Stepping into a new department presents many challenges, especially if it has a bad reputation among employees
In organizations where the HR department has a good reputation, a new HR leader can easily follow in an old leader’s steps and continue to be admired and respected. But there are the unfortunate circumstances where the previous HR leader or the entire department has a bad reputation within the organization. In such cases, the organization is faced with finding someone to take over the role. The new HR leader’s primary focus should be to rebuild the department’s image and re-establish it as a strong and resourceful entity among management and employees.
To turn the department’s image around, the new leader has to identify what went wrong. There are many reasons why HR departments fail. There are ones that have bad customer service skills. They don’t know how to interact with people on a professional basis, leading to turnover issues. Or maybe the HR department was not focused on putting together the appropriate benefits for the company, making it difficult to recruit top talent.
Another possibility is that the previous HR department or the department’s leader was perceived as unethical. Maybe they weren’t as unbiased as they were supposed to be when it came to the employees. Or maybe in the past employees confided in an HR team member regarding personal or business matters and the information was passed along inappropriately. Breaking employees’ trust with confidential matters can be very damaging to the organization.
Once the issues have been identified, there are four steps the leader can take to rebuild HR’s image:
•Come clean: Talk to the employees. Acknowledge the poor leadership they experienced in the past. Let them know the new department has been put into place to clear the air and start fresh.
•Conduct an employee satisfaction survey: Conducting a survey is a good way to jump-start the department’s image. It’s important to establish a baseline against which future satisfaction surveys can be compared. Having something to compare and contrast will make HR look more accomplished, so hold an initial survey and follow up with another survey a year later. Valuing employees’ and managers’ opinions demonstrates a positive message. Plus, the new HR leader will be able to walk into the first annual review with concrete evidence of turning the department’s image around.
•Market and brand the HR department to employees: Create a new logo or tagline for the department. Columbus Regional Healthcare System in Georgia includes its new tagline, “Columbus Regional Healthcare System, HR Serving You,” in all its communications with employees.
“This branding helps to demonstrate the linkage between our company values, employee engagement, and job satisfaction, and provides mission and strategy reinforcement for employees,” said Wayne Joiner, vice-president of HR.
•Be visible: One statement that tends to score the lowest on an employee opinion survey is, “If I have questions about HR, I know who to contact.” Have an open-door policy. Make sure HR’s faces are familiar. Try to know all of the employees so they feel comfortable confiding in HR. Having this trust will allow the department to intercept any problems first-hand instead of getting a story that has gone through multiple employees. “Cafeteria sits,” where an HR representative can be available to answer questions, address concerns or distribute literature for HR policies, benefits and compensation are also a good way to become more visible and approachable.
Taking steps to improve the HR department’s image will re-establish the credibility of both the HR leader and executive management and will make employees more confident in the department’s abilities. At the end of the day, how employees view the HR department should be one of the most important goals to focus on. Having a healthy HR department image will foster happier and more productive employees, which in turn translates to better customer service and better results for the bottom line.
Carrie Reid is an assistant project manager with Chicago-based consulting firm HR Solutions Inc. She can be reached at (312) 863-6126 or [email protected].
To turn the department’s image around, the new leader has to identify what went wrong. There are many reasons why HR departments fail. There are ones that have bad customer service skills. They don’t know how to interact with people on a professional basis, leading to turnover issues. Or maybe the HR department was not focused on putting together the appropriate benefits for the company, making it difficult to recruit top talent.
Another possibility is that the previous HR department or the department’s leader was perceived as unethical. Maybe they weren’t as unbiased as they were supposed to be when it came to the employees. Or maybe in the past employees confided in an HR team member regarding personal or business matters and the information was passed along inappropriately. Breaking employees’ trust with confidential matters can be very damaging to the organization.
Once the issues have been identified, there are four steps the leader can take to rebuild HR’s image:
•Come clean: Talk to the employees. Acknowledge the poor leadership they experienced in the past. Let them know the new department has been put into place to clear the air and start fresh.
•Conduct an employee satisfaction survey: Conducting a survey is a good way to jump-start the department’s image. It’s important to establish a baseline against which future satisfaction surveys can be compared. Having something to compare and contrast will make HR look more accomplished, so hold an initial survey and follow up with another survey a year later. Valuing employees’ and managers’ opinions demonstrates a positive message. Plus, the new HR leader will be able to walk into the first annual review with concrete evidence of turning the department’s image around.
•Market and brand the HR department to employees: Create a new logo or tagline for the department. Columbus Regional Healthcare System in Georgia includes its new tagline, “Columbus Regional Healthcare System, HR Serving You,” in all its communications with employees.
“This branding helps to demonstrate the linkage between our company values, employee engagement, and job satisfaction, and provides mission and strategy reinforcement for employees,” said Wayne Joiner, vice-president of HR.
•Be visible: One statement that tends to score the lowest on an employee opinion survey is, “If I have questions about HR, I know who to contact.” Have an open-door policy. Make sure HR’s faces are familiar. Try to know all of the employees so they feel comfortable confiding in HR. Having this trust will allow the department to intercept any problems first-hand instead of getting a story that has gone through multiple employees. “Cafeteria sits,” where an HR representative can be available to answer questions, address concerns or distribute literature for HR policies, benefits and compensation are also a good way to become more visible and approachable.
Taking steps to improve the HR department’s image will re-establish the credibility of both the HR leader and executive management and will make employees more confident in the department’s abilities. At the end of the day, how employees view the HR department should be one of the most important goals to focus on. Having a healthy HR department image will foster happier and more productive employees, which in turn translates to better customer service and better results for the bottom line.
Carrie Reid is an assistant project manager with Chicago-based consulting firm HR Solutions Inc. She can be reached at (312) 863-6126 or [email protected].
