Can You Confide in HR?
WHO DOES HR WORK FOR? CAN YOU CONFIDE IN HR? AND, WHAT DOES HR DO EXACTLY?
I have been asked these questions by many of my readers, so, drawing on over three decades of experience in the field of Human Resources (“HR”), two Professional HR Designations, and a Master’s Degree in Organizational Development, I will attempt to answer these questions.
Who does HR work for?
HR professionals are, for the most part, employees just like you are. They have a manager, they are paid by the organization, they have goals, they receive annual performance reviews, again, just like you, they work for the organization.
What about confidentiality? Can I confide in HR?
This is a tricky question, both for you, and for the HR staffer. When we work in HR, it is important that we are seen as a trusted person in the organization. Most good HR people want to help employees in any way they can, and they will try to do so in a respectful and confidential manner. That being said, as I noted above, the HR staffer works for the organization. FULL STOP. And, depending on what you, as an employee, share with that person, they may be required in law to disclose what you have told them.
Let’s use an example.
Imagine for a moment that you have witnessed or even personally experienced inappropriate conduct in the workplace. Perhaps it has been of a sexual nature. If you were to approach a member of the HR Department and tell them about what you saw or what you experienced, even if you asked them to keep it confidential and not to tell anyone, they are obligated in law to act upon it. They, of course, must do so in a respectful manner and only speak to one or perhaps two people in the organization (depending on the organization’s internal protocols for these matters), but they simply cannot keep something like this to themselves. There is no question that this can be challenging for HR practitioners, but ultimately, they do work for the organization, and their job is to protect the organization.
One of the important ways that all organizations should be supporting their employees is to offer them access to a completely confidential Employee Assistance Program (EAP). An EAP usually falls under the organization’s overall benefits offerings, and is a service available to employees and often their family members. EAPs assist with both professional and personal concerns, ranging from a desire to quit smoking, to challenges at work, to needing to find support for an elderly parent, to dealing with grief, to literally any other personal challenge that is likely impacting a person’s ability to perform their work to the best of their ability. EAPs are available on a 24/7 basis either by telephone or by a private web-based portal, and at no time will the employer know who has called the service.
These types of EAP programs are quite inexpensive, and many of the large payroll providers offer EAPs as part of their payroll packages. Ceridian offers a program called LifeWorks in both Canada and the U.S., ADP offers a program called LifeCare also in both Canada and the U.S., and there many independent EAP programs as well. In my view, any organization that truly cares about its employees should offer an EAP.
What does HR do?
Human Resources (aka: ‘People Department’, ‘People Circle’, ‘Talent Centre’, or whatever other term is the latest lingo) is a very broad profession that may include a multitude of responsibilities. These responsibilities will be different in every organization based on factors such as the size and geographic scope of the organization, the nature of the industry, whether the organization is unionized or not, the level of commitment to the employees by the most senior people, and the organization’s use of outsourcing as opposed to keeping certain tasks in-house.
All HR professionals, however, tend to talk about their work in terms of what we call the ‘employee life cycle’. This goes from working with leadership to determine future staffing needs based on the overall goals of the organization to employee departures, and everything in between.
Some examples of what is included in the employee life cycle are:
Human Resources Planning and Forecasting
Recruitment
Onboarding
Payroll (is sometimes within accounting instead of HR)
Benefits
Performance Management
Compensation Management
Promotions
Succession Planning
Career Planning
Occupational Health and Safety
Human Resources Accounting
Job Analysis and Design
Policies and Procedures
Time and Attendance
Human Resources Information Systems
Discipline
Employment Law Compliance
Training and Development
Immigration
Diversity and Inclusion
Legislative and Government Reporting
Employee Relations
Labour Relations (within a unionized environment)
Internal Communications
Layoffs and Terminations
Offboarding
During my time in Human Resources I have led small HR departments staffed by three people, and have also served as the VP of Human Resources for one of the largest software companies in the world where the total number of HR staffers was in the hundreds!
In all cases, the extent to which HR is involved in each of these employee lifecycle responsibilities varies based on organizational need. Some HR practitioners in small organizations will be HR generalists and will have responsibility for many areas of HR, while in large organizations, HR tends to be staffed by specialists. At the global software organization I worked for, we had an entire department within HR that specialized in pensions, another entire department that did recruiting, and so forth.
In our movement, most HR practitioners are generalists.
In addition, every responsibility within the employee lifecycle has many components which HR staffers may or may not be responsible for, again, based on the factors outlined above.
Let’s use an example of the various roles and responsibilities that make up Recruitment:
Working at the highest levels of the organization to engage in strategic staff planning based on the organization’s vision and mission
Determining recruitment methodologies including processes for internal job postings
Creation of candidate referral programs
Building recruitment programs
Training managers on appropriate interviewing techniques
Ensuring compliance with human rights legislation
Scheduling interviews
Conducting interviews
Performance evaluations
Conducting reference checks
Conducting background checks
Negotiating with the candidate
Making the offer of employment
Measure cost per hire and other metrics
So, when there is an HR professional in an organization who talks about being responsible for recruitment, it can mean so many different things. They might only be working with recruitment firms, they might only schedule interviews, they might only do background checks, or they might be responsible for all aspects of recruitment – it really depends.
Let’s use another example – Benefits.
Some of the roles and responsibilities that exist within the heading of “Recruitment” include:
Conducting a competitive analysis of what benefits are provided in other similar organizations
Working directly with benefit carriers to negotiate benefits programs
Conducting annual benefits renewals
Communicating with staff about what benefits are available to them
Adding, amending, and deleting employees from benefit programs
In the same vein as in Recruitment, the responsibility for Benefits can be varied. Within the area of Benefits, some HR practitioners can be experts in pensions, others might be experts in life insurance, short and long term disability programs, legislative paid and unpaid time off programs, and yet others might be experts in flexible spending accounts and taxation.
All this to say that being an HR professional, and having responsibility for a particular aspect of HR, can mean many different things. And, as in any other profession, Human Resources professionals have varied levels of education and experience, and, just like in any profession, some Human Resources folks are simply better at their jobs than others.
In Closing
The way that HR practitioners and HR departments serve their organization varies based on the depth of experience that the “top” HR practitioner brings to their role, that person’s perspective of the profession, and also based on the value that the organization puts in their employees. HR departments can either be administrative departments, or they can be deep strategic partners to the organization, or, of course, they can fall anywhere in between.
If you don’t know what kind of HR department you have at your organization, ask them!
This blog is provided for general information purposes only. It is not intended to provide legal advice or opinions of any kind. No one should act, or refrain from acting, based solely upon the materials provided on this website, any hypertext links or other general information without first seeking appropriate legal or other professional advice.
The intention of this blog is to promote the longevity and engagement level of the activist community within the Animal Advocacy Movement (AAM). The majority of the advice will be geared towards employees within the AAM in Canada and the United States, but may be applicable to other countries.
Krista is the Executive Director of For The Greater Good where she consults with animal protection organizations across North America on matters of organizational development and governance. In addition to holding five degrees and designations in human resources, including a master’s degree in organizational development and leadership, she is pursuing her doctorate focused on the employment experiences of animal rights activists in Canada and the United States. Krista first joined the Animal Advocacy Movement as the VP of Mercy For Animals in Canada where she led twelve undercover investigations into factory farms and slaughterhouses. Krista also served as the President of the Board for Happily Ever Esther Farm Sanctuary for over five years, also now serves on several other Boards including One Protest, The Rancher Advocacy Program, Egg-Truth, and Dairy-Truth. Krista is also a member of Womxn Funders in Animal Rights. Krista is a peer reviewer for the Journal of Critical Animal Studies. Prior to joining the Movement, Krista founded a boutique employment and labour law firm in Toronto where she consulted to employers across Canada and the U.S. for a decade, and before that she spent fifteen years in human resources including as the Vice President of HR for one of the largest software companies in the world.