ee unhappy; does HR intervene?

HR Beginner · July 2004

There's a 2-mo. new ee who discussed in passing, how unhappy she was in her job and that she is actively seeking other employment.

She is doing well in her job duties; it's the interpersonal relationships within her department that's the problem, that I don't think will ever change.

Is there implied confidentiality here or is it HR's role to speak to her supervisor about this? I don't want to create more problems for her either.

Down_the_Middle · July 2004

If employee retention has some value to your org, I'd recommend informing the Supervisor of what was 'heard". Let the Suprv determine whether or not to intervene. I see nothing of implied confidentiality by the passing remark.

dchr9203 · July 2004

Part of our responsibility as HR professionals is to be proactively striving to retain our good employees. I would share the concern with the supervisor and give them the opportunity to salvage the relationship.

ljohnson · July 2004

I try to make a point to ask the employee what action they would like me to take. When a comment is made in passing like this, I might approach them later and tell them I'm concerned. Not necessarily in this situation, but I've found that sometimes employees just want to vent a little (kind of like HR people on a message board!) and feel like someone listens to them.

Keep in mind that I have taken it upon myself to bring some touchy-feeliness into our mfg plant and am trying to make people feel like people, not numbers.

DeidreFR5 · July 2004

I mght ask the employee to tell me more, either in my office or ask them to join me for coffee. I'd let the supervisor know about the unhappiness - sometimes its the ee, sometimes the department. Its good to know which one.

pork1 · July 2004

HR Beginner: I would not intercede sometimes we in HR have a tendancy to try to help each and every "piggy" in the litter. You just should become involved when there is obviously a strong personal link between you and the concerned ee on the floor. EEs are grown ups and some just might need to have the event of failure to hit them up beside the head in order to get right in the world of work. Hrs can easily become involved and for the wrong reasons. let it ride, exit interview and discuss the failure later with the supervisor/manager to discover any trends that might be corrected for the sake of other new employees.

Dandy PORK

mwild31 · July 2004

I would follow up with her and ask her what she's done to fix things since the two of you had the conversation. If she's done nothing to better her perspective of the company since her conversation with you, then you might want to take this as opportunity to coach her through the process and recommend a course of action she could take that would include speaking to co-workers, her immediate supervisor or even her manager. In my company, but I realize not all HR departments/managers do this, if an ee told me they were unhappy, I'd find out first what they've done about it and second, I would ask them if they want me to intervene (mediate) on their behalf. My company is so small that any time someone leaves, it costs a lot of money for us to replace them (ad costs, application/resume review, interviews, selection, on the job training, etc.), so if I can help in any way to keep bodies producing, I do what I can. The other thing that I know is that not every company fits everybody. If your ee is unwilling to work through the process, then it's only a matter of time before they leave. Just my thoughts.

njjel · July 2004

We have a policy of doing a new-hire evaluation at 90 days. This is where these things can be brought up by the supervisor as your form should allow for ee input. If you don't already have such a policy you may wish to consider adopting one.

You state things aren't going change, so maybe you need to look at cleaning house!

ee unhappy; does HR intervene?

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