I’ve been on the road quite a bit lately so my wife and I decided to treat ourselves and go see Kathy Griffin live at DAR’s Constitution Hall here in Washington, DC. Â If you’re not familiar with Kathy, she is renowned for taking her real-life encounters and incorporating them into her comedy act using sarcasm, mockery and outright degradation. Â Her material can be a cringer to some, but if you go in with the attitude that she’s making fun of everyone (including herself), she is absolutely hilarious.
Whether Kathy is your cup of tea or not, something she said in her show last night got me thinking.  Because her material is sourced from interactions with celebrities, they often ask her for a side deal to exclude their encounters from her act.  In other words, they seek reassurance that the conversation was private, privileged and wouldn’t come back to haunt them.  Of course, doing so would hurt Kathy’s “business”, so exclusions are obviously not in her interest.  Often times this has unexpected consequences and can makes A-listers want to avoid her at all costs, including some suing her for her statements.  Thus, our title question stands – is your HR department like Kathy Griffin?
I pose this comparison because I have witnessed a shift in HR’s brand perception over the years.  There was a time when HR was believed to represent the best interests of employees within the context of the employer.  This former persona ensured confidentiality, safe harbor and a highly privileged set of interactions.  Although this is a gross generalization and oversimplification, most employees today view HR as the enforcer of rules and regs, a literal mouth-piece of the executive committee.  So, like Kathy Griffin, many employees fear that anything they share with HR will not only get back to their manager, but negatively impact their prospects for future growth in the organization. Â
This may be an unfair comparison as many HR professionals entered this vocation to truly help people. However, I have unfortunately been in the presence of hundreds of “HR Kathy Griffins” who cannot wait to share the juiciest bit of gossip and innermost secrets of the employees they support. Â But unlike Kathy’s first amendment lawyer, your company may not protect you from litigation resulting from such indiscretions. Â I have witnessed HR personnel fired on the spot for this behavior, but more often it is the employee who pays the ultimate price. Â
Let’s face it – HR is a tough job and sometimes you want to let out a little steam.  Or perhaps you feel you are duty bound to go directly to an employee’s manager the moment a conversation is over.  My only request is to recognize that any action will have both intended and unintended consequences for you, management and the employee.  Be thoughtful and put yourself in their shoes.  Either that or quit your job, dye your hair red and start working the clubs. Â
Let’s keep the conversation going.Â
5 Comments
Here’s a great comment I received via email from an HR exec:
“I think the reason this happens in because of HR trying to become ‘business partners’. As such, they are trying to align themselves with executives and the management team so their first loyalty is to management, not the employee. But is that really a bad thing? Yes, it’s bad to share something confidential, but as long as HR holds the position of employee sounding board, HR will never become strategic thinkers – oh, and, by the way, managers are never forced to develop the managerial skills they need since employees should be communicating with them directly. If they have a problem with that person, they need to go one step higher, not sideways to HR.”
Another great post. That is one of the toughest things that an HR department has to do, holding fast and keeping confidential that what is going on around the company. Thankfully, this wasn’t a difficult task for me personally because I can compartmentalize really well and always acted by the simple principle that in most situations there are those who need to know and those who don’t.
What I always found unbelievable was that employees would come up to me and expect me to tell them why so-in-so left the company or all of the details of a particular situation. It was like they believed that ononmy sole purpose for being was to provide them with “dirt” on their co-workers. My response was always the same. “Just as I would not share information about your employment record with other employees, I am not going to tell you about another person’s employment record.” This line usually stopped them mid-sentence.
If you cannot keep your mouth shut when you need to, HR is not the field for you.
Correction for above – “my sole purpose….”
Great feedback Kari and I think your line to nosy employees is dead on. The “keep your mouth shut” part of HR is really difficult for a lot of people. Thanks for the comments!
great post hope to see some additional comments here…