Managing your people is not HR's job

I had a discussion with a former employee that caused me to flash-back to a former opinion battle. The battle related to the subject of the management of personnel. The person I was in a gentle but heated discussion held the view that HR should take an activist role in the management of the people in his group. Every answer to a personnel management question was "HR should do that....", "HR needs to handle that....", "HR has fallen down again.....".

I hold that the management of the personnel in your group is the direct and whole responsibility of the manager, not HR. HR performs many useful functions in a company, but they have to be viewed as a resource and partner in the management of personnel. The manager is responsible for direct answers to personnel issues, answers to career development, guidance on salary and bonus questions. In short, they are the manager's employees and the manager represents the company in these situations.

There are very clear and positive reasons why the manager should be the key interface here. First and foremost, the manager is the closest person to the employee, from a company authority position. Second, every interaction where the manager can interact with an employee on the sensitive issues, and come out with the best solution possible, is an opportunity to strengthen the relationship with the employee. Third, the employee can get the quickest and most direct responses and not feel put off with "check with HR on that".

I note that there are issues where the HR group needs to be the lead for legal or in-depth knowledge reasons (FMLA, detailed insurance questions, etc.), but when a manager abdicates all responsibility in these areas, the chance for forging a strong and more durable bond with a group is lost.