Dear All,
Kindly help me on this, as a few employees in our company received a bonus, and this news spread throughout the company. Due to this, a few employees have resigned, even though the information had already been communicated to them. However, they somehow found out about each other's bonus. Now, the company's co-founder has raised a question to HR, suspecting a leakage from her side. This suspicion arose because one employee mentioned that HR was seen gossiping with a few employees during lunch, suggesting a breach of confidentiality. Although HR denied this accusation, management is not convinced and is blaming her. She has already provided audio proof to management indicating those involved, but management insists that as a gatekeeper (HR), discussing such matters is not appropriate as it falls under HR duties. What should HR do in this situation?
I would really appreciate your quick response.
Regards,
Preeti
From India, Delhi
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3Kindly help me on this, as a few employees in our company received a bonus, and this news spread throughout the company. Due to this, a few employees have resigned, even though the information had already been communicated to them. However, they somehow found out about each other's bonus. Now, the company's co-founder has raised a question to HR, suspecting a leakage from her side. This suspicion arose because one employee mentioned that HR was seen gossiping with a few employees during lunch, suggesting a breach of confidentiality. Although HR denied this accusation, management is not convinced and is blaming her. She has already provided audio proof to management indicating those involved, but management insists that as a gatekeeper (HR), discussing such matters is not appropriate as it falls under HR duties. What should HR do in this situation?
I would really appreciate your quick response.
Regards,
Preeti
From India, Delhi
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From your query, I can understand the mindset of your top management. How can you stop people from talking about their earnest money, which is their rightful property? What I'm observing from your query is that your management believes in micromanagement of people and keeping them uninformed about company policy, or it may not even exist.
Management needs to understand that in the modern age, employees are not slaves. Giving them a salary doesn't mean keeping them away from their fundamental rights. Transparency in policy and freedom of working among employees not only helps attain high productivity but also instills values of honesty and loyalty towards the organization.
Various discussions and surveys on attrition make it clear that poor management policies and implementation (such as lack of justified increases, timely promotions, advancement, and equal learning opportunities) lead to employee dissatisfaction and issues within your organization.
Therefore, who leaked information, when, with whom, and in what manner doesn't matter as much as the policy and transparency you maintain among employees. In my opinion, you are not at fault. You need to create a detailed plan outlining relevant requirements that need critical attention and present it to your management or superiors to avoid future blame games.
From India, Chandigarh
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Management needs to understand that in the modern age, employees are not slaves. Giving them a salary doesn't mean keeping them away from their fundamental rights. Transparency in policy and freedom of working among employees not only helps attain high productivity but also instills values of honesty and loyalty towards the organization.
Various discussions and surveys on attrition make it clear that poor management policies and implementation (such as lack of justified increases, timely promotions, advancement, and equal learning opportunities) lead to employee dissatisfaction and issues within your organization.
Therefore, who leaked information, when, with whom, and in what manner doesn't matter as much as the policy and transparency you maintain among employees. In my opinion, you are not at fault. You need to create a detailed plan outlining relevant requirements that need critical attention and present it to your management or superiors to avoid future blame games.
From India, Chandigarh
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Many a time, HR becomes a thankless job in situations of conflict of interest because of the work culture of an organization and the overall quality of its management. It is said that the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb would have three commanders for every expedition without each of them knowing the fact. There are many Aurangzeb-like CEOs in modern business enterprises. They have their own informal espionage system within the organization. Most of the moles eventually become time-servers to settle their personal scores with their co-employees or pass on some false information of their choice about managers or others employed in positions of confidence just to please the CEO or maintain their proximity to power centers within the organization.
Coming to the situation described by the poster and the questions raised, most probably the bonus mentioned is a performance reward. Disparity in performance rewards drives some employees to relinquish their jobs, meaning your performance appraisal system is biased. Similarly, once the amounts are disbursed, individual shares cannot be a matter of secret anymore. Your accompaniment to some people at the dining table might have been quite frequent and therefore more visible. It might be quite trivial and sheer coincidence. But the mole's crooked mind would have a distorted vision only, and he/she might have exploited the situation to his/her advantage. In such awkward situations of deceit and despair, you should have the native intelligence to convincingly prove your innocence. Try not to be totally defensive or emotional since your credibility is at stake. If such a fair and ideal approach fails to work, there is no harm in making the confusion of the impossible type of person worse confounded for the sake of your survival.
From India, Salem
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Coming to the situation described by the poster and the questions raised, most probably the bonus mentioned is a performance reward. Disparity in performance rewards drives some employees to relinquish their jobs, meaning your performance appraisal system is biased. Similarly, once the amounts are disbursed, individual shares cannot be a matter of secret anymore. Your accompaniment to some people at the dining table might have been quite frequent and therefore more visible. It might be quite trivial and sheer coincidence. But the mole's crooked mind would have a distorted vision only, and he/she might have exploited the situation to his/her advantage. In such awkward situations of deceit and despair, you should have the native intelligence to convincingly prove your innocence. Try not to be totally defensive or emotional since your credibility is at stake. If such a fair and ideal approach fails to work, there is no harm in making the confusion of the impossible type of person worse confounded for the sake of your survival.
From India, Salem
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Management has to be very discreet in deciding on production bonuses or service rewards based on set criteria made known to workers. The declaration of such bonuses/rewards should not be hidden from the workforce, as it motivates them to strive to reach the goals set for the next time. HR staff are sometimes used as scapegoats for someone to save their skin. In the given case, I even have doubts if HR had any information about the bonus/reward being declared. It is a matter of pride for those who are chosen for it, and anyone from the group of recipients might have shared the information with others.
I think the issue needs further investigation to get to the root cause, and HR may need to communicate with management and submit a formal request.
From India, Pune
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I think the issue needs further investigation to get to the root cause, and HR may need to communicate with management and submit a formal request.
From India, Pune
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Dear Uma sir,
I appreciated your response, but I just wanted to add one point here. As we are a startup company, we are exempted from providing bonuses for the first five years. However, it has come to my attention that the amount we have given to a few employees has been shared among them. I am seeking your advice on how to handle this situation. Should I send an email to all employees emphasizing the confidentiality of such information, or do you have any other suggestions?
Thank you.
From India, Delhi
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I appreciated your response, but I just wanted to add one point here. As we are a startup company, we are exempted from providing bonuses for the first five years. However, it has come to my attention that the amount we have given to a few employees has been shared among them. I am seeking your advice on how to handle this situation. Should I send an email to all employees emphasizing the confidentiality of such information, or do you have any other suggestions?
Thank you.
From India, Delhi
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Dear Preety,
Your top management of the start-up company appears to have dealt with the payment of bonuses (when it was not legally due) to a few employees only in a non-transparent manner and perhaps without proper rationale. On top of it, they blamed HR for leaking the information just on immature observation of your being in contact with them at the lunch table and believing the story that you would have leaked the info without apparently making any fact-finding inquiry.
I think you may write a polite email to the top person highlighting that the leakage was due to their sharing it amongst themselves only and their questioning your credibility is misplaced. Besides giving bonuses to a few and not giving to large numbers without sound logic is bound to boomerang and create ripples.
Regards,
Vinayak Nagarkar
HR Consultant
From India, Mumbai
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Your top management of the start-up company appears to have dealt with the payment of bonuses (when it was not legally due) to a few employees only in a non-transparent manner and perhaps without proper rationale. On top of it, they blamed HR for leaking the information just on immature observation of your being in contact with them at the lunch table and believing the story that you would have leaked the info without apparently making any fact-finding inquiry.
I think you may write a polite email to the top person highlighting that the leakage was due to their sharing it amongst themselves only and their questioning your credibility is misplaced. Besides giving bonuses to a few and not giving to large numbers without sound logic is bound to boomerang and create ripples.
Regards,
Vinayak Nagarkar
HR Consultant
From India, Mumbai
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Dear Preety, I concur with the views of Mr. Vinayak. However, I still have a doubt. Although as a start-up, your establishment is eligible for the "Bonus Holiday" under section 16 of the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965, does it actually fulfill the conditions stipulated in its sub-section (1-A).
From India, Salem
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From India, Salem
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