SHUTTERSTOCK ILLUSTRATION |
likely you ’ ll get support . It ’ s also possible everyone will blink at you and be terribly confused because of course your job is to take care of everything ! Hopefully , that won ’ t be the case .
If it is , you have three options : 1 ) Find a new job and leave . You aren ’ t compatible with this job ; accept that this is how it is . 2 ) Do the job people think you should — that is , taking care of everything . 3 ) Work to slowly but surely make a change . Get managers to take over each task . You will be playing the long game , but you can work toward your end goal .
Talk with the department head
You need the department head on board if you want to make changes . Explain the advantages of having the managers take over these tasks .
Make sure you use terms the department head is likely to understand . This can mean tailoring your message based on the department . You ’ d probably speak differently to the chief scientist than you would to the head of sales .
You will want to talk about employee engagement , turnover , retention strategies and gaining employee respect . If the department has had high turnover , this is a great thing to bring up .
For instance , high turnover can happen when you get a mismatch between what the employee thinks the job is and what the job actually is . Because the hiring manager knows the position better than HR will , you can do better recruiting , onboarding and retention if the manager writes the job description . Also , note how much turnover costs the company .
The same thing is true for performance appraisals . How on earth are you supposed to appraise every employee in the department accurately ? And firing ? HR is there for moral support and to make sure the manager follows the laws and company policy , but managers have to do that task .
Work with managers one-on-one
No one likes more work , and it appears that your predecessor took on some managerial duties before , but even with the full support of your boss and the
|
department head , it will be difficult to change direction .
Instead of just telling managers they have to write the job description now , explain how to do it , and offer to sit with them while they do the first one . Do not take over . Do not touch the keyboard . Make the manager do the typing . It will almost certainly be faster to do it yourself , but this is a training exercise .
Training can be done as a group , but most likely the managers will expect that you ’ ll do the work anyway — it ’ s critical that you not . So , one by one , you train them .
On some things , it should be more straightforward — like making the final hiring decisions . Managers generally want to handle this responsibility , and it must have been some power-hungry previous HR person who talked them out of it . Remind them that you are there to advise but not to decide . Hopefully , they will latch on to their newfound power and start doing the jobs they should have done all along .
|
Suzanne Lucas spent 10 years in corporate human resources , where she hired , fired and managed the numbers and doublechecked with the lawyers . On Twitter @ RealEvilHRLady . Send questions to evilhrlady @ gmail . com
Does your manager depend on HR to do all the interviews , hiring and firing ?
TWEET US @ COMSTOCKSMAG
|
December 2021 | comstocksmag . com 21 |