Who Watches the Watchers?

Author’s note:  This is the 199th blog I have written for this site.  While blog #200 will be reflections on that, I did want to make note of it here, and the reason why this particular blog is being written.  It has been saved for quite a long time.

When an employee does something against company policy, or a manager is underperforming in some way, the usual cry is to get Human Resources (HR) involved.  This is natural and to be expected.  HR is the body that is charged with creating and maintaining a workplace that both respects the laws of a country and prevents lawsuits from ever happening in the first place.  Thus, if something is taking place that is unprofessional, illegal, or unlawful, it is HR that is duty bound to set it right.  It is an unpleasant duty, but HR is supposed to be the watchman of the organization.

What happens when it is HR that is breaking the rules?  What happens when it is HR that has staff acting unprofessionally?  Can they be trusted to police themselves?  Or, because they are the watchmen, they are free to ignore their own acts and act with impunity.  If you are a member of HR and are being treated unfairly and unprofessionally, who do you go to?  Who watches the watchers?  And, if the watchers know there is no one watching them, do they then act accordingly?

In my collection of stories about good managers and bad, I have heard a lot of HR stories.  Many HR organizations are good.  They try their best under very difficult circumstances to serve their constituents.  However, there are others that let the following go on:

• An Employee Relations person in a college was known for gossiping about any case that came to her.  If anyone complained, they found an Employee Relations case leveled against them.
• An Employee Relations manager routinely ignored complaints about managers, but would always prosecute employees when a manager would come to her with a complaint.
• An HR Director, when asked about an executive in the company who had a file of complaints 3 inches thick, responded, “Yeah, she’s a problem”
• An HR person said the following to an employee who issued a complaint about her manager routinely cursing at her: “He outranks you and that makes him right”.

If this is what is said and done outwardly to the company, what does that say about how they treat their own people?  If this is the standard they set for the company and expect no pushback, what do they get away with in their own department?  What nepotism, politics, and punishment goes on when there is no one to report these abuses to?  Much like the stories above, I have heard many of how the HR department acts with impunity to their own people because there is no recourse for their employees.  I’ve reported a fair number of them over the past 200 blogs, but there are many more in the files.

Everyone needs oversight, for without it, the temptation to cheat becomes too great.  Even the watchers need someone to watch them.  Let’s enforce honesty in those who are supposed to enforce honesty in others.