Role of Human Resource Managers Towards a Hostile-free Working Environment

The roles of HR practitioners are endless because human needs are complex. A major role of HR managers is to create a hostile-free working environment.

According to research, well-motivated employees are more productive and creative. Motivation plays a major role in shaping the behavior of employees towards their job. It is the responsibility of Human Resource (HR) managers to identify issues that affect the enthusiasm of employees in relation to their work. However, their role does not stop there, once they have identified the cause of employees’ apathy, HR must initiate/implement programs like re-training of employees, improvement of workplace environment, review of compensation and benefits structure, organizational restructuring, modification of company’s policies, etc.

There are many factors that can affect the satisfaction or dissatisfaction of employees towards their job, their working environment plays a crucial role. HR managers must create and maintain a hostile-free environment for their employees. A hostile environment occurs if employees cannot perform his job due to unfriendly behavior of management or co-workers, unhealthy and hazardous physical environment, and unfriendly company policies. In general, hostilities in the workplace are mostly caused by the employees themselves. Below are some examples of these hostilities and suggested action plans.

• Discriminative implementation of company policies. Saying goes “no one should be above the law”, application of sanctions and rewards should not be selective. It should be applied on all employees, no exceptions. Should there be any deviations, concerned employees should have proper justifications and must seek approval from company authorities. HR policies in particular should not promote discrimination and should not favor certain employees; it is the role of HR managers to review and modify policies that shows hostility towards their employees. It is also their role to ensure that policies are implemented by management and executed as humanely as possible.

• Poor management decisions. Policies are created by human minds, if law-makers of the company have poor judgment; they will end-up creating poor company policies. Depending on the structure of the organization, policies that will directly affect the welfare of the employees should be reviewed by HR specialists. Because of today’s competitive business environment, some companies abruptly implement changes that will improve their operational competitiveness without considering its effects on its workers. A bank extending their banking hours may benefit the client but how will this affect the morale of the employees who will have fewer time for their families. HR managers must counteract such change by giving appropriate compensation or incentives. If not, company’s action is considered hostile.

• Hazardous physical environment. In the event of economic crisis, some companies use this as an excuse to cut costs on maintenance and repairs of dilapidated equipments which can be hazardous to the employees using it. There are also companies that cut costs on housekeeping resulting to dirty carpets, smelly toilets, dusty tables, and uncollected garbage. These issues may look very simple but these things can affect the health of the employees. Though the issue of budget and company maintenance is not a direct function of HR department, employees’ health is HR’s lookout.

• Unfriendly management behavior. Modern day managers should treat their subordinates and co-workers with respect. Gone are the days of autocratic rule or the iron-fist management. It is the role of HR department to ensure that officers of the company are treating their subordinates fairly, giving their staff positive reinforcement instead of threats, promoting career development instead of pinning them down, and so on. Training of managers to be “good managers” is a responsibility of HR department. HR managers must police all officers of the company and teach them not to be hostile to their subordinates and co-workers.

• Hostile company culture. Culture is defined as the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution, organization or group (Wikipedia). According to Jason Fried, the president and founder of 37signals, a successful web application company, “you don’t create a culture. Culture happens. It’s the by-product of consistent behavior. If you encourage people to share, and you give them the freedom to share, then sharing will be built into your culture. If you reward trust then trust will be built into your culture”. If the company you are working with has a hostile culture, it is because the leaders of your company are promoting hostility in your organization. It is the role of the HR manager to identify who or what are causing such behaviors in the company. Once identified, HR department must cure this sickness by creating activities like training programs, workshops, seminars, etc. that will improve the behavior of the employees and will eventually eradicate the essence of hostility in culture of the organization. People from HR department should lead the way and they should practice what they teach.

The roles of HR practitioners are endless because human needs are complex. Therefore, HR managers must be proficient in answering the needs of the organization and must train itself with the latest trends, concepts, principles, and best practices of Human Resource Management.