Yahoo! Finance: "Redefining personal finance for India's middle class" --> FREE Limited time offer: HR Zone » Human Resource Management » One On One with employees
Type: HR, Report if not a HR topic
As regards to the formats, you can use a simple sheet. The issues identified then can be taken care of by action plans & responsibilities.
Hi Ritika
Welcome aboard. Glad you understood my post hope you will be successful in implementing it.
Shalini
P.s Great Photo ...excellent back drop !!
:-)
Hi Nimali
One quick question - isn't the example you quoted effectively a policy thing i.e you were actually carrying a disciplinary investigation weren't you?
In such issues you have every right to summon the employees to attend the meetings according to your disciplinary policy and the issue you referred to was actually initiated by the mangement wasn't it?
But the question raised by Shivali is how to encourage employees to come to HR on day-to-day issues of their own accord.
Would be interested to know your views.
Shalini
5349 Views
17 Replies
5349 Views 17 Replies1 - 10
of 17 Replies
+4
One On One with employees
Type: HR, Report if not a HR topic
Posted 27-10-2009Reply
Hi,
I am planning to do One On One discussion with the employees. Can anyone share a structures format of how to start , move forward and end the discussion?
Basically i am looking for a discussion with the employee to discuss if the employee is facing any issues in the organization.
Thanks a lot!
Shivali
You can best search Youtube videos for role plays. With that I am sure that you will get the requisi... See Kamal's complete reply
As regards to the formats, you can use a simple sheet. The issues identified then can be taken care of by action plans & responsibilities.
Hi Shivali!
A one to one discussion to know about the issues in the organization means that you are having a very poor communication network in your organization and your first priority is to strengthen that network so that you should know before hand what employees are thinking before you actually ask them.
No employee would like to discuss with you if you are going by the rule book and want to have a one to one disucussion unless you have good rapport with employees and maintains good interpersonal relations with all employees. It is more important to inculcate that kind of climate in your organization so that the employees can trust you and come out openly with their ideas about issues or anything you want in your organization. So build that trust among them and win their confidence first before going for any discussion.
Most of the employees have a very wrong notion in most of the organizations about HR and they are more suspicious about HR rather than getting friendly with HR as a result of which one has to build healthy relations with all employees whether they like you or not and a lot of hard work, lot of tactical strength and good interpersonal skills are required to take this ahead. Employees should see HR as an angel rather than as a devil. Then your job becomes so easier and you need not have a discussion with them, they themselves will come out about everything over a cup of coffee in the comfort of cafetaria.
Good Luck!
Pradeep
A one to one discussion to know about the issues in the organization means that you are having a very poor communication network in your organization and your first priority is to strengthen that network so that you should know before hand what employees are thinking before you actually ask them.
No employee would like to discuss with you if you are going by the rule book and want to have a one to one disucussion unless you have good rapport with employees and maintains good interpersonal relations with all employees. It is more important to inculcate that kind of climate in your organization so that the employees can trust you and come out openly with their ideas about issues or anything you want in your organization. So build that trust among them and win their confidence first before going for any discussion.
Most of the employees have a very wrong notion in most of the organizations about HR and they are more suspicious about HR rather than getting friendly with HR as a result of which one has to build healthy relations with all employees whether they like you or not and a lot of hard work, lot of tactical strength and good interpersonal skills are required to take this ahead. Employees should see HR as an angel rather than as a devil. Then your job becomes so easier and you need not have a discussion with them, they themselves will come out about everything over a cup of coffee in the comfort of cafetaria.
Good Luck!
Pradeep
i completely agree with Pradeep Sir.... HR is the bridge between the employees and employer. Also the mouth piece of the employer so many times you have to give harsh decisions which places a wrong picture of HR dept in front of other employees. so its better to make very friendly relations with the employees.``
Shivali
If I were you I wouldn't chase them (employees) to participate in such a discussion but I would rather draw them out and let them come to HR on their own accord. In all my previous companies I made sure that all the employees in the organisation has access to their HR Advisers and every discusison has to be completely confidential. Ensure that any issues raised are brought to the authorities in a careful manner making sure that the identity of the complainat is not revealed (HR needs to be tactful in this).
Where & How to do it
In order for you to do this and to make sure you get good results what I ahve done was I reached out to all the employees, managers,teamleaders and any consultants. I set a HR Surgery session for each department and gave them 2 weeks notice and the venue was my office so if people want to talk to you they will notify you in advance and you can fill your dairy accordingly. Should you not have any people coming forward you will know it atleasta week in advance and as a result of which you can use that time for your other tasks.
If I were you I wouldn't schedule such sessions for more than 1.5 to 2 hrs a week. Each employee can be given a set amount of time. You could do these surgeries every week so every employee can book their time with you according to their convenience -it's time to make good use of your desktop applications be it Lotus Notes or Microsoft etc etc.
Unless otherwise requested by the employee that he/she does not want to meet you in the office premises you may then wish to meet with them in the cafeteria. It may not be a good use of time as you will have to shuttle between the café and your office shuld you have more than one appointment. If you don't have an office book a meeting room and then notify employees about the surgery. It's just my way of doing things.
Format
Unless otherwise stated by the employee about the issue to be discussed you may wish to personalise the format of the issues discussed from your exit interview questionnaire (you may not need all the question form the questionnaire but could use the format and a few questions). It would eb difficult for any senior HR Professional to advise you on this as we wouldn't know your role, sector or field of work. Just make sure you double check the questionnaire you are using is actually fulfilling the purpose of this exercise.
Hope this is helpful & happy to assits you further.
Shalini
If I were you I wouldn't chase them (employees) to participate in such a discussion but I would rather draw them out and let them come to HR on their own accord. In all my previous companies I made sure that all the employees in the organisation has access to their HR Advisers and every discusison has to be completely confidential. Ensure that any issues raised are brought to the authorities in a careful manner making sure that the identity of the complainat is not revealed (HR needs to be tactful in this).
Where & How to do it
In order for you to do this and to make sure you get good results what I ahve done was I reached out to all the employees, managers,teamleaders and any consultants. I set a HR Surgery session for each department and gave them 2 weeks notice and the venue was my office so if people want to talk to you they will notify you in advance and you can fill your dairy accordingly. Should you not have any people coming forward you will know it atleasta week in advance and as a result of which you can use that time for your other tasks.
If I were you I wouldn't schedule such sessions for more than 1.5 to 2 hrs a week. Each employee can be given a set amount of time. You could do these surgeries every week so every employee can book their time with you according to their convenience -it's time to make good use of your desktop applications be it Lotus Notes or Microsoft etc etc.
Unless otherwise requested by the employee that he/she does not want to meet you in the office premises you may then wish to meet with them in the cafeteria. It may not be a good use of time as you will have to shuttle between the café and your office shuld you have more than one appointment. If you don't have an office book a meeting room and then notify employees about the surgery. It's just my way of doing things.
Format
Unless otherwise stated by the employee about the issue to be discussed you may wish to personalise the format of the issues discussed from your exit interview questionnaire (you may not need all the question form the questionnaire but could use the format and a few questions). It would eb difficult for any senior HR Professional to advise you on this as we wouldn't know your role, sector or field of work. Just make sure you double check the questionnaire you are using is actually fulfilling the purpose of this exercise.
Hope this is helpful & happy to assits you further.
Shalini
Thanks for the input Shalini....the tips are very useful....
Regards,
... See Ratika Jasbir's complete reply
Regards,
... See Ratika Jasbir's complete reply
Hi Ritika
Welcome aboard. Glad you understood my post hope you will be successful in implementing it.
Shalini
P.s Great Photo ...excellent back drop !!
:-)
Dear Shivali,
I fully agree with Pradeep. When you compare the situation in your organization, you will be able to identify the weak areas as he mentioned in his reply.
I like to share my experience about a one on one discussion I had to do with our workshop employees. There was an incident, some memmoties have buried and stickers have thrown and hidden. I was newly recruited. Chairman wanted to give all workers a pay cut but that is unfair and illegal. I told him that I am going to have a face to face discussion, but at the moment I know that, it is not successful. I didn’t have a choice.
I went to the workshop with my assistant - HR Executive. There are ladies and gents. Before that I have asked the Factory Executive to inform them that there may be a face to face discussion with me. When I go there, they were aware about that. Those employees are the most innocent people I have ever seen. At the same time they were suffering from the fear of losing jobs. What I did 1stly was, I directly convinced them that every detail I receive is totally secret. My assistant also helped me there. Then I directly told them about the management decision, which was already communicated to them. I told them individually, that I don’t want them all to suffer for one person's sin. Actually most employees didn't talk. They said that they don’t know any thing. I was very patience at the time and was nodding to every word they say. Though I know they know many things, I didn’t demanded and I let them go. Finally one lady told me the truth. What happened in the work shop? What happened to her? I confirmed it with other trust worthy lady worker. She told me that she wanted to talk with me but she was afraid.
However I kept the trust I build up and I was friendly with all of them.
That may not be the best way to handle such a situation, but that was worked for me at that incident.
I recommend you the way Pradeep has suggested. You are not in a hurry to conduct such a discussion at the moment. So you can build up a trust worthy relationship with them. Just conduct the discussion in a friendly manner and win their trust.
All the best.
Nimali
I fully agree with Pradeep. When you compare the situation in your organization, you will be able to identify the weak areas as he mentioned in his reply.
I like to share my experience about a one on one discussion I had to do with our workshop employees. There was an incident, some memmoties have buried and stickers have thrown and hidden. I was newly recruited. Chairman wanted to give all workers a pay cut but that is unfair and illegal. I told him that I am going to have a face to face discussion, but at the moment I know that, it is not successful. I didn’t have a choice.
I went to the workshop with my assistant - HR Executive. There are ladies and gents. Before that I have asked the Factory Executive to inform them that there may be a face to face discussion with me. When I go there, they were aware about that. Those employees are the most innocent people I have ever seen. At the same time they were suffering from the fear of losing jobs. What I did 1stly was, I directly convinced them that every detail I receive is totally secret. My assistant also helped me there. Then I directly told them about the management decision, which was already communicated to them. I told them individually, that I don’t want them all to suffer for one person's sin. Actually most employees didn't talk. They said that they don’t know any thing. I was very patience at the time and was nodding to every word they say. Though I know they know many things, I didn’t demanded and I let them go. Finally one lady told me the truth. What happened in the work shop? What happened to her? I confirmed it with other trust worthy lady worker. She told me that she wanted to talk with me but she was afraid.
However I kept the trust I build up and I was friendly with all of them.
That may not be the best way to handle such a situation, but that was worked for me at that incident.
I recommend you the way Pradeep has suggested. You are not in a hurry to conduct such a discussion at the moment. So you can build up a trust worthy relationship with them. Just conduct the discussion in a friendly manner and win their trust.
All the best.
Nimali
Dear Shivali,
I fully agree with Pradeep. When you compare the situation in your orga... See Nimali's complete reply
I fully agree with Pradeep. When you compare the situation in your orga... See Nimali's complete reply
Hi Nimali
One quick question - isn't the example you quoted effectively a policy thing i.e you were actually carrying a disciplinary investigation weren't you?
In such issues you have every right to summon the employees to attend the meetings according to your disciplinary policy and the issue you referred to was actually initiated by the mangement wasn't it?
But the question raised by Shivali is how to encourage employees to come to HR on day-to-day issues of their own accord.
Would be interested to know your views.
Shalini
1 - 10
of 17 Replies
+4
Recently in HR Forums
06-04-2023
to the forum topic 
