{"id":3709,"date":"2019-10-17T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-10-17T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sonusbenefits.com\/hr-psa-sometimes-its-not-your-problem\/"},"modified":"2019-10-17T19:18:20","modified_gmt":"2019-10-17T19:18:20","slug":"hr-psa-sometimes-its-not-your-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonusbenefits.com\/hr-psa-sometimes-its-not-your-problem\/","title":{"rendered":"HR PSA: Sometimes it\u2019s Not Your Problem"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>You got into HR because you genuinely like helping people. You care about other people\u2019s wellbeing and you see the value in building systems that are mutually beneficial for both individuals and companies. You\u00a0take\u00a0pride in being able to listen, empathize, and help people deal with problems.<\/p>\n<p>But being a people person comes with its own challenges. You want to be able to help everyone, but in HR (and in life) that doesn\u2019t always mean\u00a0allowing them to bring all their problems to you.\u00a0You\u2019ve got to balance the needs of the company with the needs of individual workers. That does not mean you\u2019re supposed to be the company therapist.<\/p>\n<p>Although playing the role of the listener is often a part of being in HR, it isn\u2019t your job to listen to employees complain about each other.\u00a0There are more productive ways to deal with those issues.<\/p>\n<h3>Constructive Conversations<\/h3>\n<p>When employees approach you to complain about a problem they\u2019re having with someone on their team,\u00a0or their manager, do a quick evaluation to see if they should be talking with you or if they should be taking the first steps to addressing the issue.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Have they tried to solve the problem themselves?<\/li>\n<li>Do you get the sense they just want to change the other person?<\/li>\n<li>Are they trying to absolve themselves of accountability?<\/li>\n<li>Do they simply want to vent and aren\u2019t interested in coming up with solutions?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In these cases, they should be exploring other methods of addressing the problem rather than giving it to you.\u00a0Coaching employees and managers to have constructive conversations on their own is key for teams to run effectively. People need to learn to approach, talk about, and solve problems within their team in a professional manner.<\/p>\n<p>It\u00a0might include coaching on key concepts like\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.asaporg.com\/articles\/communication\/active-listening-the-art-of-effective-communication\">active listening<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/carolkinseygoman\/2011\/05\/31\/the-art-and-science-of-mirroring\/#7641f4de1318\">mirroring<\/a>, and how to create\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/ashiraprossack1\/2018\/10\/28\/how-to-have-difficult-conversations-at-work\/#5d04042e10b7\">value<\/a>\u00a0from a conversation.\u00a0Unless it is a matter of safety, such as harassment,\u00a0this\u00a0should be the first step anyone takes when dealing with an interpersonal problem at work.<\/p>\n<p>If your company culture pushes people into the arms of HR before they\u2019ve tried addressing the problem themselves,\u00a0some changes may be in order. Take steps toward\u00a0adjusting the company\u00a0culture around internal problem solving\u00a0and empowering people to address some level of challenges on their own.<\/p>\n<h3>Need extra support?<\/h3>\n<p>Empowering people to manage their own\u00a0concerns\u00a0and disputes\u00a0is a great way to develop a team. However, sometimes employees are dealing with\u00a0something\u00a0much larger than an interpersonal issue.<\/p>\n<p>Problems\u00a0stemming from mental illness,\u00a0grief,\u00a0or trauma\u00a0are common and can go unknown to teammates. It may be manifesting itself in disagreements\u00a0with other coworkers,\u00a0negativity,\u00a0and\u00a0decreased engagement. HR may be\u00a0the right answer\u00a0to help\u00a0in these situations, and you\u2019ll need to take the time to uncover the real issue.<\/p>\n<p>But often personal problems like this need extra assistance.\u00a0Some companies have employee assistance programs\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.opm.gov\/faqs\/QA.aspx?fid=4313c618-a96e-4c8e-b078-1f76912a10d9&amp;pid=2c2b1e5b-6ff1-4940-b478-34039a1e1174\">(EAPs)<\/a>\u00a0that are designed to help with these issues. Having an EAP\u00a0and pointing employees to these services\u00a0may be especially useful if there was a recent event involving workplace violence\u00a0or harassment.<\/p>\n<p>There are other resources\u00a0outside of your company\u00a0you can tap into to help deal with a problem that\u00a0is\u00a0beyond the capacity of HR. It\u2019s important to be familiar with them so you can make informed recommendations\u00a0for\u00a0what\u2019s needed to help maintain workplace health.<\/p>\n<p>Here are some supporting resources you can tap into:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Hire a\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.free-management-ebooks.com\/faqch\/principles-05.htm\">coach<\/a>\u00a0to come work with your team<\/li>\n<li>Offer\u00a0in-person or over-the-phone\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.personneltoday.com\/hr\/workplace-counselling-helps-employees-employers\/\">counseling options<\/a>\u00a0to employees<\/li>\n<li>Have a list of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/psychcentral.com\/lib\/common-hotline-phone-numbers\/\">hotlines<\/a>\u00a0you can\u00a0reference for\u00a0employees struggling with personal issues<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Saying no<\/h3>\n<p>Learning to say no to people approaching HR with the wrong problems can be difficult, especially when your first instinct is to help. But\u00a0sometimes it\u2019s necessary\u2014although\u00a0it doesn\u2019t mean that the problem goes ignored.<\/p>\n<p>When you send someone away to deal with a problem themselves, and you give them the tools to do so, you are challenging them to take accountability for their situation and assume a leadership role in addressing the issue. You are empowering them by teaching them how to deal with future workplace\u00a0challenges\u00a0and showing them they have the ability to solve\u00a0it\u00a0on their own. You\u2019re also taking a lot of unnecessary work off your plate. It\u2019s a win-win.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Content provided by\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.q4intel.com\/employers\/\"><em>Q4iNetwork<\/em><\/a><em>\u00a0and partners<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Photo by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.123rf.com\/profile_pressmaster\">Dmitrii Shironosov<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/track.hubspot.com\/__ptq.gif?a=1652561&amp;k=14&amp;r=https%3A%2F%2Finsights.q4intel.com%2Femployers%2Fhr-psa-sometimes-its-not-your-problem&amp;bu=https%253A%252F%252Finsights.q4intel.com%252Femployers&amp;bvt=rss\" alt=\"\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You got into HR because you genuinely like helping people. You care about other people\u2019s wellbeing and you see the value in building systems that are mutually beneficial for both individuals and companies. You\u00a0take\u00a0pride in being able to listen, empathize, and help people deal with problems. But being a people person comes with its own&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":3711,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[33,35,29],"tags":[34,36,31],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.12 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>HR PSA: Sometimes it\u2019s Not Your Problem - Sonus Benefits<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sonusbenefits.com\/hr-psa-sometimes-its-not-your-problem\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"HR PSA: Sometimes it\u2019s Not Your Problem - Sonus Benefits\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"You got into HR because you genuinely like helping people. You care about other people\u2019s wellbeing and you see the value in building systems that are mutually beneficial for both individuals and companies. You\u00a0take\u00a0pride in being able to listen, empathize, and help people deal with problems. But being a people person comes with its own...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sonusbenefits.com\/hr-psa-sometimes-its-not-your-problem\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sonus Benefits\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-10-17T10:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-10-17T19:18:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sonusbenefits.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Hands20Up20Buisnessman82174244_s.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"848\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"565\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sonus Benefits\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sonus Benefits\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sonusbenefits.com\/hr-psa-sometimes-its-not-your-problem\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sonusbenefits.com\/hr-psa-sometimes-its-not-your-problem\/\",\"name\":\"HR PSA: Sometimes it\u2019s Not Your Problem - Sonus Benefits\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sonusbenefits.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-10-17T10:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-10-17T19:18:20+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sonusbenefits.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a8774e9c530e50247f461c5a2de9fa86\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sonusbenefits.com\/hr-psa-sometimes-its-not-your-problem\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sonusbenefits.com\/hr-psa-sometimes-its-not-your-problem\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sonusbenefits.com\/hr-psa-sometimes-its-not-your-problem\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sonusbenefits.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"HR PSA: Sometimes it\u2019s Not Your Problem\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sonusbenefits.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sonusbenefits.com\/\",\"name\":\"Sonus Benefits\",\"description\":\"Employee Benefits\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/sonusbenefits.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sonusbenefits.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a8774e9c530e50247f461c5a2de9fa86\",\"name\":\"Sonus Benefits\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sonusbenefits.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2f8462974fee9ad2ace20d837216c41e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2f8462974fee9ad2ace20d837216c41e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Sonus Benefits\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/sonusbenefits.com\/author\/sonusbenefits\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"HR PSA: Sometimes it\u2019s Not Your Problem - Sonus Benefits","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sonusbenefits.com\/hr-psa-sometimes-its-not-your-problem\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"HR PSA: Sometimes it\u2019s Not Your Problem - Sonus Benefits","og_description":"You got into HR because you genuinely like helping people. You care about other people\u2019s wellbeing and you see the value in building systems that are mutually beneficial for both individuals and companies. You\u00a0take\u00a0pride in being able to listen, empathize, and help people deal with problems. But being a people person comes with its own...","og_url":"https:\/\/sonusbenefits.com\/hr-psa-sometimes-its-not-your-problem\/","og_site_name":"Sonus Benefits","article_published_time":"2019-10-17T10:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-10-17T19:18:20+00:00","og_image":[{"width":848,"height":565,"url":"https:\/\/sonusbenefits.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Hands20Up20Buisnessman82174244_s.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Sonus Benefits","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sonus Benefits","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sonusbenefits.com\/hr-psa-sometimes-its-not-your-problem\/","url":"https:\/\/sonusbenefits.com\/hr-psa-sometimes-its-not-your-problem\/","name":"HR PSA: Sometimes it\u2019s Not Your Problem - Sonus Benefits","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sonusbenefits.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2019-10-17T10:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2019-10-17T19:18:20+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/sonusbenefits.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a8774e9c530e50247f461c5a2de9fa86"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sonusbenefits.com\/hr-psa-sometimes-its-not-your-problem\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sonusbenefits.com\/hr-psa-sometimes-its-not-your-problem\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sonusbenefits.com\/hr-psa-sometimes-its-not-your-problem\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sonusbenefits.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"HR PSA: Sometimes it\u2019s Not Your Problem"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sonusbenefits.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sonusbenefits.com\/","name":"Sonus Benefits","description":"Employee Benefits","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sonusbenefits.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sonusbenefits.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a8774e9c530e50247f461c5a2de9fa86","name":"Sonus Benefits","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sonusbenefits.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2f8462974fee9ad2ace20d837216c41e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2f8462974fee9ad2ace20d837216c41e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Sonus Benefits"},"url":"https:\/\/sonusbenefits.com\/author\/sonusbenefits\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonusbenefits.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3709"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonusbenefits.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonusbenefits.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonusbenefits.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonusbenefits.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3709"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sonusbenefits.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3709\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonusbenefits.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonusbenefits.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonusbenefits.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonusbenefits.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}