One of our ee's recently resigned.  She has started calling one of our other ee's even though there has never been a personal relationship between the two of them, simply a working relationship.  Is it HR's job to contact the former ee and let them know that the current ee wishes they would stop contacting them or is this an adult situation that our current ee needs to handle on his/her own?

Please help, I am a newbie in a new company and need to set some ground rules and precedence.  Thank you very much.

is she trying to recruit them to her new place of employment?  If they don't want to talk to her, the current employees can be adults and take care of it themselves.  It is VERY easy to confuse being a good HR person with being a "mother."

 

That is what I was thinking, let them handle it.  She is not trying to recruit her just talk to her.  Thank you.

I agree that the HR person does not want to be the company Mom. In this case, it seems the one receiving the phone calls could handle it. The only thing that might concern me is if the calls were excessive or made the employee feel unsafe or as if he or she was being harassed. Then I would have to consider if the company has an obligation to step in because it is happening using the company phone system. Maybe I'm just overly cautious.

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Barbie

If the employee has caller ID at his or her desk, then they don't need to pick up the phone.  If they don't have caller ID, they can still do as they would with any other adult's unwanted attention.  I agree with Barbie in that if it's not threatening or harassing, I would stay out of it.  You can always get that person a new extension to divert the phone calls or have the switchboard send the unwanted contacts to voicemail.  Do definitely set the precedent of not becoming the office mommy but also set the precedent that if there is an exposure to contact that is unsafe (OSHA) or violates your harassment policy or discrimination law (EEOC), then take appropriate steps to protect the employee.

Would you handle an ex-husband who was calling his ex-wife/employee the same way? If the ex is love-lorn (does not appear to be threatening)? What is the employer's obligation in this case?

I don't know that HR has any obligation to interfere unless the employee requests help or assistance with the matter and even then it should be on a case-by-case basis.  When HR gets involved, in many ways you are speaking on behalf of the company, not just one employee so in MHO it's best for HR to choose their battles wisely.  If this employee is disturbed by this ex-employee's phone calls, perhaps your approach could be to coach the individual on how to handle the conversation with the ex-employee or even suggest that they not pick up the phone and delete the messages.  The ex employee will get the hint after a few calls are not picked up or returned and will probably stop on their own.  If they are trying to recruit the current employee, then i would have a conversation with the employee to determine if they are happy, thinking about leaving and find out why, then discuss what the company/department can do to help keep them there so long as they are a good performing employee.  Good luck!