Employees are Babies Throwing Tantrums Says HR, Their Benevolent Caretaker

By Michelle Malay Carter on October 26, 2007 

Cranky Baby EmployeeIf there are any HR Professional readers in my audience, please fight with me on this one!? Say it isn’t so.

On a post lamenting the fact the HR gets no respect, Karthik raised my blood pressure with the following comment on Gautam Ghosh’s management consulting blog (emphasis mine):

“The employee is to be looked at sometimes as a baby that actually is not sure what it needs; often crying or quarrelling for things it cannot rightfully stake a claim to, expressing dissent at the organization’s policies, questioning parity, fairness & consistency in administration of compensation & benefits practices. That it where the role of a Business HR professional comes in, one has to strike the harmony between being the caretaker/benefactor of the pranky [cranky?]?baby yet intervene and set expectations right when its tantrums get unacceptable. The balancing act actually is between being the employee advocate and corporate’s/management’s representative for policies/decisions.”

Rather than concealing this shameful mindset in a secret HR handshake, it’s actually being exhorted as a “crtical success factor for HR professionals” at HR gatherings in India.

I believe employees do know what they need and it is NOT to be rescued from the policies by HR.? That’s scraping burned toast.? Fix the toaster!!!!? If HR wants to be taken seriously, they need to step up to the plate design integrated people-systems rooted in trust and fairness which function at the hands of the managers.

There wouldn’t be a need for an advocate if organization’s people-systems were sane-making in the first place.?

I’ve got some advice for anyone holding Karthik’s condescending viewpoint:? Get out of the coping and compensating business and get into the designer’s seat.? That’s where you’ll earn some respect.

Filed Under Corporate Values, Employee Engagement, Executive Leadership, Managerial Leadership, Organization Design, Requisite Organization, Talent Management

Comments

2 Responses to “Employees are Babies Throwing Tantrums Says HR, Their Benevolent Caretaker”

  1. Gautam Ghosh on October 26th, 2007 10:20 pm

    Hi Michelle,

    Absolutely true. Condescending approach by any group will ensure that respect will be an elusive quality.

    regards
    Gautam

  2. George Smart on October 30th, 2007 3:03 pm

    How to fix HR? Personally, I think HR should absolutely stop being an employee?s advocate. It?s too much like asking a policeman to also be your therapist. We know HR?s loyalty first and foremost is to management, so let?s everyone stop pretending that HR is your ?friend.? HR ideally should be a combination of Legal and Accounting as applied to personnel policy, compensation, and compliance. Set aside Training and OD as a separate unit. And who is left to be the employee advocate? Well, at best it should be level 3 management, or the employees themselves. At worst, the unions.