Summary: Outdated views of HR continue to impact trust and credibility. By continuously listening to feedback, taking and communicating action, HR can gain the trust it deserves.
From the days of ‘personnel management’ to HR’s now strategic position within organisations, the scope of the profession has changed significantly. However, outdated views of HR still endure, impacting the trust people have in the HR function and the credibility of the profession.
How many of these do you still hear today?
- HR looks after hiring and firing
- HR only gets involved if you’re in trouble
- HR = red tape and bureaucracy
- HR works for the managers/organisation.
And I’m sure there are more!
How did we get here?
As custodians of people policies, it is common for HR to be perceived as ‘enforcers’, ensuring managers apply policies correctly, supporting and managing individuals appropriately.
The perception of HR ‘working for the organisation’ is understandable. HR teams play a vital role in managing risks for the organisation. Not only ensuring people practices adhere to relevant employment laws, but also the risks that arise from employee relations issues.
Over time, the purview of the profession has expanded to encompass all elements of the employee journey and experience, including culture, wellbeing, inclusion and reward, and more.
Beyond the transactional elements of ‘personnel management’, HR now has a broad strategic role responsible for the organisation’s most important resource: its people.
Naturally, this presents a paradox between ‘managing’ employees, while being responsible for creating a positive employee experience.
As custodians of people policies, it is common for HR to be perceived as ‘enforcers’
What can we do?
We need to understand our current state of employee experience, both with the organisation and, specifically, the HR function. This will help to identify areas of improvement and measures of success.
- Focus on activities that will improve perceptions of organisational justice, which will help to build trust. Decisions affecting individuals will likely link to people policies
- Focus on fostering psychological safety, where individuals can be themselves, communicate and participate safely, without fear of negative consequences
- Take action and communicate the outcomes. Evidencing the impact of actions will build credibility and trust in the HR team, and with the organisation.
How to get started
Carry out a perception survey or use feedback groups, find out how employees perceive the HR function and why. Some of the findings may not be what you want to hear, but this will give you the information you need to make meaningful changes.
Be sure to include different levels. The relationship with HR changes with each level and so too will people’s perception of the function.
Look at the bigger picture. What does your data tell you about your current employee experience? Look at engagement survey results, sickness trends, turnover and leaver feedback, plus any other feedback you can gather from colleague representatives or network groups.
Taking action
Feedback and ideas are only effective if they are acted on. Review what your data is telling you and identify the areas for improvement.
Look out for quick wins that you can use to demonstrate immediate action and build momentum. Some improvements may take more time. Highlight those that will have the most impact and prioritise them.
For example, if query response times or communication is an issue, what can you do differently? Maybe create a central inbox that is always covered, use a CRM, introduce SLAs and improve internal processes for managing queries.
Close the loop
For any feedback activities, it’s important to let people know what has resulted from their input. This demonstrates that you have listened and builds trust through action. Furthermore, it will support psychological safety, encouraging people to continue sharing their thoughts in the future.
Even if you are unable to act on something, still let people know. Share how you have reviewed the feedback and explain why it has not been possible, or if an alternative has been considered instead. Transparency and understanding the decision-making process will support individuals’ sense of organisational justice and trust in the process.
Keep going
One and done is destined for failure. Focus on continuous improvement.
Periodically seek feedback to identify if your actions have achieved the desired results and highlight where further improvements are needed. Allow time between feedback activities to continue taking action and communicating updates.
You don’t need to wait for structured review activities. Capture feedback informally through the everyday interactions your HR team are having with colleagues and managers.
Remember to regularly review your broader people data and use it together to support more well-rounded decisions.
One and done is destined for failure. Focus on continuous improvement
Further improvements: Key areas to focus on
Beyond the specific improvements identified through the activities above, there are some general areas you can focus on to help improve individuals’ trust in HR and with the organisation.
1. Communications plan
While there are certain things HR are unable to communicate due to confidentiality, there are plenty of communication opportunities to share what HR has been involved in and improve people’s understanding of the function.
Partner with your communications team to create a structured communications plan, aligned to your people strategy. Use a variety of communication methods and channels to reach people around your organisation.
Find the right balance between necessary business updates and positive HR-related updates to keep people informed and maintain momentum.
2. Policies and procedures
Review your people policies and procedures. While they need to be up-to-date (especially with the recent Employment Rights Act 2025 changes), they need to be easy to understand and accessible.
Are they written in simple language, formatted clearly and consistently, and all in one place where people can find them?
Individuals may not like a policy if they are the subject of its enforcement, but they should be able to clearly see how and why decisions are made. The same applies to performance review processes, remuneration and development or anything that affects their experience at work.
3. Manager capability
Ensure managers are trained to understand key policies and procedures. More importantly, focus on developing managers’ people skills to better support their teams and particularly to build their confidence in having challenging conversations.
Consider a managers’ induction for new and existing managers alike, to build capability and consistency across your management population.
4. No more ‘HR said…’
The use of HR to protect managers and leaders from being the bearer of undesirable news needs to be eliminated.
This may be part of a larger piece of work on leadership behaviours, developing communication skills or commercial awareness learning.
Instil the importance of accountability, encouraging managers to own decisions about their team. Improve their understanding of their place within the organisation and owning decisions on behalf of the organisation.
5. HR’s internal processes
Are your HR team’s internal processes up to scratch? How long does it take to respond to queries? If different team members receive the same question, would they give a similar response?
Work within the team to identify better ways of working and establish standard operating procedures with SLAs, so all HR colleagues can resolve queries consistently and efficiently.
Monitor your performance alongside the feedback you receive from the activities detailed above.
The use of HR to protect managers and leaders from being the bearer of undesirable news needs to be eliminated
More than trust
Taking steps to build individuals’ trust in HR will improve trust in the organisation.
Listening to individuals to inform continuous improvements throughout the employee journey will improve employee experience.
By continuing to take action and measuring and communicating its impact, HR teams will build trust and credibility with individuals and leadership alike.
Your actionable insights
- Inform your approach with feedback and people data to prioritise areas you need to work on
- Focus on actions that will support individuals’ perceptions of organisational justice and psychological safety, which will build trust
- Remember to ‘close the loop’ so people know they have been listened to and that their feedback is valued
- Shout about what you do: plan regular communications to maintain momentum, promoting the work HR are involved in and the impact it has
- Focus on continuous improvement, with periodical feedback exercises to measure success and identify future actions.
If you enjoyed this article, read: Why good leaders don’t have all the answers
