Why are employees scared of HR?

Employees are not afraid of HR, they are afraid of themselves. The reason being, employee may think, have I done anything wrong which is unethical to the company? does any opposite gender colleagues raised complaints on me? Did I involved in any sensitive or confidentiality issues? Or is my job is under threat?

These factors will scare employees when they are called to meet HR until the real reason is known. So, we can see that employees are scared of HR policies that are being taken against employees for misconduct or for any other reason where sometimes employees do something without actually knowing the impact of it.

So, how to help them avoid fearing HR?

Train them with list of policies, procedures, Dos and Don'ts. They will understand HR is to support them.