Tackle shitty working conditions with this free human resources service

Unless you're self employed, like I am, sooner or later you're going to need to talk to someone about a Human Resources issue. There might be someone harassing you in your workplace. Maybe your douche of a boss is stealing your tip money. It might be that your workplace is filled with bigots giving you a hard time for your sexual orientation, the color of your skin or beliefs.

Whatever your reasons for doing it, approaching management can suck: while the people in your human resources department are there to address workplace issues that mess with the safety and satisfaction of employees, when it comes down to it, they work for the same company as you do. If it comes down to protecting the company they work for or doing you a good turn, they might not side with you. As such, it's a very good idea to get some professional, unbiased advice on a workplace issue before broaching it with management.

Hootsworth is an online service that provides anyone who needs it with free advice from employment lawyers and Human Resources experts. According to TechCrunch, all you need do is hit them up online, ask a question and, within 24 hours, you'll receive a personalized response. In order to help others that may be in the same boat as you, Hootsworth will then anonymize your question so that other users of the service can browse the expert answer to your problem that was given.

While it won't help you to muster up the courage to put in a complaint about your working conditions, the service could go along way towards your heading into your next HR meeting armed with the knowledge you need to ensure the outcome that you're looking for.

Image via Nick Youngson