I would get an idea of what your new organisation is looking for from their HR person first. HR isn't primarily there as a "counselling" service for staff, so unless that's specifically what they want, this may be the wrong direction.

I think I'd just be walking around and talking to the rest of your 'customers', be it managers, supervisors or line manager, introducing myself and chatting about what they might want or expect from you first.

Congrats on the new(ish) role, Joanne... and welcome to the Community.

I'm sure this has come up once before but I'm darned if I can locate a previous thread. I do recall that there was also some caution recommended by contributors.

Hi Joanne, personally I think this is a good idea in principle, offering an open door for individuals to drop in for HR related issues is to be welcomed. Just a couple of thoughts though: it may be better to plan them around key times such as appraisal times as this may help colleagues to feel more comfortable around the drop in visits, plus try to ensure colleagues are given as much privacy as possible when holding the drop in sessions. It could generate opportunities for individuals to receive some ridicule if seen by their peers so a little sensitivity might be required here.

Welcome to the community Joanne

I once hijacked the company suggestion box for a month for HR purposes, the idea was people could ask about our various policies or anonymously highlight unfair work practices etc. By the end of the month I had gathered a rich harvest of insults and affronts, most of which were untrue. There was also a tomato ketchup sachet and if there was a hidden message intended for me I've yet to decipher it. Needless to say I did not repeat the experiment.

However, I also started an HR noticeboard where I used to post any changes to policy, reminders about booking annual leave and other run of the mill stuff, but every month I would highlight an issue like harassment, workplace stress and so on and eventually that did prove quite effective at demonstrating I wasn't just there to hire and fire.

At the end of the day some things work and some things don't but don't stop trying.

Good luck with the job.

Hi it’s important to get the leaderships team approach to engagement , well-being sessions we leave to our eap provider

As with the other comments, I understand why you would want to do this but would exercise some caution. Being new it could end up opening a floodgate and you could set a precedent of them coming to you for any old gripe. It might make them feel better but you could lose many hours listening to people moan about non-HR related items like the fact that Dave never fills up the photocopier paper or Sally never makes tea.

I would really get to know where you are first, the company culture and the people. Get a feel for what could be missing and the areas you could really add value, that way you are listening and intuitively meeting a need rather than proactively giving a forum to raise issues that probably aren't really issues but you then have to do be seen to something about otherwise you might lose trust.

If it went the wrong way it could set you off on the wrong foot and undo all of your really good intentions.

In reply to Jim:

Oh Jim, bless you! It just goes to show we cannot predict how people interpret our actions even though they are well intentioned. Well done to you for not giving up but simply trying a different approach. :-)

In reply to Steve Bridger:

Hi

I do remember this post too, but also can't find it.  But one comment from that post always stuck with me - " the door to my HR office is always open...unless it is closed"

For me, that sums it up nicely!

Fionnuala.