How to Keep HR From Being the Employee Complaint Department

It seems that HR has become the place where employees go to vent about every petty slight or departmental squabble. And employees somehow expect HR to instantaneously fix them and smooth over all of their workplace-relationship issues. Certainly, when employees come to HR to lodge legitimate complaints of harassment, discrimination, or retaliation, of course, HR must listen, document and investigate. However, this petty nonsense with employees running to HR about anything and everything—and managers shirking their responsibilities in managing departmental conflicts— is getting out of control. 

The problem with HR being the Complaint Department is that organizational resources are not being allocated to HR to help deal with this increase in employee foot traffic. The result is that a lot of HR professionals, many of whom are women, are working longer and longer hours every week just to try to keep their heads above water with their workloads. And, with development in technologies have changed the way we work, HR is also much more accessible after work hours. Some HR professionals are beginning to hit a burn-out factor in their careers from a lack of work/life balance. 

In this enlightening and informative webinar, internationally recognized speaker, author, and HR consultant, Natalie Ivey, will discuss the eight root causes to the Complaint Department phenomenon. And, she will share very specific organizational and personal strategies to diplomatically push back on issues and problems that HR shouldn’t own.   

• Review the root causes of “The Complaint Department” 
• Recognize how HR’s involvement in departmental concerns is actually an enabling behavior that is creating the “on-ramp” for foot traffic to HR’s door
• Acquire communication tips and techniques to use when handling difficult, conflict-averse employees, and managers
• Identify strategies and best practices for managing employee relations’ issues to provide a platform for solutions
• Implement a consistent process for handling and documenting employee relations’ issues and HR investigations

• Employee Relations specialist
• Employee Relations manager
• Employee Relations director
• Labor Relations specialist
• Labor Relations manager
• Labor Relations director
• Human Resources specialist
• Human Resources manager
• Human Resources director

Natalie Ivey, MBA, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, is the president and CEO of Results Performance Consulting, Inc., (Rpchr.com), a company she founded in 2002. Natalie is an HR consultant, professional speaker, author, and educator within the HR profession. She designs and delivers targeted results-focused leadership, and professional development training programs, and works with organizations to address destructive leadership behaviors and organizational dysfunction. She assists clients in developing internal processes and capabilities within HR, risk management, and ethics departments to improve compliance with U.S. laws. 

Natalie is a subject-matter expert on managing employee relations and implementing processes to increase the effectiveness in conducting investigations involving allegations of harassment, discrimination, and retaliation. She is the author of two books: How to Conduct Internal Investigations: A Practical Guide for Human Resource Professionals and How to Keep HR From Being The Employee Complaint Department, both of which have received excellent reviews from SHRM, as well as HR and Employee Relations’ professionals. She is a dynamic and engaging speaker, who is known for her sense of humor and the "tell-it-like-it-is" approach to teaching HR education.