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HR Is Not Your Friend. Before You Complain At Work, Watch This... - YouTube
Channel: Jennifer Brick
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I'm going to report my toxic boss to HR. Uou think
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that's a good idea? Well, to be honest, it might
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get you fired. So it might not always be the best
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thing to do before you go calling HR, you need to
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watch this to know exactly what hrs function
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actually is.
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Spoiler alert: it's not to protect you.
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The reason why I've only recommended to contact
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HR, and maybe one video out of all of the toxic
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workplace and workplace issues videos that I've
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made on my channel, and what you need to make sure
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you have in place before you talk to HR, if you
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decide to talk to HR, there might be a little bit
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of tea spilling along the way, if you are here for
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the tea and tactics to navigate obstacles at work,
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and maybe to accelerate your career success,
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consider subscribing and turning notifications on
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so you don't miss a video. If you are ready for
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this one, tap that like button. And let's jump
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straight into it. Oh, and real quick. I am a
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career strategist, not a lawyer. I'm a big
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advocate for working with lawyers, which I'm going
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to come back to and touch on. But I just want to
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be really, really clear here that none of this is
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legal advice. It is just tactical advice, career
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bestie to career bestie. You know, the first
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reason why you might not call HR to discuss your
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workplace issues with him is you might not have an
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HR team. And really, in my videos, this is one of
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the main reasons why I don't recommend calling HR.
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Because if you're in a small or even a midsize
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company, you might not have an HR team. And in my
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discussions with a lot of you, I know that you are
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working in companies where you don't have an HR
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team. Or on the other hand, if you're in a company
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that does have an HR, they might be small, they
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might not be very empowered. I also know that some
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of you are working with really big companies, but
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you might be remote, or you might be in locations
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where you don't have an HR person sitting on site
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with you. So you might not have the trusted
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relationship that makes them the first person that
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you're going to go to, um, because I want my
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videos to be able to help as many people as
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possible, I keep these things in mind. And I don't
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want my advice to be go and talk to HR when a lot
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of you don't have an HR person that you can
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actually talk to, for example, in a toxic company
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that I worked for, there was no HR team, what was
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I going to do complain to my toxic boss about the
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fact that they were toxic boss, and you might be
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in that exact same situation. And even if you do
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have an HR team, if the issue that you're having
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can be handled on your own, handle it on your own,
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like the mature professional that you are, and
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obviously if you're at some big company, you're at
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one of the Fang companies or some blue chip, not
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having HR is not going to be a problem that you
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have. And the way that those HR teams is going to
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function very differently than an HR team would at
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a smaller company. Which brings me to the second
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point before you go and call HR. And that's that
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you really need to know what HR actually does. I'm
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super curious to hear from you. What do you think
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the role of HR is in your company, job and in the
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comments down below, and I'm gonna explain it but
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I really am curious to hear from you. First, to
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understand HR fully, we need to look back to the
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origins of human resources. And when we do that,
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we actually find that human resources emerged as a
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way to stop employees from unionizing. So there
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were original job was to do things like make sure
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that people were being paid an adequate wage, so
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that they didn't unionize, to demand more now as
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human resources has evolved out, of course, modern
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workplaces has evolved from back in the day where
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we were like building horses or something like
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that. The HR team handles some very specific
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things. Some of the functions that fall into the
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HR team nowadays include recruiting employee
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records, benefits, people policies, discipline,
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performance reviews, and appraisals and people
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grow. Now I know that all sounds like warm and
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fuzzy things. But there's something that's very
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important. And this is actually the key function
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of an HR team at most companies. today. Human
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Resources is there to protect the company
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just like how back in the day of yesteryear, their
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job was to stop people from unionizing because it
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wasn't in the best interest of the company. Today,
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they are still there to protect the best interest
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of the company. And while I don't want to
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completely over generalize because there are
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amazing HR teams and HR professionals like my
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friend Tiffany, who I chatted with here live last
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week, I'll link it because you absolutely should
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check that out. And if you haven't already, for
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the most part, what this means is HR doesn't do
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one specific thing advocate for you. The job of HR
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ultimately comes down to making sure that the
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company doesn't get sued for something not to make
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sure that your boss isn't up to you to further
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compound this. I do think that a lot of HR
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professionals do have the best of intentions when
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they're choosing that as the career path. But what
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isn't often discussed that I really want to touch
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on today is the fact that the HR team has
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constraints they might be disempowered by
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leadership, or they might be the enablers of bad
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behavior and toxic work environments, because of
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the person who's leading the function. Yep, I've
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heard a lot of stories about toxic AF, senior HR
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leaders, don't worry, I have a little storytime
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that I'll come back to on that point in just a
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minute. What I really want you to know from this
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and how HR is structured, and what it actually
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does, is knowing that you are your best advocate.
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And in some cases, you might be your only advocate
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at work. And when that's the case, knowing your
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value and demonstrating it regularly is crucial.
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And this is why knowing and owning your unique
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awesomeness quotient, your UI IQ is so important.
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If you've heard me talking about it, and you're
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like, Jennifer, I don't have time for a whole
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workshop. Well, I just created a brand new you aq
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starter kit, it's a guide, you can download it
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absolutely for free, I'm gonna link it in the
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description down below, I definitely recommend a
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copy because I think it's really going to help you
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in knowing that value and being your own best
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advocate. And this actually brings me to the next
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thing to consider before calling HR. I've seen way
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too many instances where this consideration was
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skipped, and then had disastrous results you can
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be retaliated against for complaining to HR about
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workplace issues. Again, not a lawyer not giving
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any legal advice here. I know that in most cases,
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and most places, this is completely illegal, it
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being illegal doesn't mean that it doesn't happen
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if the issue that you report is one that they
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decide goes against the best interest of the
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company. Yikes. And that brings us to toxic HR
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storytime. Now, just to preface this absolutely
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should not happen. This client absolutely needed
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to talk to a lawyer. And this was highly
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problematic. But it happened my client was being
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discriminated against and not being given equal
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opportunities on the basis of her gender at work.
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This was a widely known problem at the company and
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it just was not being addressed and fed up with
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what was happening. My client decided to complain
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to HR. Well, you can see where this is going. The
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HR leader she was working with happened to be
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patriarchy, Patty and patriarchy, Patti decided
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she was the problem. Why? Because when there is
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legitimately gender discrimination, the company
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can get sued. And it was patriarchy Patty HR reps
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job to make sure that that wasn't happening.
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Spoiler alert, she wasn't doing that job very
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well. And instead of fixing the problem, she
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decided that my client was the issue, it was
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easier for her to construct a narrative that my
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client was underperforming. Despite all of the
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metrics to the contrary, then to fix the root of
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the problem. And as a result of making her
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complaint to HR, we needed to enter crisis mode to
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make sure that she preserved her job until she was
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able to exit safely with another job offer. Or on
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the other hand, HR just might not care about the
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problem. And this is one I've witnessed firsthand,
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I worked at a company where the only HR
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representative of the company proudly proclaimed
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to the entire office that she had no issues with
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any
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toxic AF behavior unless someone complained about
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it. Because you know, she was cool. And I can tell
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you exactly what I thought when I heard her
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proudly proclaim this in front of the entire
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office. I gotta get out of here. And this probably
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leaves you with the question, How can I tell if my
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HR team is going to support me? Or if they're
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going to be against me, especially when you have a
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legitimate workplace issue, which requires Human
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Resources intervention, the first thing that I
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encourage you to do is to look at ways that HR has
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reacted in the past, have your colleagues launched
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a complaint about unfair treatment or the demands
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of the job when they haven't been heard by your
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manager? If you know of any instances where your
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co workers have complained to HR was HR helpful,
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or were they harmful in the situation, this is
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going to be a great indicator for you who you're
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actually dealing with if you are in a smaller
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setting where you also have access in general to
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the HR person or to the HR team, gauge the
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sentiments and the relationship that you have with
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them when you're interacting with them. And do you
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feel like there is a level of trust, what
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sentiments have they expressed about how they
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improved employee experience and employee
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retention and those serious issues like we just
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mentioned, because if you're working with mild HR
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rep, she made a pretty obvious that she was not
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going to be helpful at all. Another thing that can
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also be very helpful is if you do have an employee
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handbook, which most companies really should have,
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the employee handbook will often outline to you
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the instances in which you should be engaging your
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HR team for assistance, or where you should
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potentially be looking elsewhere. And that brings
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me directly into the next point that it's really
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important for us to discuss when it comes to
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calling HR and that is when you should go to HR
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and what you need to have on hand when you do so
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there is the obvious low risk kind of
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administrative stuff that HR does that obviously
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you need to go to them with if you have a
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questions about a tax form or your benefits, your
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HR person is there to help you out. That is their
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job. On the other hand if you're looking to come
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plane at work to HR about more serious workplace
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issues, such as a toxic boss, toxic co workers, a
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hostile working environment, or you know any of
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those illegal things, you need to have a few
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things ready before you do. First of all, pull up
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on your detective hat and bring some evidence with
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you. A paper trail is going to be ideal is there
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emails, instant messages, screenshots, detailed
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notes for meetings that you've had with a toxic
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individual or about the toxic situation, when
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you're lodging a complaint about illegal things
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and hostile work environments, you don't want to
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make it a matter of opinion, you want to make it a
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matter of facts. And having evidence is going to
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help you build your case. If it helps just pretend
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you're like on one of those CSI shows and gather
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everything that you can. The second tip I have for
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you, especially if you see any potential risk for
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retaliation is to consult a lawyer, I know that
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this cost money, I know that not everyone has an
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employment lawyer that they work with on a regular
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basis. But honestly the money that you're going to
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spend to have a consultation to make sure that you
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are framed for success in the conversation and in
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the complaint at work. And also having someone
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lined up in case things go sideways is going to
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give you peace of mind. And they will also be able
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to give you specific advice on your situation, the
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case law and the laws of the land in which you
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live. Really my motto here is better safe than
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sorry, if you don't have an employment lawyer and
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you're looking for one that you can trust, you can
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do things such as ask friends, former colleagues,
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or even just use internet reviewers to help you
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find a good one. And finally, especially in those
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more serious situations, such as a hostile work
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environment, or where harassment and
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discrimination are taking place. And you do fear
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that there might be retaliation that occurs, make
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sure that you have a solid plan B and either be
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ready to execute or already have it in flight
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before you make your complaint. This doesn't mean
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that you have to have a job offer lined up, though
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I mean, that would be helpful. But doing things
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like brushing up your LinkedIn profile, updating
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your resume and activating your network are going
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to go a long way just in case you need it.
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Hopefully you won't. But again, better safe than
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sorry, I know I said that twice. But seriously,
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it's true in this instance. And on that note, I'd
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actually love to hear from you. Have you ever
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lodged a formal complaint about HR to something
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that was happening at work? Do you have any tips
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that you would add to the list? Let me know in the
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comments down below. In many instances, if you're
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dealing with a difficult boss or difficult co
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workers or just trying to navigate office
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politics, you're honestly better off on your own.
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I know those are challenging situations, but HR
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probably isn't even the best person to go to.
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Because let's face it, they don't necessarily know
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how to navigate office politics either. Luckily
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for you, you have my channel and I have a whole
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bunch of videos that are going to help you and as
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a starting point. If you're dealing with difficult
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people right now and you just need to know how to
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cope. I want you to go and watch this video right
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now. I'm usually on some steps to help you
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navigate that situation.
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But before you go If this video helps you figure
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out if you should talk to HR, complain to HR, give
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it a thumbs up it really helps my channel and it
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makes you my favorite career bestie if you haven't
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already consider subscribing for more of the best
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career success advice on the interwebs and as
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always, thank you so much for watching. I will see
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you in the next video my friends. Bye for now.
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