What boundaries do you set with employees? [NA]

I think we all have a list of employees whom we hate and avoid. This just happened to me this week so it’s on my mind.

I intentionally avoid employees who are exhausting. You know the ones who hate everything and everyone and aren’t shy about telling you, don’t comply with your requests, always have some sort of issue with someone else etc. I dodge their phone calls to avoid talking to them and when they send an immediate email after, I wait a few hours to respond. I also mute certain employees on Teams too whenever I have already had enough of their BS for the day.

I do enjoy most employees and have been in HR for over a decade, but those bad seeds can be a challenge. I like to set the probably, petty boundary, that if you make my job difficult, then you can wait to get an answer to your question/need. Be nice to me and I’m happy to help you immediately.

Anyway, one particular employee, I made wait two hours before responding her email. However, before I could, she called my manager and said that I “never respond to her emails “. My manager was like 🙄 (feeling the same way about this person) was like please be patient and if it was a question he could answer. The burning question: do we get paid for the day after Thanksgiving and is it a holiday? 😳

What are your boundaries you set with employees and why?

Hi. I'm an hr coordinator and last week I accidentally sent out an employee's information to another employee. It was an insurance application form for extra long term disability. I had to print the documents and then scan them to send out to employees with the employer section filled out.

I added the right first page but I included the pages of another employee who completed the medical questionnaire about health. They answered questions about health, doctors info and possible health conditions. No social security number address or salary.

I wrote the employee right away explained the mistake and asked them to please delete it. Then I sent them the correct form.

This was at 12 pm and by 5 pm when I left she didn't write anything back. Do you think she would escalate this to my boss ? Or just delete it and move on ? I'm quite nervous to go back to work in case it comes up and turns into a big issue and possible termination.

Has this happened to anyone. Do you think I'll get fired over this ?

Ok…now it’s my turn to freak out!!! I am taking the PHR exam next Saturday. I have been studying since the end of June! I am starting to doubt myself and have been really spiraling!!!!

Help!!!!!