So, who is protecting HR?

Human resources is supposed to be the safe harbour when workplace and bullying harassment surfaces, and it’s also there to protect the organization from risk. But in a recent Glassdoor post, an HR practitioner said they were “harassed, targeted and discriminated against” by two senior leaders after helping employees with their issues and documenting what was happening.

With no one to turn to inside the organization, the author of the post faced a dilemma: Who protects HR? 

A 2024 survey by Traliant revealed that more than six in 10 Canadian HR professionals believe that workplace harassment is a growing issue that needs to be addressed. And a 2017 US survey of HR professionals by HR Advise Me found that more than eight in 10 said they had been bullied or harassed in the workplace.

Organizations can be microcosms of society, so when incivility and harassment become a problem, they can show up more frequently in the workplace — with HR caught in the crossfire, says Mark Edgar, Chief People Officer at Wajax. Edgar notes a change in the way that people think about work and their relationship with organizations since the pandemic.

“Post-COVID, we've seen an impact around civility and more incivility that people have, which flows into the workplace... right through to people becoming amateur lawyers with their AI chatbots that are able to give them advice on different situations.” 

Exposure to incivility 

With HR often involved in disicipline, investigations, and complaints, it can be difficult to realize when discontent or incivility crosses the line into bullying or harassment, says Edgar.

“The word harassment has quite a broad spectrum, so I think it depends on what your definition is — and I think there's likely an emotional part to it, a physical part, and even a cyber kind of part to it as well."

Bullying of HR rarely begins as a formal complaint, as it can manifest as repeated undermining, disrespect, or retaliation when HR enforces standards. Over time, that behaviour can escalate to more serious behaviour, according to Edgar, who says the first line of protection is identifying patterns of bheaviour and complaints, not just individual files, and enforcing anti-harassment and anti-bulling policies for the organization in general. Then in any investigation or decision, HR can try to mitigate any extreme reaction with thorough preparation. 

“Through good communication, change management, engagement with leaders, training, and support, the best thing is to try and do what you can to avoid it — prepare for the for the worst and hope for the best,” he says. “But it’s inevitable that [bad reactions] could happen, and where there’s a reaction, start with escalation within the HR team, so that somebody who hopefully has more experience and authority can get involved and resolve situations.” 

HR in challenging role and position 

The scenario from the Glassdoor post, where alleged bullies sit in upper management, exposes a structural weakness in many organizations: HR is asked to police the same people who control its budget, reporting line and career prospects. 

According to Edgar, HR’s position makes it difficult to come across as a victim. “I don't think that resonates with people particularly, so that's always a tricky thing,” he says. “The role of HR is very challenging, and so we often become the cultural or values ambassador, or the function that has to be seen as doing the right thing.” 

He says there’s a lot of responsibility that comes with advocating for people and leading in that way, but it can put HR leaders and their teams in situations of advocating for an individual, trying to follow a policy or procedure, or ensuring a situation is addressed consistently or fairly that could come into conflict with what a leader feels. 

“Often, HR leaders are dealing with other leaders who are much more senior in the organization, and you're relying a lot on the influence and the credibility that the HR leader can generate,” says Edgar. “And often that works really well, but in those situations where that doesn't work well, then you need to make sure you've got the right support mechanisms in place — typically, that’s within the HR structure.” 

Protected channels to call out bullying by leaders, high performers 

That responsibility makes it essential for boards and CEOs to create protected channels when HR calls out behaviour by senior leaders or high performers, says Edgar.

“Many organizations don't have the senior HR leader reporting into the president or the CEO of the organization, so that can make it challenging,” he says. “And it's worth noting that sometimes that bully is somebody in HR, so in that situation, the mechanisms can be a fallback situation, but important around whistleblowing.” 

Edgar believes that a key to protecting the HR team is having different channels to raise concerns, so there are options to reporting harassment or bullying. “At the end of the day, it's every senior leader's responsibility to make sure that the culture is one where there’s transparency, fairness, respect, and kindness,” he says. 

Those protections can include direct access from the most senior HR leader to the CEO and board, formal whistleblower and ombuds processes that apply to HR staff, and clear expectations that any complaint about HR will be investigated with the same rigour as complaints managed by HR, adds Edgar. 

This means HR leaders should push for practices within the broader organizational structure if not already in place, so that HR isn't “always the face of everything,” says Edgar. “It goes back to this delicate balance of, HR isn’t a victim but we have to recognize that we have very difficult jobs and are in difficult situations,” he says. “[HR] has to play a role and put yourself out there, but then you hope and expect that you have the right support mechanism [for HR itself],” adds Edgar. 

Undermining credibility 

Another problem organizations could face is when bullying of HR becomes visible within the organization. For Edgar, if HR isn’t treated well in its role as a place for employees to build trust and share concerns, it will be amplified in the workforce.  

“You don't necessarily spot it straight away in the business context, but if there's a real issue that people notice, that can be really damaging,” he says.

“And if the HR team doesn't have credibility within the organization, that's why they're being treated in the way they are, and that very that quickly becomes a real downward spiral — if the senior HR leader isn't comfortable holding up a mirror to the organization and saying ‘This isn’t right,’ that can be very damaging.” 

Sponsorship, community around HR

For Edgar, protection of people in HR starts with the function itself but can’t end there.

"If the HR team is at the right size, scale and influence, then they can operate within the HR team — but there will be all sorts of exceptions to that, and in those situations, you’re relying on organizational leadership,” he says. 

Ideally, HR has enough internal clout and senior sponsorship to self-protect through clear escalation routes, and when that isn’t possible, it must be able to lean on CEOs and boards to intervene, he adds. 

Beyond formal structures, Edgar also points to the importance of community around the profession — HR leaders and professionals have to support each other, as external networks, professional associations, and peer communities give HR practitioners somewhere to test their perceptions and get support when organizational protections fail. “Those are all really good ways of people trying to get a different perspective on a situation — and that classic thing that HR can be a lonely place, others in the community know that perspective, and that support can help inform the approach you're taking or the decision that you're making,” says Edgar.