Has this ever happened to you?
njjel
1,235 Posts
My HR assistant just came to me and said that our top two managers said the company would pay for her to take an online college course in Human Resource Management if she would be interested. She has been with me for a year and a half and has had no formal training other than a few HR 1 day courses and on the job training I have given her. I, on the other hand, had no idea my superiors were making her this offer and I begin to question why I was cc'd on the memo to her. Seems a bit underhanded to me, but maybe I'm being paranoid?
Comments
1. Mary Jane told me that you want her to take some courses.
2. I was surprised that Mary Jane approached you about college courses.
My bet is that she mentioned something to them and they responded.
If they, out of the blue, mentioned this to her, then I would feel that it had gone over my head.
You mentioned a memo. Did you see it.
HR Assistant: "Gosh, I wish I had some formal HR training."
Top Managers: "Oh, did you know the company will pay for employees who want to take job-related classes?"
HR Assistant: "Really? That would be cool. I'll go talk to my totally awesome boss, Nijel."
To assume underhandedness would be a mistake at this point (in my opinion) without any other evidence.
I say be big about it and help your HR assistant get some training regardless of who gets the credit for suggesting it.
If so, I would first go to the one that you report to and simply explain in a very professional way that Mary Jane came to you and said that he or she (depending upon whether your boss is male or female) had e-mailed her that the the company would pay for her to take an online college course in Human Resource Management if she would be interested. I would go onto ask if there was a specific situation that occurred that prompted that e-mail? After listening to their answer, you could say that you agree that it would be helpful for Mary Jane to attend further training. Further explain that you had been planning to approach him/her about supplementing the expense of receiving her HR certification next year. You could also ask if there was a certain course he/she felt she should attend, or were they just recommending it in general? If your manager didn't send the e-mail, he/she will tell you, and if he/she did, I am sure they will explain further. After you discuss if it is unclear to you, you could ask if there was a reason why he/she didn't come to you first with the recommendation.
Hope your conversation goes well!
All education is good and it could only benefit you. The more she knows the more she can help you. Then the HR department could really shine. I have over 300 EE's and only 1 HR Generalist. We handle HR, Payroll, Benefits, W/C etc and so I want my assistant able to step in in my absence. I like holidays, vacation and I may not want to stay here forever so I want to leave them in good hands. They've been good to me!
Remember, they do not know that I am aware that they made this offer to my assistant.
Obviously you do not have a relationship where you can go into their office and say something to the effect, "Hey, I see you think that Mary Jane would do well with some additional courses in HR. I agree. However, I would like to be included in discussions (topics) (matters) (subjects) of this caliber in the future before they are discussed with my assistant. I have growth plans or outlines or specific agenda for Mary and would be happy to go over them with you.
It's a start.
I would add of course I think it's a great idea and how glad I was they offered it to her but I was disappointed I didn't know about it prior to her telling me. I would have been better prepared to encourage her to get started as quickly as possible. Of course this is just my opinion we all have our own way of doing things.
On the other hand, you could also just fly off the handle and rip into these managers for trying to pull an end run around you. You could accuse them of trying to get your assistant trained up so she could take your job.
This is probably not a good approach but it would make for a good forum discussion.
HR HEAVEN....Wonder what that would be like! Sanity or Insanity? Another discussion!
If I was not comfortable with that, I suppose I would just ask Suzy Q how it all went down, taking care with my tone so as not to sound accusatory or untrusting or paranoid, then figure out what to do with it from there.
It does make me crazy when people tell my assistant what to do, etc. Depending on who I'm addressing the issue with, I'll admit to them that maybe I'm being a little territorial, but she's MINE and I need to know what's going on before it goes on.
I would then say "you are the boss and of course what you say goes, but you KNOW how much we have to get done, and I wish you would have talked to me first. Do you understand how this will come across to Suzy Q when I tell her that she can NOT spend work time doing homework, even though you approved it, and we have other critical things to do?"
Kidding. I would not flip my lid, but I would go to my boss and ask her if it's true. There surely is a logical explanation for all this.
Ultimately, what the boss says, goes, and I guess be grateful they want to invest in her rather than making her (and you) muddle through on your own, and they feel so strongly about it they'll let her do school work at work.
They aren't breaking any laws, and only [b][i]you[/i][/b] can let them undermine your authority.
I think in this case, you should just work with it, make sure she's still prioritizing her work over homework, support the VP's decision when discussing with your employee, and seethe inside whenever you feel like it. x;-)
What kind of course are talking about? Are they sexually oriented? Ergo, doing the "course work" at work. x}>
I cannot believe that 2 educated individuals, reaching the rank of VP would be so blatanly stupid.