Navigating Office Politics in HR: Dealing with Interpersonal Challenges

Hi,

I have over 3 years of experience in HR and have been working for a Telecom company for the past 2 years. During these 2 years, the HR Manager position was vacant on and off - twice HR Managers were appointed, but within 5 to 5 months, the position would become vacant again. Recently, our management hired an Assistant Manager - HR.

Functionally, I report to the Director - HR, and most of the work is not with the Assistant Manager. I have never felt like reporting to him because I find him non-creative, lacking innovation, with poor soft skills, and a negative attitude.

When we were recruiting a junior HR, I asked him to select a male colleague since our department has many females, and I needed a male colleague for more comfortable communication, sharing, and bonding after office hours. However, he intentionally chose a female HR, stating that we couldn't find a suitable male candidate at a lower salary, so we opted for a female candidate. The candidate he selected had over 2 years of experience for a salary of 10k, having worked at a clothing showroom for over a year and a small Oracle product-related software company for another year.

This incident clearly demonstrated that he was not a good HR professional, as in Hyderabad, finding someone with 2+ years of experience for less than 10k is easily achievable. I never displayed any signs of hatred.

Recently, while sitting with one of the HODs, he showed me an email that the Assistant Manager - HR sent to all the managers and above, cc'ing another HR executive. Surprisingly, the email was not addressed to me, even though it was a group mail about "Delegation of work."

This has happened twice, where he intentionally excluded me from important emails but included all junior staff, despite me being a Senior HR Executive. I have started noticing that I am being left out of various departmental matters, and I only come to know about them through other departments, which is concerning.

Whenever I send a group mail, I ensure that he receives it. I believe he is playing politics. What should I do? Should I start looking for a new job or inform the Director - HR about this situation?

This is a real case study. Please provide your input, suggestions, etc., based on this for me to make some decisions.

Regards,

Vinay

Dear Vinay,

The reason why he chose a female candidate may be personal to him other than not finding an HR exec for <10k. If she is not able to prove herself after a period of 6 months, then your Asst HR Mgr will definitely have to justify this hiring to the top management, and that will definitely not be in his favor.

If she is competent, cooperative, carries herself well personally and professionally, then I don't think you should have any trouble at all working with her.

Now, the reason why a male was not hired, as far as I can think, is because your Asst Mgr might have thought that you two guys could be a threat to him. The fact that you already shared with him that you need someone to speak with and bond with during office hours and after office hours might have affected his judgment.

But I don't think that if you do not have any male colleagues, you should have trouble speaking with the female employees. You can speak with them. Anyway, coming to the main problem:

If you are not receiving the emails marked to everyone but you, please bring this to your Asst Manager's attention directly, at least once.

You should request him directly to mark a copy of the email to you as well. To do this tactfully, you can ask one of the HR Execs to whom the email was marked CC in front of your Asst Mgr and ask her to forward the email to you.

Try doing this for 3-4 days, and if this happens again, please discuss this directly with your Director/VP HR, but that would be an extreme action.

Maybe your Asst. Mgr is insecure about the fact that you have been working there for the past 2 years, and furthermore, you report directly to the Director HR.

You should try to build bridges with him, try to put in an effort to be on friendlier terms with your Asst Mgr first instead of burning all ties from the start. Try to know his likes/dislikes. Try to help him with any official matter where you know he is facing problems; you have to take the initiative. Take his advice on certain matters where you know he has the knowledge and experience, even if you do not put those advices into action.

I am sure in time he'll learn to respect you and see you as a valuable asset rather than a threat.

If he keeps up his negative tactics, then you always have the option to discuss this matter with your Director HR, but keep this option as a last resort.

Best of luck.

Warm regards,

Sourabh