‘Thought HR was there to help?’: Singapore employee says HR shared private conversation with boss

SINGAPORE: Employees are often told that HR is there to support them, but how much can they really trust the department with sensitive workplace matters?

One employee has raised concerns about confidentiality after claiming that an HR representative at his former company shared something he had specifically told her in confidence with the boss.

“I shared something in confidence [with] HR. HR then went to tell the lady boss, who promptly told me SME HRs aren't the same as corporate HR and that anything you tell them, the boss will know because HR will tell them.”

The employee was understandably unhappy with this arrangement, particularly as he had worked at other small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) where he felt employee confidentiality and welfare were taken more seriously.

“I find this utter bullsh** as I have worked in prior SMEs before who respect the confidentiality agreement as well as the welfare of the employee. Am I imagining things here, or is this a really sh** company?”

In the comments, several Reddit users said they were hardly surprised by the situation. They noted that HR professionals are employed and paid by the organisation, so their main duty is to safeguard company interests.

One wrote, “HR is obligated to tell the boss. Fact of the working world. Your previous workplace bosses are probably better at pretending they do not know.”

Another said, “HR is not your friend. They work to protect the company's interest, not yours.”

A third added, “HR are intended to be looking out for the best interests of the company. Sometimes the best interests are served by being sympathetic to the complaints and concerns of individual employees, and sometimes they are best served by using the information given by employees to create an evidence base to make termination easy. So it's fine to use HR if you're confident of the actions that they'll take with the information you give them. But it’s a mistake to go to them if you're not sure. This is the case for all of the companies I've worked at.”

Others similarly advised the employee to be more careful about confiding in HR in future, particularly when dealing with sensitive matters involving management./TISG

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