Sometimes handling a bad human resources manager becomes a pain for an employer and employee both to handle.
As for the employer, their problems are not sorted out and professional concerns are not resolved.
An Incompetent HR manager can be quite damaging to the company, for example, not finding the right candidate for the job.
If a weak candidate is hired then it is a loss to the company. If an employee is not happy with the HR manager then they met even leave the job and opt for some other opportunity.
Incompetent HR Challenges – How to cope with Bad HR:
1. Understand the skills of HR manager:
Before trying to blame an HR manager as weak or incompetent, it is important to know and understand their role completely.
It is not easy to be an HR manager, they not only take care of the hiring and issues of employees but behind the scene, they are the one who put their effort to make things workable and create employee friendly environment.
See what are the basic job roles they have and what they have done for you as an employee that you enjoy working in this company.
2. Know the current situation:
If you think that the HR manager is weak, then understand the situation too, under which you are questioning someone’s skills.
Maybe your queries might not be handled by HR and some senior management person might be the right person as guided by the HR manager.
Knowing the true circumstances will give you a clear picture of how to tackle the situation and reaching to the right solution.
3. Ask for the facts and information:
If you are having trouble related to documents and your HR manager tells you that it cannot be done, then ensure to ask about the facts and information on the same.
Ask for the company policy guides and legislative rulebook for you to study.
This will be a ringer for the HR person that you are serious about your concern and not ready to accept whatever the other person tells you.
Hence, the HR person will respond to your queries more seriously and cautiously.
4. Discuss the situation:
Before making any final decision, if you are not happy with the HR person’s response then share your feedback with them.
HR’s generally appreciate the feedback given and put their effort to work on better change. Also, many a times know the limitations of HR manager, probably your demands might be quite high to be fulfilled while your situation might not be of that scenario.
In fact, many HR managers are not well aware of what the employee think their job role is and trying to achieve your expectations might provide you wrong answers.
5. Provide a training session:
Lack of knowledge and not updated with the information may lead to incompetency for an HR manager, hence, pay attention to providing the training to your HR department.
Things keep on changing constantly and as an HR, they are responsible for providing the right answer and solution to the employees.
Ensure a regular information system for the HR department where they are aware of the changing employee benefits or changes in tax rules, since they require to keep the employees updated on the same.
6. Know why they are not helping:
If the HR does not have the answer for your queries then talk to them and learn as to why they are not able to answer your issues.
It is the possibility that it might be beyond their professional roles.
If in case they are not aware of it then know if they will be able to find the answer and let you know about the same.
7. Be assured that some people do not take responsibility:
Not everybody is sensible enough to take responsibility of the issues and concerns. The person might be new to the department and is still struggling with the information and function of the company, therefore, is not in the condition to help you.
Another issue can be that they are just not capable enough to do the task assigned and are trying to escape from their job to help you with solutions.
If you are facing any of these issues then talk to the next best person with solutions.
8. Take your manager’s help:
In situations where your HR manager is not answering your queries or paying attention to your issues then it is best to talk to your team manager and ask his help.
Since it is easier for two senior managers to talk to each other and resolve the issue quicker rather than you trying to go back and forth and find the solution.
With your manager interfering the situation will resolve the issue faster.
9. Review the HR manager’s role:
After doing thorough research if you find that there are job limitations to an HR manager and they can do more and better than what they are assigned to do.
Then it is better to bring this to your senior management attention. In this process, it will give an outline as of what are the employee expectations and how they can be reworked.
10. Regular employee feedback:
Providing the feedback system is helpful for the company to understand how the HR team is functioning. Keeping the employees happy is also an important part for the HR team to take care of.
Therefore, allow a system where the employees can share their feedback about the HR team and tell about their performance if they are happy with what they are doing.
Also, the areas where they can improve and what all issues they can take up to make the office a better and superior place to work.
11. Register a complaint:
Even if after continuous efforts and constant talks your issues are not resolved, where your manager has intervened to get the situation resolved.
Then, registering the complain about the HR manager is totally right to the senior management.
Keep in mind that while complaining about the person you should have sufficient evidence about the concerns and proof that they have not been resolved.
12. Assign the task:
If as an employer you find that your HR team is busy organizing just various events like CPR classes or inviting fire department people or organizing blood donation campaigns, which are highly appreciated and commendable.
But it is equally important to pay attention to the employee concerns and get them resolved.
They might be lacking the right direction towards the nature of job that they should do, in such case as an employer ensure that they are assigned more jobs towards the employee, like looking for better candidates for a job, low sales target and the reasons for it.
13. Find the new manager:
If you think that you have tried every last resort to get things better and yet it is not working in the right direction. Then it is better to hire a new and competent manager and let go the other one.
A strong manager will bring the change in the company itself. They will ensure a better hiring process where competitive people are hired in the company, current employee issues are dealt on time and resolved completely.
It might seem a difficult choice yet it will be the rewarding one.
14. Find an HR consultant:
Finding the right HR manager is a huge task in itself, they are the co-captain of the ship who are the important element to ensure the ship sails smoothly.
If you think that you have never met a right kind of HR manager in your life, then it is high time that you hire an HR consultant, they are the ones who can do some research regarding your company and will share the details as to what kind of HR manager will be required for your place.
Every manager has a different flair and management style and it is important that their work style should match with your company’s goals and vision.
To Wrap Up:
Finding the right HR manager is not an easy thing for a company, since they are the one who handle the people issues for each and every member of the company, be it from the head office, other branches or within the stores.
Not only they are required to be kind and nurturing who can listen to people’s issues be it personal or professional but are also able to comfort them and find the solutions.
They are responsible for crucial things like salaries, increments, employee benefits and are required to be up to date with this. If the employees are not happy with something, then HR team is the one to resolve it.
Hence, one should not ignore the importance of an HR manager in the office and try to find the best person possible for it.
