In reply to Emily:

All very well but you are not there to protect the employee, you are there to protect the company/organisation (from itself!), No HR professional worth their salt will place themselves between the company/manager and employee. If you want to ensure employees know their rights then work for a union.

In reply to Teresa:

Ah, Ha! The old "employer advocate" discussion!

First define "Employer".

It's the Company; NOT the people who run it (even if wholly owned by them)

We are paid by the Company, not by its MD, or FD, but by the entity that stands apart (in law) from them.

We are paid (and thus obligated) to provide legally sound advice supporting the Company's success and best interests. So even if the whole Board want to do something illegal and outrageous, like dismissing all disabled employees..... WE say "No". Because regardless of their status, they are acting against the company's interests (and their fiduciary duties, but for details of which check on-line... Too complex to list here).

So we are neither the advocates of employees, or representatives of the will of the SMT (even if part of it); we are the Company's guides and advisers, and when necessary defenders. We do not manage it's people; we manage HOW those people are managed (Yes, folks, we boss the bosses!... on that issue at least).

So we do defend employees and their rights, but only collaterally because doing that ensures that the Company (our employer) does not end up with egg on its face in front of the court of public opinion (after its SMT have ended up with egg on theirs in front of a more regulated Court or Tribunal).

So, sad to say, but we really are the knights in shining armour; the good-guys in the white hats; and all the other clichés. We defend our employer ("the Company") against all who would do it harm; be they less than diligent employees taking unauthorised time off, or the MD sexually harassing the new receptionist... We take on the tasks that everyone else fears to face (like telling that 6'3" guy in engineering, who does marshal-arts for a hobby, that he has B.O.) but at the same time we stand with the law at our shoulder when facing that MD about his making passes at the receptionist. We walk a tightrope and at times it's terrifying, and easy to turn away from, but at other times its the best (and arguably most influential) job in the world.

It's what we do.

P

In reply to Teresa:

It will be the best choice; if not tomorrow, then the next day. Just as you felt it was yesterday, or the day before.

P