Concerns About HR Involvement in Decision-Making
I am working in an audit firm for 14 months, holding an HR generalist profile. This firm is run by two partners, with a total employee strength of 200. The HR department consists of an HR Manager and myself, an HR Coordinator. My concerns are:
HR Department is not involved in meetings or any communication at the planning stage related to recruitment, training and development, appraisals, or any other employee-related issues.
Top management makes decisions and implements them as per their convenience, and HR learns about them from external sources. To explain the situation, let me give examples:
Top management planned recruitment, drafted the print ad, designed the entire application process online with the IT department, and published the recruitment ad in the newspaper. Applicants started applying, and all these happenings in the company were unknown to me or my HR Manager (so he says). Until one candidate called to follow up regarding the advertisement, I was surprised, upset, and felt humiliated to be ignored so drastically by the management. I am dedicated to my work. I proactively seek information and keep myself updated with happenings around. I make reports after reports as management asks from me and fairly present a good amount of information with the skills I possess. I confronted my HR Manager on this development, but he says he is equally surprised at this breaking news. I told him to speak to top management about this; I told him this is humiliation. He said he can't discuss this issue with top management; they are owners, and if they like to keep things discreet, they can, and we can't question them.
The entire training and development plan for the current year was designed by a few technical managers in discussion with the partners. Once everything was finalized, a mail was sent to HR along with all participants with the final training plan. The training is divided into chapters, and after the end of every chapter, the audience has to give tests. This test score collection responsibility is given to a typist in the firm, and the secretary of the partner is advised to coordinate the training program entirely, from feedback to results to summarizing the learning of the staff. Don't you think these are the responsibilities of HR? In the mail, there is no mention of any HR involvement.
Technical Managers recruit staff as per their needs and whims, and these candidates are screened, interviewed, offered, and join the firm so discreetly. I am not informed or involved in this process. One fine day, I see a new face, or they come to me for some work, and when I ask them who they are, they say they have been working with the firm for so many days or months. I feel so surprised. When I question these actions of the management and put forward my cause to my Manager, he just brushes me aside, saying, "deal with it," as this is how family-owned companies work.
I don't understand why so much secrecy is practiced in simple, neutral, routine functions of HR. What could be the reasons to keep HR away from decision-making related to HR functions at least? I possess experience, qualifications, analytical skills, and a good understanding of my job, so why am I not being involved?
As HR, I appear worthless in this firm, and it's affecting my morale and enthusiasm towards my job. How am I supposed to contribute when I am not even asked to or involved in matters so directly related to my job here?
I am feeling depressed and lost. If I leave this job, it would cause stability issues in my career graph. Please advise a way to work around this situation.
Thanks,
Hussain
I am working in an audit firm for 14 months, holding an HR generalist profile. This firm is run by two partners, with a total employee strength of 200. The HR department consists of an HR Manager and myself, an HR Coordinator. My concerns are:
HR Department is not involved in meetings or any communication at the planning stage related to recruitment, training and development, appraisals, or any other employee-related issues.
Top management makes decisions and implements them as per their convenience, and HR learns about them from external sources. To explain the situation, let me give examples:
Top management planned recruitment, drafted the print ad, designed the entire application process online with the IT department, and published the recruitment ad in the newspaper. Applicants started applying, and all these happenings in the company were unknown to me or my HR Manager (so he says). Until one candidate called to follow up regarding the advertisement, I was surprised, upset, and felt humiliated to be ignored so drastically by the management. I am dedicated to my work. I proactively seek information and keep myself updated with happenings around. I make reports after reports as management asks from me and fairly present a good amount of information with the skills I possess. I confronted my HR Manager on this development, but he says he is equally surprised at this breaking news. I told him to speak to top management about this; I told him this is humiliation. He said he can't discuss this issue with top management; they are owners, and if they like to keep things discreet, they can, and we can't question them.
The entire training and development plan for the current year was designed by a few technical managers in discussion with the partners. Once everything was finalized, a mail was sent to HR along with all participants with the final training plan. The training is divided into chapters, and after the end of every chapter, the audience has to give tests. This test score collection responsibility is given to a typist in the firm, and the secretary of the partner is advised to coordinate the training program entirely, from feedback to results to summarizing the learning of the staff. Don't you think these are the responsibilities of HR? In the mail, there is no mention of any HR involvement.
Technical Managers recruit staff as per their needs and whims, and these candidates are screened, interviewed, offered, and join the firm so discreetly. I am not informed or involved in this process. One fine day, I see a new face, or they come to me for some work, and when I ask them who they are, they say they have been working with the firm for so many days or months. I feel so surprised. When I question these actions of the management and put forward my cause to my Manager, he just brushes me aside, saying, "deal with it," as this is how family-owned companies work.
I don't understand why so much secrecy is practiced in simple, neutral, routine functions of HR. What could be the reasons to keep HR away from decision-making related to HR functions at least? I possess experience, qualifications, analytical skills, and a good understanding of my job, so why am I not being involved?
As HR, I appear worthless in this firm, and it's affecting my morale and enthusiasm towards my job. How am I supposed to contribute when I am not even asked to or involved in matters so directly related to my job here?
I am feeling depressed and lost. If I leave this job, it would cause stability issues in my career graph. Please advise a way to work around this situation.
Thanks,
Hussain