I was speaking to friend recently who is working for a big German firm in Chennai, India and the hot top for discussion was his abusive boss. I agreed to research and let him know what measures he can take but during my research I was surprised to see how many few HR policies were available for action against them and even legally only few countries had labour laws supporting them.
In the current corporate scenario where emphasis is on emotional and social quotient of a person as a future HR manger I feel helpless and a little astonished that such provisions are not available to us.
Managing the stress full life of work is in itself hard and adding a boss who does not hesitate to verbally and non verbally abuse you is tougher. Dealing with someone who not only mentally but emotionally tires you down is a an art which many of us might lag specially emotionally vulnerable people and workers bought up in cultural areas where respect, man ego etc are considered very important. On top of all this bringing the morals down of a person publically is not ethically or morally right also according to me.
While researching the 5 most common advices I found where:
1.Know where to draw the line.
2.Befriend HR.
3.Don’t be afraid to go over their heads.
4. Know your rights.
But what is one suppose to do when all this fails. Well as a future HR manager Iam not very satisfied or convinced with this.
I agree with wanting to meet targets, achieving high standards and all other aim of a company but at the same time we need to make the working environment healthy and welcoming to our employees. Its important for us to ensure that or employees feel safe and want to align their growth with the company's growth.
I personally feel that we need to create an environment where the under links aren't afraid to approach us and anonymity is maintained but at the same time we need to also help these kind of bosses change their leadership style. Most importantly companies need to ensure they have a set HR policies against mental abuse of an employee and mangers also need to be well versed with them. Also training mangers on regular bases is important.
So lets move forward to create a healthy work environment keeping in mind the physiologically aspects of everyone and as HR mangers staying on our toes and making the work place a happier place.