Great Insult For Hr Profession - Help Requested

Dear Friends,

The purpose of becoming a member of CiteHR is not only to receive ideas and suggestions for our HR role but also to share the experience of a HR Manager who has been professionally insulted in the hospitality industry, where taking care of people is paramount.

I joined a Hotel as an HR Manager right from the project's inception, bringing in years of experience in the hospitality sector. I personally drafted various forms such as Employment Form, Leave Application Form, Permission Slip, Visitors Pass, Interview Assessment Form, Exit Interview Form, No Dues & Settlement form, etc. However, without my permission, the General Manager recommended the appointment of a HR Executive (Female) to handle attendance, payroll preparation, and other HR deskwork.

As the HR Manager, it is my responsibility to oversee her tasks and ensure timely salary releases without any issues. This incident reflects a lack of respect for the role of an HR Manager.

Within two months of her joining, the HR Executive received a Rs. 2000 increment without my consent. By the fifth month, on the last day of December 2010, I was asked to seek alternative employment as the HR Executive had taken over all HR activities, leading to my forced resignation on 3rd January 2011.

I believe the General Manager orchestrated this move to cut down on payroll costs while saving face with the Top Management. This situation has deeply upset me, as I have never faced such disrespect in my career.

I propose that HR professionals unite to address and protest such incidents promptly to protect our profession's integrity.

I seek your advice on how to navigate this situation and what actions we should take against such individuals.

Thank you for your support and suggestions.

Thanks and Regards,

Dear Friend,

Certainly, we can sympathize with your agony. However, HR professionals, being in the managerial cadre, cannot be equated with the unionized workforce. Until you secure employment, you can appeal to them for compensation, considering the fact that they have utilized a subordinate position to perform the duties of an HR Manager.

This situation often occurs in organizations where, in the name of cost-cutting, talent is lost. Eventually, the individual who instigated your departure may be dismissed unceremoniously by the same management. It is not prudent to assume that an HR Executive can adequately replace the role of an HR Manager.

With Regards,

V. Sounder Rajan
Advocates & Notaries & Legal Consultants
E-mail: rajanassociates@eth.net
-9025792684

More at https://www.citehr.com/285737-legal-...#ixzz1AAt4xBKZ

Hello,

Typical occupational hazard!

Being treated unjustly, unfairly, and in an uncouth manner cannot be simply ruled out. While we are not workmen under the Industrial Disputes Act 1947, we may not be able to get any kind of legal protection. Our professional organizations can certainly take up this issue in a dignified, constitutional, and civil manner with the top management of the concerned organization. Beyond shaming them in the public eye and professional circles and in the eyes of the highest authorities like the very Board of Directors and other employees of the organization, we will achieve precious little. Will all this compensate for the agony, insult, and ignominy you have suffered?

We sympathize with your predicament for sure, but we have to consider the other side also, however biased it may be! Unless we do that, it would be unfair to sit in judgment on the issue.

Leave aside all this, it is because of helplessness in such situations that we, the non-bargainable employees of any organization, are often referred to as non-barkable employees (since we cannot even bark). Our competence is our security of employment, but it cannot sanction protection from higher-ups who do not care about ethics, morality, fairness, or even justice. That is our lot. We indeed are helpless in such matters. Our safety guard against such treatment is our alertness at all times, taking nothing for granted, and preemptive actions (acting ahead of any calamity striking).

In the instant case, you rightly feel bad about one HR (female) candidate being recruited without your knowledge, involvement, or agreement. This was the first moment for you to sit up and suspect—not take positions but to be on guard anyway. When the same person gets an out-of-turn hefty salary rise, once again without consulting you, this was your second moment to really sit up and suspect even more and form a tentative opinion about things not going exactly the way they should. You could have raised a formal discussion on each of these occasions, and the response would have helped you confirm your fears and suspicions, and you could have acted ahead of the calamity.

Do not feel bad, but I suppose you have been rather complacent in this episode. Whether it was your goodness or overconfidence, I do not know, but you have in a way allowed the axe to fall upon you! In our jobs, alertness is our strength, and complacency is our worst enemy, especially when it concerns our own careers and employment!

You may like to respond and provide any facts that may have got ignored in your first post. I am always open to change in the face of facts!!

Regards,

Samvedan

January 5, 2011

Dear Friends,

Should we approach the Human Rights Commission? Should we publish this article in The Hindu on Wednesday supplementary - HRD Talk? Please advise.

Because we are also human beings and we are also a kind of workers who are in the managerial cadre.

Thanks and regards,

Dear Friends,

This happens in each and every sector, we should take necessary steps to stop these issues in every organization. We, as HR, should be protected from the employers. Until they require work from us, they speak nicely. However, during the time of increment, they will create issues and pull us down by pointing out problems. Cost-cutting is a tactic followed in our sector too.

Please friends, suggest some ideas to protect us from the employers.

Dear Friends,

Many thanks to Ms. Nithya for her supportive comment.

As HR professionals, we are often seen as tools and instruments utilized for assembling an engine. Once the engine is assembled, these tools and instruments are discarded as they are no longer needed. It is essential to take steps to safeguard our profession.

We look forward to more support on this issue and aim to bring it to light by publishing it in leading newspapers.

Thanks.

Hi,

I have gone through all the posts and responses and would like to state that:

We, as HR managers, also ask employees to part with the company on an immediate basis for various reasons, such as discipline, performance, or integrity, etc. There is nothing new in this situation, but the fact that it has happened to someone from the HR fraternity is highlighted, while there are many cases that have not been talked about or discussed.

Though I sympathize with you and hope that no one else has to go through such incidents, there must have been issues that compelled the management to hire an Executive. For you to consider.

As Samvedan has rightly pointed out, your agility and preemptive approach could have dealt with everything that happened in a graceful manner. Was there a need, in terms of workload, to hire another person for the team? If not, it should have been discussed to provide clarity, which would have given you a clear understanding of the management's stance.

I agree that there should be a forum to escalate such issues where management has acted unjustly towards HR professionals. As human beings, we have certain commitments and should be appropriately compensated if we are in the right, although management is free to make their own decisions.

This should not manifest as a roadblock or protest but rather be handled in a civil and professional manner.

Best wishes,

R K Pandey
09818136876

Dear Friends,

Once again, I would like to express that the HR Executive itself is being appointed by the General Manager, not by the HR Manager's consent. She, being a female who came last, has been given preference for employment rather than me.

Now, please advise on how to address this issue. Shall we publish it in HRD Talk in The Hindu?

Expecting your reply.

Thanks & Regards,

Hello Prabhakar Sir,

Good morning. Yes, sir, we can publish it in the newspaper. Many of the top companies are doing just that; we have to address these issues, sir. I am also a person affected like you and am always here to support you, sir.

Dear Nithya Madam,

Good morning and thank you for your support in this issue. If we want to publish it in The Hindu, it should be published on Wednesdays under the topic HRD TALK.

I would like to know to which email ID we need to forward the said content. I am not going to mention the name of the hotel, General Manager, etc., but it should be eye-catching for the readers so that they themselves will come to know about it. Am I right or wrong?

Please guide me if I am wrong.

Thanks & Regards,