How Should I Politely Respond to a Manager's Overstepping Recruitment Email?

Dear All, My name is Shajeer. I am working as an HR Executive with a Trading Company in Qatar. One of our managers wrote an email to me regarding some recruitment. As HR is an independent part of the company, he should not write in such a way. I need a suitable reply to him. Please help me with a polite response.

Dear Shajeer,

Please get the following tasks done on an urgent basis:

- Put an advertisement in the local newspapers for the position of Salesmen/Saleswomen with prior experience in IT and Mobility products.
- Put a similar advertisement in Dubai Newspapers.
- Process the immigration papers for the Kenyan candidate, whom I shortlisted on 2nd Feb 2013. Advise me of the timeframe in which I can expect him to be here in Qatar.
- Advise how quickly we can get any shortlisted candidates from the Philippines. You may want to liaise with Mr. Haytham on the matter. I am planning to hire 5 females and 5 males from the Philippines.
- Find out if it's going to be any faster if we hire from another country, namely Sri Lanka, Nepal, Kenya, etc. We are willing to hire suitable candidates from a country where the immigration time is the least.

You may treat the above instructions with priority.

Thank you.

You indicate that you are an HR executive, which implies that you have seniors or bosses above you in your own department. Can you make all the decisions on the points that the manager has asked for? I think it would be advisable to put the matter to your superiors and then seek their advice or approval. In any case, you will need proper approvals for several of the tasks mentioned herein, such as placing job advertisements in newspapers, etc.

Warm regards.

Guidance on Implementing HR Protocols

Thanks for your reply. Here, the situation is different because our company started HR recently. Before, there was no HR at all, and now I am handling HR independently. I am setting up HR for our company. We have an HR manager in my department, but he is not involved in all its operations. He is a little aged and actually doesn’t have any experience in HR. In short, when it comes to the matter, I am the one to decide the same from HR. Of course, we have a CEO, and I am directly reporting to him. Here, as I said, HR is independent. As per the protocol, the said manager should not come and order us. If he wants to give any instructions, it should be through the proper channel. Our company doesn’t have such a system so far. So please guide me on how to implement it and what reply I should give to this manager.

Best regards,

Dear Shajeer,

I am new to this core HR field, though I feel we can look into this situation a bit differently.

It is true that the above-mentioned manager has gone against the company protocol and instructed you to do the recruitment for the specified posts. However, you specified that you are handling the HR independently and will have the details on whether the recruitment request came from the manager, which is relevant or not. If yes, then you can get approval from the CEO and go ahead with the recruitment process.

At the same time, you can reply to the manager stating that you have noted down his request and will look into it. Meanwhile, he may be requested to follow the company protocol and he may have to process the recruitment request through the proper channel. There is a possibility that the manager may be unaware of the protocol since your company started setting up the HR recently, as you have stated in the above post.

Please share your thoughts on the same since, as a beginner in HR, it will help me as well.

Regards,
Sreejaya.

Dear Sir,

Thank you for your email, and I have noted the contents. However, for proper coordination and control purposes, I would request you to kindly route your mail through XXXXX, so that he is also kept informed of your requirements. I hope you won't mind doing so.

Best regards

I, for one, find nothing wrong in the email that the manager has sent to you. What is the problem you have? How exactly do you want him to send the email? Do you want him to send it to the Managing Director and then have the Managing Director send it to you?

You are the internal service provider in terms of HR; he is the internal customer. He has some work that needs to be done quickly, and he has written to you to get it done. Are you saying he is not authorized to spend money on advertising? Or is the recruitment planned out of his scope?

If some of the things need approval from a higher manager, just point that out and ask him to get the approvals. The other things he is asking about are very much a part of your work. He wants to know how quickly certain recruitment and immigration formalities can be done. He assumes that you, being the expert, will give him the answer and therefore asks you. Your answer will help him plan, and it probably affects his operational efficiency. Are you incompetent to answer? Or does it hurt your ego?

Do not forget that your job primarily is to serve internal customers. Do your customers give you orders, or do you expect customers to beg for services? The same rule applies to internal customers. I do not see anything in the email that is rude, condescending, or stepping into your territory.

Do not create layers of protocol and delay the work (unless you are working for a government company where you are expected to be bureaucratic).

Constructive Criticism and Proactive HR Management

Always "hope for the best and prepare for the worst." Here, people are expressing their views only. It may not always align with your thoughts. You should be able to see if there are any valid points that can be understood, rather than focusing on satisfying your ego. I think there are some points to be noted in Mr. Saswata Banerjee's reply as well. Criticism is good if it is constructive.

Maybe you are not reporting to that manager, but he must be a responsible person in the company and can convey the requirement to you. Since you are reporting to the CEO, you can present the requirement to him and seek his approval if it is an immediate need. As the HR Department is being set up, you can formulate the procedures to be followed, get the CEO's approval, and circulate them to all concerned. Even after having a clear policy, if procedures are not followed, then you have a valid reason to be annoyed. Otherwise, this sort of restlessness will create a problem in your career. Being an HR person, it is beneficial to have an open mind. You are going to deal with humans, not machines. You should be able to understand the situation before reacting. Try to be proactive and not reactive.

Best regards,

Ramadasan

I agree with Saswat and Ramdasan. They have given very good suggestions to you, which show their experience and caliber as HR professionals!

Clarification on Protocols

What kind of "protocols" are you talking about? From the description of your non-existent HR department, there does not seem to be any. So far, you have not set up any HR department, procedures, or system, and you expect senior functionaries (that person must be a senior handling Marketing and Sales) to follow the rules for satisfying your inflated ego!

Company Structure and Protocols

Is yours a government company? If not, why do you insist on any such protocol? Do you expect that a senior person cannot approach you directly? Do they have to come through the CEO only? If this is the scenario, the CEO will get "tired and irritated" pretty soon. You have been hired to provide HR services, not to act bureaucratic and official.

Performance and Responsibilities

If this continues without HR attending to the business requirements of providing manpower services, I am sure the company would not tolerate it for long. Prove yourself and your existence through your performance. How far and how soon you'll be able to provide the manpower requirements of the person will only determine your performance.

Accordingly, you should send a polite reply to the person concerned and answer all his queries point-by-point. If any approvals are required, put up the proposal to the CEO for his necessary approvals. Remember that the matter is urgent and to be dealt with on priority. The company's top and bottom line depend on how fast high sales turnover can be achieved in the shortest time. Any delay in this will hit the company directly, and you will be held responsible.

Rather than worrying about non-existent protocols, understanding your responsibilities and key deliverables will take you a long way.

Best wishes.

Dear All,

I just wanted to clarify one thing with you all. There are some reasons why I posted this thread here. I am working as an HR Executive under a Manager who doesn't know anything about HR. Whatever inputs and thoughts I am trying to bring will be null and void because of that. His thoughts and style of working are very old. You will not believe that our company has not yet started any automation for its operations. We are doing everything manually. Emails are not accepted anywhere. Due to this, our HR manager doesn't like it. I have 8 years of HR experience in the Gulf. I have never encountered issues like this before. I know HR is a facilitator of various things, but here, I can say there is no HR at all. People are always doing what they want, not following the chain of command. Even our CEO issued a circular about that.

Especially, this manager has a habit of commanding. If you go through that email, he insists on how I should do things. As an HR executive, I know how to handle things. As per our existing personnel manual, he must have manpower approval for any recruitment. Also, he should check visa availability for Kenyans before putting in a request for manpower. He sent the email without doing so. I have clear instructions from the Management not to follow any instructions like this. So now, you tell me whom should I follow.

Anyway, thanks to all of you for your valuable inputs and thoughts. I will reach out with many queries in the future as well. I hope all of you will help to clear my doubts.

Regards,
Shajeer

Well, why should the sales manager be checking visa availability? His job is to get the sales team working on sales. It is your job to find out such supporting information and guide him. His email is neither rude nor out of line. I find it extremely polite and even helpful to the extent of suggesting whom you can work with to get a part of the work done easily. On the other hand, I think I see where your inflated ego is coming from.

Visa Challenges in Qatar for Certain Nationalities

As per Qatar immigration systems, it's very difficult to get visas for some nationalities. Here, if any employer wants to bring in any employee, they should have labor approval in the system for the same nationality and gender. That's why our management insisted on this. Previously, we used to accept any manpower approvals without any conditions. However, later we realized that we were losing our time because of this. After completing all procedures, immigration/labor would reject our application. For example, obtaining a visa for Indians is very difficult here. The labor department may reject the application for approval, and immigration will not issue any visa without it. It's not good that after giving an offer letter, we are failing in visa matters as it will give a bad impression to the company.

Hope you are clear now.

Regards

Visa Challenges in Qatar for Specific Nationalities

As per Qatar immigration systems, it's very difficult to get visas for some nationalities. Here, if any employer wants to bring an employee, they should have labor approval in the system for the same nationality and gender. That's why our management insisted on this. Previously, we used to accept any manpower approvals without any conditions. However, later we realized that we are losing time because of this. After completing all procedures, immigration/labor will reject our application. For example, it is very difficult to get a visa for Indians here. Even the labor department will reject the application for approval. Immigration will not issue any visa without it. It's not good that after giving an offer letter, we are failing in visa matters. It will give a bad impression to the company. I hope that now you are clear.

Role of HR in Managing Visa Processes

Well, you, being the HR person and having experience in that specific segment, will know this and will need to inform the manager. He may not be aware of the details as it's not his job. If you have already informed him and he continues to ask the same thing, then it would be a different matter (your post does not indicate that).

Remember that operations and sales are solely focused on executing their work and rely on support functions to handle recruitment or inform them of what is not possible. So, you need to keep that in mind as well. Educate the concerned manager either directly or through the senior manager who can address the matter properly.

Regards

Dear Shajeer,

Here's a brief on what you can do:

- Discuss with the person referred to the sales team from the Philippines.
- Find out about the time taken for visas for all the countries mentioned in the email, and the availability of potential recruits with lead time; you can also get in touch with recruitment consultants in these countries.
- Tabulate and present the data.
- Refer to the CEO circular on manpower approval, which is to be obtained by the concerned department with their own justification.

Write a polite email to the senior manager with all the above information. Do not worry about your HR senior; keep him in the loop and ask him whether he wants to intervene or if you can take your initiative.

If the concerned manager is used to ordering around, you do not have to bother about his attitude. It is his attitude and personality problem. Restrict yourself not to judge others but to your own tasks. That will reduce your heartburn.

Do not look at this as a problem. In fact, you have been presented with a wonderful opportunity to prove yourself. Always remember that at the end of the day, any issues relating to manpower are your problem (or opportunity).

Warm regards.