The Curious Case of The HR Department

 The functions and responsibilities of a Human Resources department range from recruiting to orienting new employees, creating job descriptions to monitoring policies. Nothing matters more to educational institutions than the teachers who work there. Schools are nothing without the right people!

How safe the teachers and other staff feel may eventually determine how well your HR department meets its prime responsibilities. Integrating school safety and people’s security in human resources management practices will foster a culture in which teaching and non-teaching staff stay together in harmony. The HR department should create an environment free of violence, reducing the risks of illness or injuries and other threats to individual safety.

Research has shown that the human aspect of resources within an organisation contributes approximately eighty percent of the organisation’s value. This implies that if people are not managed properly, the organisation faces a serious chance of falling apart. The Human Resource Department’s main objective is to bring out the best in their employees and thus contribute to the success of the School. 

And yet, the HR department at the school has recently engaged in counter-productive practices that left no doubt that their prime goal of enabling the staff has shifted to enabling a select few who have an ax to grind. It is unfathomable that the staff have been subjected to some extreme measures when they needed support and guidance most. Indeed, this has become an example of a systemic intimidation. Has it now become the weaponised branch that is used to enact this vendetta? What a curious situation we find ourselves in!

You would expect your HR manager to offer guidance, mitigate conflicts, advise against severe actions. However, staff are left in doubt about the expertise of the leadership of that department. Final warnings have been served without 'first warnings', without an action plan to redress the issues. Interrogation-style meetings were arranged and teachers were extracted from their classrooms in the middle of lessons leaving the students bemused as to why their lessons had been interrupted. 

It is clear that some action has to be put in place. Some training for the HR manager seems to be required as they seem to be unaware of the most basic principles of good human resources management.

The Human Resource Department should contribute to improve the school's culture through a well thought-out and executed procedure. They should realise that staff's personal fulfilment works better than just appeasing one person's thirst for vengeance and therefore should try to ensure safety and security are relevant to every staff member. 

Then HR should try to eliminate all inhibitions in staff member’s minds. If they are unaware of the staff morale now, then they have isolated themselves for far too long in their closed offices away from the reality of the workplace. The HR department is meant to enrich the school through recruitment procedures and prevent bad staffing decisions. To drive some of the teachers to quit is the polar opposite of what they are meant to do.

Improvements to HR's role in the school can be done by arranging training for their staff members, organising workshops with the teachers to explain the professional relationship between them and their employer, providing clear guidance on what to do in case of litigation etc.

 When you are working in an alien environment and have no access to the laws that protect you at work as you used to enjoy elsewhere, it is imperative that good human resources management should be a priority in any reputable organisation. 

It is time for some reality checks.