This was published 7 years ago
Human resources' allegiance is to the organisation, not the boss
Two cases raise troubling questions about the professional behaviour of HR practitioners.
By Peter Wilson
As we put the new year behind us, two 2016 stories that touch on the professional behaviour of human resource practitioners show no sign of going away. They both relate to governance issues within media companies and follow employee complaints to HR. I refer to cases at Seven West and The Herald Sun.
Much is now known about the Seven West case, with detailed revelations reported last month about a 2014 Deloitte investigation into credit-card spending at Seven. The case pits former executive assistant Amber Harrison against the company and its chief executive, Tim Worner, with whom she had a consensual two-year affair.
Legal stoush: Amber Harrison and Seven chief executive Tim Worner.
Last week, one of two non-executive directors on Seven's board, Sheila McGregor, resigned without explanation just before Seven West released a statement on the Worner-Harrison affair. The statement referred to the findings of a report by Allens Linklaters, whom Seven had commissioned to investigate alleged credit-card misuse and drug use at the company. Seven found no grounds for further action on the basis of the report. The Financial Review said McGregor had earlier instructed that the report be delivered to her and a fellow female director directly and not by a proxy.
Despite the company finding no cause for action last week, it's hard to avoid the conclusion that some male executives, including chief executives, still believe that female employees down the food chain are there to enable executives to get a bit of easy sex on the side. Harrison clearly holds that view, given her comment after Seven West released its statement. "The lesson for women is don't work for Seven and expect to be treated equally and with respect," she said.
Former Herald Sun journalist Lucie Morris-Marr says she was forced out of her job after a News Corp colleague, Andrew Bolt, attacked her work.Credit: Fairfax Media
Harrison had previously set out her grievances to the head of HR. They were not complaints about her affair with Worner, but about the circumstances surrounding an investigation into use of her company credit card.
That she made the complaint to HR is not disputed. What's in question is her allegation that the HR advice she received was designed to persuade her to drop her complaint and to simply go quietly. The alleged HR advice included asking questions like these: "Do you really want to be another Monica Lewinsky who never recovered from her dalliance with Bill Clinton?" "Do you realise the woman who complained about harassment by David Jones' chief executive hasn't worked since?" And: "Do you want to become known as the woman who was used as a sexual plaything for two years at Seven West?"
If true, these allegations could be seen as the chief human resources officer offering helpful practical information about what Harrison was getting herself into. Alternatively, they could be seen as a more disturbing attempt by the HR executive to side with the chief executive in response to her complaint, and to move her along and out.
Morris-Marr v News Corp
The second incident involves News Corp's Victorian newspaper The Herald Sun. In February last year, investigative journalist Lucie Morris-Marr wrote a story that The Herald Sun published as a front-page splash, which attracted widespread national coverage. It referred to an ongoing investigation into Cardinal George Pell by Victoria Police about child sexual abuse matters.
On the Monday after her story, prominent Herald Sun columnist Andrew Bolt, a colleague of Morris-Marr at the time, attacked the story as a vicious and shameful smear, calling it part of a sinister campaign to destroy Pell. He said the leak that gave rise to her story came from elements within the police.
According to Morris-Marr's tweets on Boxing Day and since, three things then happened. The first was that the Victorian Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission was asked to investigate leaks to her from the Victoria Police, placing in jeopardy her sources. The second was that the Herald-Sun contract renewal she was allegedly promised turned into a termination of her contract. And the third was that a complaint she made to HR about Bolt was not seen by him, on his own admission.
The HR complaint included an allegation that Bolt's friendship with the cardinal influenced his professional judgment. Morris-Marr's tweets were picked up during the Christmas break period in reports by the Guardian, SkyNews and The Herald Sun.
It's not for me to comment on the merits or otherwise of the HR complaint, nor on the detail of Morris-Marr's allegations. That said, let me state the fundamental general principle that all employees, regardless of their level within an organisation, are entitled to have their right to be treated fairly respected. That's particularly the case where there's evidence of a power imbalance between the parties in the event of a complaint.
The tendency for chief HR officers to move people on who make management uncomfortable is an old game not a new game.
If formal HR complaints are ignored or not communicated promptly, ethical problems arise with respect to transparency for both parties and right of reply, and the party accused may be precluded from offering a timely defence.
In addition, a failure to respect an employee's right to fair treatment invites workplace cynicism. Apart from the parties directly involved, other employees may justifiably fear that their fair treatment could be adversely affected, with resultant effects on engagement and productivity.
The tendency for chief HR officers to side with those in power, and to move people on who make management uncomfortable, is an old game not a new game. HR's job is to work for the good of the company, which isn't always served by simply pleasing the boss.
Good HR practice involves chief HR officers being sufficiently professional to exercise the courage and skill required to state the facts as they see them. In some cases, that may mean bypassing conflicted senior management and reporting directly to the board.
Peter Wilson is chairman of the Australian HR Institute and president of the World Federation of People Management Associations.