Ever had that sinking feeling when one of your staff asks if they “can have a word?” You just know they are going to tell you that something has gone wrong, or worse they have a personal issue they want to discuss with you!
When you have a difficult conversation at work you usually have to say or hear things that mean you have to manage emotions and information in a sensitive way. This could be you initiating the conversation around complaints against a member of staff or addressing poor performance, or your staff member wanting to talk to you.
Our instinct is to ask ourselves if we are the right person to have this conversation. It is easy to get things wrong so if you do not think it is not your responsibility it is often better to direct the person to the right line manager or even the HR department, or at least check with them.
If you are the right person for the staff member to talk to, Acas has some useful guidance that might help you approach the conversation in the right way, follow this link https://bit.ly/2mhCTCR . Acas says that hoping that things sort themselves out is no solution. At best is delays the inevitable and at worst it can result in formal discussions.
If you are an employer and you don’t have an in-house HR department, at All Payrolls we have HR partners that can help you with any aspect of HR, whether you employ one person under direct payments or are a commercial or public sector organisation employing lots of people.