Business consultant Ron Ashkenas asks why this happens, and proposes that much of the conflict arises as a result of the transformations that are taking place in human resources today.

Companies are spending a lot of money to improve the basic functions of human resources and to develop the information processes involved with it. Naturally, it takes time to do all of this and (not unsurprisingly) there may be glitches now and then as the transition takes place. Moreover, companies are trying to give their human resources departments more of a strategic role in the business, taking over such things as assessing worker skills, developing leaders within the company, managing change and effectiveness in the business. This also takes considerable time.

Part of the challenge also stems from the role human resources plays and what managers expect from the department. The problem lies in educating managers about the need for them to step in and take the role in the development of their staff members. It is essential for managers to understand that they are accountable for things such as the assessment and growth of the employees in their own department, as well as rewarding and recognizing those workers.

By having department managers take over this kind of role, human resources is then able to focus on company-wide strategic planning, looking at problems that might crop up, seeing how business plans will affect employees and making sure that the best people are working on the most critical needs.

One way to help change department managers’ perception of human resources is to rotate people between human resources and management jobs, Ashkenas says. This will help whittle the perception that the human resources department is something separate and isolated from real business concerns.

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Mentors are people often overlooked when it comes to showing appreciation, according to business strategist Dorie Clark. This might happen because they are not around on a regular basis. But the advice they give can make a big difference in your performance. Having a more senior manager in your corner to offer advice and encouragement is a real stroke of good fortune and should not be taken for granted.

When considering people to thank, don’t ignore a person just because it may have been a while since he or she helped you, Clark says. Even though you may not have seen the person in a number of years, he or she almost certainly will be glad to hear from you. Clark relates a story about a person who wrote a thank you note to a college professor a few years after she graduated. He was touched that she remembered him.

Also, remember support staff, Clark says. If someone important has helped you, in addition to thanking that person, think about the people under him or her who may have made his or her efforts possible.

The method of thanks that is the most personal and has the most impact is a handwritten note. The note should include specific details about what the person did that was helpful to you.

If you want to send a gift as a way of showing your appreciation, you need to keep in mind any legal restrictions that may apply because of the person’s position, or any ethical considerations – something that may pose the appearance of a conflict of interest, for example.

Also, when sending a gift, it is best to take into account the recipient’s interests, Clark says. If the person is a big football fan, for example, getting him football tickets probably would be greatly appreciated. If the person you wish to thank is more inclined toward the arts, or something cultural, a ticket to a symphony or an art exhibition would be more appropriate.

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The experts offered a number of ways to build and maintain employee engagement.

One way to rev up employee engagement is right at the start when they are hired. You can use the process of bringing them on board to build their engagement. You have workers who are naturally receptive and enthusiastic as they begin their new job, and so onboarding provides a great opportunity to show how much you value them and what you can offer them, says business advisor Alice Snell. Making them go through a process where they sign the same forms five times or not having a computer at their desk is not the way to do it.

Also, when they start you need to let them know right away what the goals of the company are and how the employees fit in with those goals.

Another way to maintain engagement is to keep the lines of communication open, especially in offering positive feedback for a job well done.

Another way to keep the energy and enthusiasm of employees high is by giving them a feeling of community, such as sponsoring company activities or working on team projects.

The company also should offer employees chances for advancing their careers, help them develop their skills and potential, treat them like professionals, and give them a sense of empowerment by letting them know that their opinions are valued.

The company also needs to have an effective reward system in place. This involves more than just pay, because beyond a certain point, pay is not the prime motivator. Other kinds of rewards focus on giving employees more autonomy and authority to make decisions on their own, giving them more challenging work, and giving them more recognition, according to a number of business analysts.

Leadership is important as well – it is difficult to maintain engagement among employees if managers and executives do not appear to be engaged themselves, says business executive Judy Whitcomb. And finally, the image people have of the company matters also. If people feel they are working for a company that is respected and admired, they are more likely to be excited about their work and to stay as an employee.

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Almost one-third of the Kentucky-based human resource workers surveyed in an online poll reported being the target of aggressive behavior, which included things like interference at work, verbal abuse, even threats and intimidation. The percentage of human resource workers who reported being bullied was about the same as for workers in general. However, more than half of the people in human resources believed they were targeted specifically because they worked in human resources.

An earlier study of nearly 1,500 human resource workers was conducted in the United Kingdom. In that survey, more than half of the people in human resources reported being the target of aggressive behavior at work.

The conflict may be the result of the changing duties of workers in human resources, which has become more strategic than in the past, according to Teresa Daniel, a human resources professor who conducted the survey. Because their job is to challenge and coach business leaders, their interactions can set off conflicts or defensive responses that might ultimately lead to more aggressive behavior, Daniel says.

Human resource workers offered their own reasons for the aggressive behavior. One reason may be that their role often is not fully appreciated or understood by others. Another is that they often have to deny managers’ requests, and another is that managers may feel they are not properly qualified to make the policy decisions they do. Another reason is that the human resource person is the firewall in many instances, protecting the interests of other employees, but taking heat in the process.

Daniel says there are several things human resource professionals can do to blunt the aggressive behavior. She says human resources should increase the communication with managers and do it before problems arise. Human resources needs to better educate managers on how to handle routine problems that relate to the workforce. She says human resource workers also need to become more knowledgeable about the business itself – the financial elements, customers and operations – to get a better understanding of what motivates the behavior of managers.

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Sustainability generally refers to the efforts made to enhance quality of life for employees, society in general and making efforts to help the environment. To really be effective, these kinds of initiatives, business analysts say, should not be just some afterthought for advertising purposes, but well-thought-out efforts that are part of the company’s overall strategy.

Sustainability programs have many benefits for companies – they can help with employee engagement, they can improve a business’ processes and they can improve the image of the business. They also can actually help add to the bottom line.

While business analysts believe that a firm’s human resources department is in a good position to take the lead with sustainability, not many HR departments are involved with such efforts. Only about six percent of human resource departments responding to a recent survey said they helped to create such programs, but about one-fourth said they are helping to implement them.  Moreover, the survey showed that three-fourths of the organizations responding were involved with some kind of sustainability program.

Companies are implementing sustainability programs for a number of different reasons – to make a contribution to society, to give themselves a financial advantage over their competition, to help the environment, to help save money on their operations, and out of concern for the health and safety of employees.

But there are obstacles that need to be overcome in starting a sustainability program. Some of the most common are the cost, problems with figuring out how to determine the return on investment, lack of support, and a lack of knowledge about how to go about starting such programs.

But the positives are undeniable. Most of the companies that had sustainability programs and responded to the survey cited better employee morale, more efficiency in the workplace, a better image, and higher loyalty among employees as the major benefits.

But to make sustainability most effective, it should be codified into a formal company policy with goals and policies that are connected to the company’s overall strategic planning process.

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One important way that a company’s human resources department can drive change is through the hiring process, making it clear to those being recruited that the company values new perspectives and fresh ideas and that you want to include them in the change process. As you bring them on board, you can orient them to the changes that are taking place. A training program can incorporate improvement strategies as well for new employees.

Also, human resources can contribute to change by spearheading recognition of those who become change agents in the company. A company’s human resources department can develop retraining processes to move people freed up by process improvements into new assignments.

With regard to finding the right people, a firm’s HR professionals can help company leadership accurately describe what job requirements are and then effectively assess the skills of employees/applicants –  then match the two.

Human resources departments also can help change by developing rewards that match with the new ways of doing things. For example, at a health insurance company a manager who oversees the way the company works with healthcare providers developed a new structure that was guided by medical specialties, such as obstetrics and gynecology. By doing this, workers would work in a specialty and be more knowledgeable about what they were dealing with. The firm’s human resources professionals needed to provide help in figuring out how to link rewards to the new performance model.

Human resources also can be effective in developing programs to help improve managers’ skills at making change in an organization. At one railroad company, for example, the human resources department set up a process excellence group to help improvement and change at the company. This group takes selected managers and puts them through a program that lasts more than a year to train them in new skills.

Maintaining improvement and change at companies comes down to the people who work there, Power says. So it is easy to see how processes in human resources can retard improvement, or help to accelerate it, depending on how HR responds to the situation.

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In doing this, human resources should lead the way in fostering the idea of the company as a neighborhood, according to business and psychology professor Art Markman.

Some companies promote a market environment, the idea that each person is paid what according to the value he or she brings to the company,, and that the individual and his or her performance takes precedence. But Markman argues that it is difficult for a company to really function with a market mentality. This kind of arrangement really does little to develop loyalty to a company among employees. It mostly just promotes their loyalty to their compensation.

Markman says companies should promote environments that are combinations of neighborhoods and hierarchies. In a neighborhood, people don’t share things equally, but there is an impetus toward equality. If you have a problem at your home, removing some large tree limbs, for example, a good neighbor is likely to lend a hand. And if your neighbor has a problem sometime, you would lend a hand.

Most people are familiar with hierarchies – everyone has a position, with those at the top getting more privileges, while those lower on ladder usually just take orders. Most companies take the form of hierarchies, where the higher ups take on more responsibility for running the company and get more pay and other rewards in return.

But the idea of a neighborhood gets less emphasis at companies. If you are walking down your street and you see that a neighbor’s trash can has fallen over, you probably pick it up. You do this, Markman says, because you think of your neighborhood as an extension of yourself. You are part of a larger community and you do what you can to help that community.

A company should work the same way. A business really cannot be its best unless the people who work there think of themselves as part of something bigger. People might go the extra mile in their job if they see their boss hovering over their shoulder, but they are more likely to work hard if they feel a part of the neighborhood that is their company, and feel that everyone is pitching in for the good of the neighborhood.

But it’s a two-way street – the company needs to also support these neighborhood values. It can do this, for example, by helping out workers who are having personal problems or providing educational opportunities for employees. Fairness also is important in helping to develop this loyalty.

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It’s no secret that these jobs are in technical areas, areas that demand a high degree of education and expertise – engineering, IT and healthcare. The fact is that for these areas of the labor market, demand is high, even though in other areas there are too many people chasing too few jobs.

A recent survey of more than 2,600 companies around the country showed that one-quarter of the businesses had jobs for which they could not find qualified people, according to Matt Ferguson, CEO of a job search firm. Ferguson says that their data shows that there is only one person looking for a job for every three open positions in a number of areas, including nurse practitioners and cloud developers.

If you are a human resources professional and/or recruiter, there are things you can do to help recruit the talent you need, Ferguson says.

One practice Ferguson recommends is to keep track of the positions that are hard to fill. If you are aware of the hard-to-fill positions, you can put a process of ongoing recruiting into place – networking with job hunters who are looking for jobs that may not be available now, but are likely to open up in the near future.

You also need to keep track of where the skilled workers are in your area. Find the cities that have the most people in the areas you are looking for and recruit there. Talent is not distributed evenly throughout all geographical areas. You have to go to where the supply is.

You also need to match the salary to the demand for the position. Don’t expect to hire someone in a hard-to-fill area at a bargain price. Make sure you are matching what your competition is offering.

You also can train workers yourself. If you are scouring the landscape for candidates, and you still cannot find anyone, your company should take on the task of training candidates in the skills that are needed. Many people have the basic level of skills that are needed to benefit from the training.

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If a company’s reputation is being attacked, it makes it more difficult for employees to do their jobs and it makes it harder for companies to attract the best workers. During the recession, employee morale in general has fallen along with the economy.

In addition, a business shouldn’t take workers’ allegiance for granted in a tough economy, just assuming that they will work hard out of fear of losing their job, according to well-known business consultant Sylvia Ann Hewlett. Actually, in this environment, workers feel more estranged from work and more besieged than ever, asked to do more with less, and getting less feedback, according to Hewlett.

Surveys show that since the recession began, company loyalty has dropped more than 40 percent among workers, and trust in their companies has dropped about the same, Hewlett says.

If you are a human resources professional, how can you help a company enhance its reputation and improve employee morale? One way is to organize philanthropic programs in which employees may get involved in, Hewlett says.

The ratings service Moody’s is one example of this. It has weathered a lot of criticism for its supposed responsibility in letting the current economic crisis develop. But the company is trying to improve its reputation and keep its best workers by partnering with a nonprofit called Kiva. In this program, Moody’s evaluates the creditworthiness of businesses from around the world for microfinance business loans from Kiva. Companies such as Kiva help attack poverty around the world by providing these micro loans.

It’s an area where Moody’s has expertise to share, even a new way to rate these companies that is specially designed for microfinance. Moody’s employees have responded enthusiastically to the program.

Another company that is getting involved in philanthropic work is the drug company Pfizer. It has linked up with Grameen Health to help the working poor in developing countries have easier access to healthcare. Interest from workers was high, and many said it made them feel good to be part of a company engaged in such a program.

These programs show that philanthropic efforts really do help keep employees energized and loyal to a company, Hewlett said.

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Preparation is key here. If you have never been contacted by a recruiter, or it’s been some time since you’ve talked with one, do some research and learn about the process, or to refresh your memory.

Although the recruiter is working for the employer, he or she can be very helpful to you as a job seeker. The recruiter can give you advice about the process and be used for feedback for your own impressions.  The recruiter also can be a go-between for employers and job applicants.  The recruiter can pass along information or respond to other concerns even before actual contact between the parties occurs.

Find out the payment system that the recruiter is using.  Is he being paid on a retainer basis, where he will receive payment regardless of the outcome, or on a strictly commission basis, which tends to make the recruiter work to close the deal as quickly as possible?   Knowing this as a job candidate is important because if the recruiter is working on a retainer, you can be more confident knowing that he will not be in a rush to close the deal and will be more concerned about finding the right person for the job.

You need to be able to sell yourself to a recruiter.  You need to give the recruiter a solid understanding of your skills and experience, as well as what kind of position you seek.

It’s also important in dealing with a recruiter to be yourself.  Trying to create an appearance that is not the real you just to fit a job description will sooner or later lead to problems because you may end up in a job that is not a good fit.  Try not to come across as too eager, which might be seen as desperation.  You need to be poised and confident in dealing with a recruiter.

As with any job search, you also want to investigate your potential employer and make yourself as informed as possible about the company.

You need to let the recruiter know if you are following up on any other job leads. The recruiter and the employer know that candidates are pursuing as many opportunities as they can find, so this is not a problem. It might also make you look better to a company if it knows you are being sought by other employers as well.

You also have to be willing to take suggestions and even criticism from the recruiter. Don’t take it personally because the recruiter is simply trying to improve your attractiveness as a job candidate.

If you’re looking for work in the construction, engineering or architecture sectors in the Washington, DC area, contact a recruiter at RealStreet Staffing. We have many temporary, temp-to-hire and direct-hire assignments with some of DC’s best companies. We look forward to hearing from you.