Page 51 - An Indispensible Resource for Being a Credible Activist

15. What kind of HR training does the General Counsel have?
16. How does the HR role you are interviewing for intersect with the roles of any
others who may be involved in employee complaints of any kind, investigations,
and employment decisions?
17. Does the company have a decision-making protocol in place for personnel
decisions and who is involved in those? If so, what is HR’s role in this process?
18. Do all of those involved in any employment decisions have relevant SHRM-
approved training in conflict resolution, mediation, rater-bias, conflict of interest,
and/or legal or SHRM codes of ethics and sound employment investigation
methods?
19. Does the company have in place policies designed to prevent any conflicts of
interest in the case of employment decisions of any kind including transfer,
promotions, raises, demotions, terminations, hiring, approval of Family and Medical
Leave Act (FMLA) and/or maternity leaves, approval of flex or comp time, and any
other benefits available to employees?
20. Does the company have in place a culture that truly welcomes employees to come
forward with complaints or concerns about inappropriate behavior? Are employees
very clear on who receives complaints and in what manner? Are there several
people to whom employees may go with their complaints?
21. Are those who receive employee complaints fully trained in how to properly
receive and process them?
22. Are there annual EEO and Sexual Harassment Prevention (SHP) trainings for all
employees? Are these trainings required? Are mandatory trainings made up if they
are missed?
23. Is there a sense that all employees are responsible for appropriate workplace
behavior—not just managers or HR staff?
24. How have previous employee complaints been handled? Have there been any
lawsuits resulting from EEO complaints against this company? If so, how many and
when were they?
25. Will there be a delineation of autonomy for this HR position (bring and show them
the sample from this book), and if there isn’t one, may I make one for approval so
I am very clear on what I am authorized to do and what I’m not authorized to do?

26. How are conflicts among staff generally handled?
27. Is there mandatory conflict resolution training for all staff? If not, would you
consider this?
28. Is there a behavioral code of conduct for all staff? If so, is this consistently
enforced? If not, would you consider implementing one?
29. Are all policies and procedures applied consistently to all staff? If not, what would
be an explanation for that?

30. What are three words that would describe this workplace culture?

34 The H R Toolkit