your newsletter and have benefited from your words of wisdom.

We're a small company (30 plus employees) so our Office Manager doubles as the HR person. This causes her day to be fractured.

The balancing act between management and employees is extremely important for both sides. It allows the employee to feel they have a liaison and the employer to know the concerns of the staff. Protecting employee's rights is management protection as well. This is the first area where integrity makes a huge impact.

You will get a lot of responses to #6 that will suggest that HR needs to be more "pro-active" and more strategic. Most HR departments at medium and small-sized companies do not have these resources and can barely manage with the glut of paperwork they must deal with. That said, as an HR professional, I have always had a "seat at the table" because I take a problem-solving (and problem-avoiding) approach.

Our office is very organized and we like to keep it that way. Everyone does their part and we have good communication.

Always be consistent.

It would be wise for an organization to invest as much in their mgmt as they do for new employees.

The question that may want to be asked is "Do you trust your Senior Management Team?

I'm totally discouraged.

Stay educated and informed of employment law changes and related trends.

Another manager and myself are the HR department

Since I am a one person HR department, it's a little difficult to take an objective view.

Some HR departments feel like the employee's manager needs to know everything and that is not the case; therefore the employees do not trust the HR Manager on a comfort level to "talk out" situations and concerns.

HR knows what is right/legal. Take a stronger stand with management to ensure the "right" thing is done in every case.

PEOPLE RESPONSIBLE IN THE HR HAVE TO REALLY BE MATURE AND FAMILIAR WITH THE CORE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY AND CLARIFY AND STATE THEIR MISSION WITHIN THE COMPANY.

Although there maybe freedom of information issues there needs to be an avenue for more communication. Possibly a Newsletter - New Hires, etc.

Redefine their title to business and management resources rather than "human resources" it is not realistic as they are devoted to company rather than worker issues.

Two years ago our HR person resigned and the Exec. Dir. never replaced him, feeling he could do the job! All he does is give us the work to do for our own department with not support or back up
Staffing is inadequate in most HR Units. This challenge must be addressed in order to effectively and efficiently manage such a unit.

My HR department is highly disorganized in terms of record keeping and efficiency.

I value an HR department that is honest and open. Don't play two ends against each other, and DO NOT use HR as a place to establish a little power base

Great website!

Organizations should really be monitoring their managers on a regular basis since a manager can sometimes unfortunately aligns themselves with a "workplace" bully because management is afraid of taking to task the bully who controls a lot of the knowledge that specifically helps the manager or their team look good. Keep up the great work with this website!

The HR dept has always been there for the company's interests only, always trying to 'weed-out' staff rather than support them, at the slightest sign of disagreement. The role has seemed to have diminished down to just walking around offices with varying mood swings, false smiles, and gossip, while playing God. We don't need these attributes in any company so please close down the dept and save lots of overhead.

I have just taken an HR Diploma program for the reason that I have been told things by HR Departments for years that are not true. I find out that most companies employ HR people who are not trained properly and do not have certification. It has been a great experience and HR people in my company no longer lie to me.

Make more strategic recommendations rather than wait for the instructions/decisions of top management, which are beneficial to both parties

General feeling - if someone has a concern, it is relayed to the line manager, who will then 'pick on' the employee, - it's not treated confidentially.

No. I think that HR is a very important area to a business and they job comes with new challenges every day. When Hr is in a central location in a company with various outlets I feel they should have reps at most if not all they outlets. It can be staff that has a normal function at the outlets that shows an interest in dealing with employee issues you give them the necessary training.

Written tests are extremely dependant on interpretation, especially for "soft skills," so... be careful not to eliminate good candidates because of misinterpretation!

The HR Department must always remember that the company's Human Resources is the most important resource that any organization has.

The unions make it difficult for the HR department to do their job.

HR has traditionally been really great and a few years ago rolled out a comprehensive site that outlined job descriptions, goals, key metrics, and performance guidelines, which made development planning and recruitment a lot easier. Since cutbacks however, HR has been slashed heavily, and hasn't had the resources or independence to roll-out more initiatives, let alone maintain its current ones. It's sad to see, but it's the reality of working for a big corporation where headcount issues always dominate.

HR is very essential if the organisation target to excel.

The main issue in the HR Department that we had, is that the top management can not believe of what we did, they did not even observe of what great effort that we had, while in the whole country our HR department are the best even in the World, I realy mean it.

I have just hired a girl for the HR department and need time to develop the trust relationship.

They should be more strategic than operational

I'm against training and seminars in absolute without concentrate on the main and important of every business, because training is given the same for service provider company and trading company etc.

Always talk very correct and clear on the phone.
Communicate formally or informally with the people across the company

HR dept is like god, it depends upon trust

Work towards business goals not just introducing policies and procedures
Be assertive with Management to get the things done for the employees

Leadership behaviors are to be more consistent

Employees must be taken seriously

Need for HR to create hot spots in the workplace to give it meaning.

Employees are as important as the client since to keep clients the employees are the only means. Success of business depends on four pillars - shareholders, Client Employee and vendors or contractors who serve the organisation. Can't afford to have any one pillar weak if the organisational structure is to exist and prosper.

Have a well streamlined salary scale to avoid staff demotivation
 

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