Dear Mr Vinayak Nagarkar,
I refer to your above-mentioned reply and the list of the points for discussion mentioned therein.
Out of the 10 points that you have provided, I don't think that the first six points provide any enduring value to the HR professional. The points that you have mentioned are too personal and an average employee may not be that comfortable in sharing the information.
The mainstay of HR lies in improving human productivity. The productivity depends on the healthy interpersonal environment in the company, motivation of the employee, the skill set of the employee, supporting infrastructure etc. Therefore, if the HR professionals restrict their discussion on these issues the better. What if the HR professional asks some personal questions and employee starts thinking that HR can provide a solution too? What if because of the personal problems employee starts asking for some concessions? In such a situation, HR will be forced to say "No" to the concessions.
In view of this, I feel the last four points that related to the work should be asked. If an HR professional is competent then he/she may ask questions on what motivates the employee. The questions could be asked to check as to what extent employee's needs as per Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory have been fulfilled. Otherwise, HR may check what motivates the employee based on David McClelland's theory of motivation.
Questions on the fulfilment of the needs will give insight into the employee's thinking with respect to work.
Lastly, let us consider the world's No 1 country, the USA. The Americans are impersonal. In fact, they detest if the personal questions are asked. Notwithstanding impersonalness in the organisation's culture, a large number of companies have become industrial empires. In these companies, HR just concentrates on what happens during the eight hours that the employee spends at the workplace and never ever bothers about the personal issues. The personal issues are personal and need not be mixed in the work. They maintain the perfect demarcating line between personal and workplace issues. The demarcation helps in avoiding the transgression from either side too.
My contradictory views may not be considered as an affront. Please consider this as professional disagreement.
Regards,
Dinesh Divekar