How often should HR touch base in general with employees?

[Puddingwombles]

I’m curious to know what your thoughts are? Especially if you work somewhere where morale is known to be low.

We never hear from HR. I wouldnt expect to

Never....

Never unless there is an issue or employee contacts then.

Never , unless you have done something wrong I don’t want to deal with HR it’s not their job . Managers deal with morale as they make the changes that effect morale

HR just make sure hiring and firing is legal

Never

I've never worked anywhere where HR have had any regular contact with employees. I've only ever interacted with them regarding specific HR queries and big HR stuff like reorganisation/redundancies.

Never i hope

Never.
What does low staff morale have to do with anything?

As little as possible.

Never
It's not HRs role - it's the Managers'.

(pp HR do a lot more than advising on hiring and firing😆).

Never. Only when there is a specific reason to do so.

I’m a PA and my boss manages a lot of people so I talk to HR all the time about training, recruitment, bonuses, probation reviews etc. etc. But on personal basis literally only once in recent memory to resolve an issue I was having with the holiday system.

Absolutely never. Unless of course there’s a specific need and then that’s their job.

I’m a HR Director for an org with 5500 staff. In my last job there were 30,000………

Genuinely wonder what people think HR’s job is at times.

when I worked as an HR in somewhat smallish manufacturing facility I was encouraged by management to communicate with employees as much as possible. Just say hello ask how their day is going, walk around the building etc. It was so that people feel comfortable coming to me when they have problems and to be fair they did!

Low morale is a much bigger cultural issue and definitely not HRs problem to fix!

Never! Never had a personal message or 'touch base' from them- why would you?

I'm in a large company and HR have a slot at a monthly, company meeting. Its always about why recruitment is on hold, how their process has changed, don't contact this person for XYZ etc. Its never relevant to me and when people ask a question, the woman has no clue, denies that it should be an issue for them and quickly turns off.

Never, unless a specific concern has been raised by your manager.

In my previous job, the head of HR would give the odd company-wide update, normally about changes to procedures or to go through a process like the appraisal process. Other than that, I’d expect to interact with HR from time to time especially when recruiting or if you have line management responsibility.

At my previous job, HR occasionally sent out emails reminding employees of benefits they could use like counseling. AFAIK no one ever contacted the counseling service.

I associate HR with hassle and possible problems. If they're contacting you, it's probably not good. I realise they do a lot of good behind the scenes but I see them as a double edged sword.

HR at my old job did a good job of staying neutral but I could never forget that their real purpose was to make sure the company followed the rules (to the company's benefit).

Literally never. My work has over 16,000 employees. Even if they spoke to ten employees a day, that would be someone’s full time job for about 5 years to speak to them once.

‘Touch base’.

Why do people insist on using such ghastly language?

Thank you for your comments, this is really interesting to me.

Would you expect HR to reach out if issues had been raised to a director?

No, I would expect them to advise the Director/line manager/whoever is most relevant.Not the employee who raised a concern.

HR aren't there to replace management.

Never in my organisation.
Huge uk employer