It's been my experience that human resource professionals fall into one of two camps – whether we're talking about the executives in the home office or the managers working with employees day-to-day in the cubicle trenches.
On the one side you have those working for the company, whose agenda is based on following the rules, protecting the company and, above all else, holding down costs.
On the other hand, you have those whose loyalty tilts toward the employees, working more as an advocate rather than an enforcer. These HR types tend to speak to employees more in terms of their rights rather than focusing where those rights end.
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Now I'm not making any value judgments about either type. They each have their place. And sometimes you're lucky enough to find someone who's a balanced mix of the two.
I'm not sure why this time of year always makes me think about these not-really-warring HR factions, but it does. Maybe with all the party planning, time off and end-of-year paperwork, my thoughts drift to all the "behind closed doors" work human resource departments have to deal with as we rush into the new year while the rest of us fret over the weather, gifts for the in-laws or trips to the mall to see overweight old guys in red velvet.
Speaking of which, did you see the latest stats? With this week marking the first full workweek of holiday shopping, roughly half of workers planned to hit the online stores this Cyber Monday while they were at the office – which I suppose takes up as much of one's Monday as managing a fantasy football team.
What's funny, though, is that on the heels of this latest annual report, roughly half of employers monitor employee Internet and email usage – a 3 percent jump over last year.
And in an encouraging sign Scrooge-like dispositions haven't swept the nation, less than 10 percent of HR managers said they'd fired employees for online shopping on the job. Maybe there's hope…
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