Pressure-proofing Your Organisation Train the Trainer Toolkit with Delegate Workbook and Powerpoint Slides
Click HERE
Crucial Dialogueat Critical Moments
A 90-minute powerful, interactive workshop on verbal interventions for HR staff in a crisis
Click HERE
Sign up for your 
Book Carole "Excellent workshop from Carole Spiers and vital for those who want their organisations to become less stressful and practice Healthy workplace culture".
Ministry of Health, Malaysia
Motivational Speaker Carole Spiers
on the dilemmas of the HR professional
The role of the HR department in enforcing company rules on personal conduct may seem simple enough. Those rules are put there for good reasons, largely to do with protecting the work environment and its effect on staff, and outwardly it looks like a straightforward policing agenda, where offenders are suitably penalised in the interests of good order.
But rules tend to proliferate, and today’s employees are inclined to question the practicality of a heavy rule-book that sometimes seems to describe some imaginary fairy-kingdom of peace and virtue. In any case, too many rules are liable to conflict (that’s why we say they’re made to be broken). But the 'Human' in 'HR' should give the clue that mere rules alone cannot ensure consistently high morale in the workplace.
Confessional role
Someone said the HR has to be part-confessor, part-arbiter, part-judge. So ironically, an HR professional who appeared to have no faults would not be seen as quite human, and in whom it would be impossible to confide. But that is an important part of the HR function - encouraging the discussion of problems early, before they worsen.
Experience shows that the HR role has less to do with the fine print than with a kind of general overview, called ‘monitoring of intent’. It is the intervention of a seasoned professional, who knows all about the temptation to pin-up unsuitable pictures, organise an in-house betting ring, or take unauthorised absence.
And their task is to maintain credibility in guiding the occasional offender in the right direction towards a workplace culture where common decency touches hands with common sense.
Company rules - Summary
- Workplace conduct is not optimised merely by written rules
- HR professionals must be visibly human enough to confide in
- Their role is ‘monitoring intent’, to encourage a healthy workplace culture
Another key insight from Carole Spiers, International Leading Authority on Corporate Stress,
Motivational Speaker and BBC Broadcaster.
