When John* accidentally forgot to pay for a salad in the work canteen, he was called into his company’s human resources office. Without explaining why he was there, they showed him CCTV footage of him at the till paying for a drink — and forgetting about the box tucked under his arm.

Although the head of human resources (HR) was present, it quickly became clear that their only role was to transcribe the meeting in shorthand, and to reinforce the position of the building manager who had raised the complaint.

Upon realising his mistake, John offered to pay and explained that he had been distracted because of a bereavement. It was also the middle of the pandemic, when most workers were allowed to work from home. But despite the risks, his employers had forced him — and colleagues with underlying medical issues — to do the copywriting work in-office.

But instead of being allowed to pay, John was threatened, intimidated, and, ultimately, fired for "stealing". And when he asked for the transcript of the meeting, he realised it had been doctored. The section where he had explained why he had been distracted had been omitted, as had the bit where he had been threatened with police action. Presumably, because firing a grieving worker for forgetting to pay for food would be grounds for unfair dismissal.

Read more: Why workers may be hardwired to 'quiet quit'

John’s HR horror story is sadly common. Globally, a lack of trust in HR departments appears to be a universal problem. According to a recent survey, 43% of American workers don’t feel like they can confide in their HR department — and more than a third don’t trust HR.

A separate poll of 1,000 people carried out in 2022 found just one in four people said their HR leader is widely trusted to care for the needs of employees. A further 37% said they thought HR was more concerned with advocating for the organisation — and that they would rather reach out to almost anyone instead of turning to someone in HR.

"Most employees view them as the company police,” says David Rice, HR expert at People Managing People.

“They're there to protect the company and advocate for the business, not you — unless doing so somehow benefits the business. They present people with contracts, and they limit liability.”

Often, human resources will field problems and complaints by employees, but the response reflects the company’s own legal compliance in the situation. So the employee’s problem goes unresolved, and their working conditions don’t improve.

Read more: Why monitoring workers with AI won't boost performance

Rice explains that HR departments often falsely position themselves as being there for the employee. However, people don’t feel or see that — and so there’s no trust in the relationship.

“Instead, HR should be honest about what it does,” says Rice. “And in a lot of companies, employees should look at it as a resource if they need some type of support that isn't just financial. When it comes to pay or workplace disputes, HR's main role is minimising damage to the business and ensuring compliance.”

In an ideal world, the purpose of HR is to act as a bridge between employees and employers. They’re involved in resolving conflicts between workers, recruitment, training and maintaining the right kind of organisational culture.

"Ideally, HR would help to find a happy medium in which the two can co-exist and everyone wins, employees feeling as though they're being treated fairly and compensated accordingly, the business seeing greater value and all of its needs serviced by employees,” says Rice.

“But this doesn't actually take shape that often because truthfully, the culture of most businesses doesn't support that.”

Read more: Why working parents feel like they don't belong

Instead, HR has a bad reputation because it tends to act as a representative of the employers. HR tends to take a hard-line stance in favour of the business, instead of listening to both sides and helping maintain a positive working relationship between workers and bosses.

Part of the problem is a lack of specific training among HR professionals. According to research by AIHR, there is no consistent baseline of skills at junior levels of HR teams, compared to other professions such as accounting — where formal standards and practices are in place. Some individuals move into HR later in their careers and bring with them business knowledge, but not necessarily basic HR expertise.

Another issue is that many HR professionals feel pressure to side with the business, particularly in companies with toxic environments.

What makes a good HR department?

Ultimately, Rice says, what makes a good HR department is subjective — but professionals should be responsive and empathetic to the problems employees face.

“You can't fix people's problems, but you can look to be creative and resourceful in how you support people and the business,” he says. “Truthfully, HR can't be just about the bottom line if it's a people-focused function. And if it is, it will always be seen in a negative light. That's why there is no trust in many organisations to begin with.”

Read more: What is productivity anxiety and why is it affecting more workers?

Although HR has to be about the business, it works best when it helps the business support the workers. Ultimately, happier employees make for a better bottom line.

And for people to believe they can speak to HR to address a problem, HR departments need to build trust.

“This means not being overbearing with employee monitoring where you're seen as Big Brother. It means not just looking after the business, but looking after things like employee wellbeing and the organisation's culture proactively,” says Rice.

“It means showing empathy while following process. It means taking action when needed and it means maintaining the relationship with employees across a variety of moments in the employee lifecycle, not just when they're in crisis or when there's an issue with employee behaviour or performance. You have to invest in the employee relationship from the business side.”

*Names have been changed to protect identities.

Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for Apple and Android.