In organizations that do not have on-staff Human Resources support, figuring out the “chain of command” can be confusing. Who does the employee reach out to?
When an employee has a complaint against their direct supervisor, or an employee’s rights or standards under the law have been interfered with or denied, and/or when they believe, in good faith, that they have been wrongfully accused or disciplined, the employee has a legally-protected right under either the Employment Standards Act, Health and Safety Act, or Human Rights Code, (as appropriate in the situation) to appeal the discipline or decision that was made.
In non-profit organizations, they should reach out to the President of their Board of Directors, but they may not know who that is or how to contact that person. In small, for-profit organizations there may be no one for the employee to speak to in order to file their appeal.
This usually means that either the employee “lives with” the discipline (something we don’t recommend due to morale issues), they quit, or they contact the appropriate Government department to seek assistance with their concerns. This can lead to investigations, fines, and unnecessary work for both the employer and employee.
The solution to this problem is an Independent Human Resources Professional. They are neutral, third party resources and provide a cushion between your employees and management, helping to reduce the perceptions of nepotism and favouritism that sometimes happen in smaller organizations.
An HR professional will help you to deal with employee discipline and terminations, can conduct independent investigations, provide your business with advice, and assist you with government and legal compliance needs. Independent HR Professionals can offer guidance and support to either party as needed.
The cost to hire Independent HR is easily justified, because you are no longer spending the majority of your time and effort on these problems and errors and the related costs are reduced significantly.
Just imagine how much time and money you could save, by having the proper tools to deal with those “headache” employee performance and management issues! The time spent working on HR issues can now be devoted back you what you really want to do – building and running your business!