It is quite tricky if you are a foreigner involved in a workplace bullying incident, to deal with the HR department because the normal expectation is that they would enforce company policy and the law regarding workplace bullying and discrimination, especially when there is plenty of evidence to support it.
First and foremost, DO NOT EXPECT them to interfere on your behalf. HR jobs are to serve management so this is important for people working in Australia and NZ to realize.
You just need to be friends with them, show your side of the story professionally but appealing to their human nature as far as how horrible these attacks, humiliations and minimizing tones and attitudes make you feel, so you can get the best outcome out of the horrible situation.
The above won't mean you will get to stay in a bullish environment, or things will be corrected according to the employee handbook or the law, or that you will keep the job, or get the bigot / bully / harasser fired. It only means you can get a better outcome of the situation prior to your exit. HR may seem ruthless, biased and insensitive to bullying and racism in New Zealand and Australia but they are still people. They just have to keep their jobs too and obey management.
It is mostly based on personality, "fitting in the culture" and politics, not about actual talent, job performance or productivity. It would be really hard to fit in a culture of racism and bullying if you are the kind of person that finds that behaviour disgusting and repulsive. Getting to explain your point to HR and get their advice and support at least will make it clearly understood it is not you, it is them.
They (HR) will try to deny the reality and your feelings, even try to convince you it is all in your head and a matter of "perception" (also known as gaslighting). Just be firm in assuring it is not, provide examples of why not, but don't argue. Point out that it is not useful to deny your feelings and a clear harassment situation, but that it would be more useful to address the behaviour according to the Employee Handbook and the laws against discrimination and harassment. Remember this is not about you. It is about a culture of unfair practices that you didn't create and don't condone. You are the victim, plain and simple.
Maybe even send them a link to this site after you get your settlement, so they are aware you know about the outcome and their complicity all along. They should be embarrassed to be part of such a shameful system, but I am afraid most of them are not. Human beings have an incredible ability to justify themselves even in the most horrific situations, like the Nazis during the holocaust, the Spaniards during the inquisition, too many examples in history to count.
It just buys time to plan your exit and get another job, if you are lucky it will prevent further harassment and mental health issues with actions such as changing your manager (this is only temporary, they will still find a way to harass you further until you resign).
Also, they might offer you EAP (Employee Assistance Program). It is an even more condescending way to compensate for their harassment and sometimes these "confidential" paid services do actually gossip with the employer about your call...so make sure to use a fake name.
For most companies in the ANZAC region, though there might be a few exceptions, HR considers bullying, harassment and discrimination just a nice chapter to have in employee handbooks, code of conduct and work induction videos.
The reality is (and this is from now over a hundred testimonies, news articles, even conversations with a former HR Manager at BUPA) when it actually happens, HR often acts sympathetic, caring and condescending, but rarely discipline a coworker or manager for the behaviour, particularly when the victim is a foreigner and specially so when the perpetrator is a top manager. Their main role is to protect the company and their managers, even if there is overwhelming evidence by many coworkers about an individual. They would find a way to cover it up.
Because in the USA people won't go to some government authority and they would go straight to lawyers and file a lawsuit for $50 k or $100 k or $1 M, employers are more refrained from engaging in such disgusting behaviour. Definitely not to the extent of cover up and unfairness that they go to, even acting collectively, as a cult or a "secret hand shake" as they do in Australia and even more so in New Zealand.
While harassment to white employees may be handled similar than it the USA, as it most likely stems out of personality conflicts with managers, discrimination and sexual harassment related bullying is quite more damaging in New Zealand than in the USA or Australia, due to more complicity and cover ups by HR departments giving money to the victim to settle.
The process is also quicker to settle in New Zealand than it would be in the USA and Australia, as it is often covered by a company's liability insurance (yes, they offer coverage for employee claims for harassment!!!).
Therefore, the damaging and repulsive practice has become the norm rather than the exception in New Zealand. On the bright side, you can walk out with tons of cash, anywhere from $8k to $100k or more, depending on circumstances and evidence presented.
Unfortunately this only means that the evil behaviour never gets corrected and the damage to thousands of kiwis and foreigners, many of them good, hard working people, results in lasting negative mental health issues and PTSD.
All of this would be totally preventable by a more proactive, honest and fair HR system. It would be hard to change but until then, try to keep calm when talking to them, express your feelings about the harassment professionally and try to not get angry, seek support outside to vent out your frustration so you don't appear as the crazy one, because that is exactly what bullies, being narcissistic people, want to make you look like.
