Do You Hate HR?

The thing is, I don’t think you start out hating HR. I think I took HR for granted when everything was going smoothly. It wasn’t until I had a horrible HR person that I began to be leary. At my last job the HR Manager was a total incompetent. Morale was horrible, management was worse, and our turnover rate should have been an embarassment to her. Instead of adressing the problems in real ways, her answer was to plan potlucks, send flowery emails and basically ignore the elephant in the room. She single handedly ruined my HR experience. That said, if I ever re-enter the workforce as an employee, I will never take a good HR Manager for granted again.

I agree with Joshua. In a work dispute, you are compelled by their rules and by other government organizations (like state Human Rights, EEOC, etc) that seem to insist that you report your complaint to HR for it to have a legitimacy. You do this only to find later that they will (of course) lie to these organizations that you ever even reported it at all. Keep everything in writing because the HR people who seemed oh, so sympathetic to you while you were in the situation will LIE-LIE-LIE even under oath that they were never informed of your problem (although you have copies of emails proving otherwise) and when they found out it was a “he said–she said” situation even if the same had also happened to other employees. After I was forced out of my company for filing a complaint of sexual harassment I read that some HR people make in excess of $75,000/year which might explain why they are such sell-outs.

I agree! I was actually looking to see if there was anyone who’s ever had a good experience with HR because I never had and am in an unequal situation at the moment. I feel helpless and trapped. Logically this is a situation I should be able to go to HR to but they only care about the corporate needs which are usually “get rid of anyone who spills the beans”. I don’t understand why it’s easier to ruin someone then be fair and then the company wonders why the compelling feeling to sue. It seems that drastic measures are the only way to bring injustices to light because it’s to hard for corporate america to be fair in the first place.

Hello, everybody! I am quite ashamed of what I read about HR. I work in HR in a company in Europe and I can tell you a lot of situations in which we worked very hard to help people who were unfairly treated by their boss and I often worked late at night or during the week-end to help people in other departments meet their deadlines (with translations, building PowerPoint presentation, etc.). I asked around and my friends have bad experiences but also nice ones with the HR members in the companies they work for.
It is true that in my country lawsuits don’t often happen so we are more relaxed when interacting with our co-workers and we try to do the right thing (sometimes the senior management in my company mock HR solutions because they are too people orientated). I hope you will all get a chance to have good HR experiences soon…it is possible!

Dear, I support you. I am a HR from China.

Only HRs will support you people, you should get feedback from other employees, that makes the reality…

That smiley face at the end of your comment sums of the existence of HR perfectly.

I don’t think it is about hating Hr.What I think is when you go to Hr with your concerns,you are thinking they will help you navigate the politics of an organization. What I experienced is, instead of helping you they are busy sending documentation to the Corporate legal department to ensure the company doesn’t face any litigation. My recommendation to anyone in Hr is not to engage in petty politics, but use your energy to provide training, information on career direction and other motivational factors and you will not have to contact Corporate Legal, because you will have a highly engaged workforce that will look out for the best interest of the corporation, because the corporation looked out for you.

Joshua’s description of HR is exactly my experience with most HR departments. I spent a career working for a state government and I now work for a state employee organization. Most every Department I’ve dealt with blindly errors with managers and the buracracy, even when the employee is clearly in the right. I’m aways amazed because this approach alway causes the situation to escalate. For serious situations, I’ve even seen it lead to legal, court and even federal intervention, where the state department pays dearly in the end for a situation that could have been resolved internally by the HR Department – if they had only given serious consideration to what the employee was saying early on.

I’d like to hear more about what HR should be, either from people who have had positive experiences, or from people who would be willing to share specifically what HR could have done differently to not be “hated.” How can HR change the Dogbert image?

I’m an HR Administator for a small non-profit and when I got here all I heard from the employees was “I’m so glad you’re here”. It was a great feeling because I knew they had been neglected for so long (they previously had no HR department, ever). I help them with insurance, pay issues, I find free benefits for them, I’ve updated all the HR systems, wrote new handbooks and yes had to tell some of them that they needed to change their ways! It is extremely difficult to serve employees and employer at the same time in some situations, but the day to day help I provide serves both the employee and the employer. For major issues it is imperitive that HR provides documentation and protects the employer from lawsuits. I believe that the federal and state employment laws protect employees and a good HR professional will stay within those guidelines. At the same time a lawsuit can put a small organization under and by doing so put many people out of a job.
The employment laws are very complicated and sometimes believe it or not will “tie” the hands of an employer who is trying to do right by the employee. I’ve had a case where an employee was very sick and would not except accomodations and would not ask for leave. We continually offered paid time off, reduction in work load, all kinds of accommodations but she refused thinking her job would be in jepardy…well guess what… she eventually became unable to do her job. Should she sue us for wrongful termination?
My employees have had to understand documentation and that the law requires all kinds of reporting, but I help them through it and they appreciate it. I’ve also tried to let them know that these laws were passed for their protection. I still get the “I’m so glad you are here” so I guess I’m doing my job. I’m sorry so many of you have had bad experiences, so if you run into a good HR person, please let them know how much you appreciate them.

I have been a trainer/facilitator for the past 14 years. My biggest problem has been the “power” HR personnel have to decide on required training programmes.HR personnel are simply the inter-face, and know little or nothing about the situations requiring interventions.On the occasions when I get to deal directly with the managers requiring the training I can demonstrate how my programmes will fulfill their needs and I get the contract.

Susan, About.com is a very valuable and informative service that you are providing that certainly helps me in my HR function. As for Joshua’s comments, ultimately, yes HR would have to protect, support the organisation, however a good HR executive will ensure that problems relating to safety, harrassment, unfair treatment, compensation & benefits etc. are addressed effectively and where necessary ensure a healthy environment is promoted at all levels. Where needed HR needs to counsel management. Organisational values have to be permeated down to line managers and beyond. Unfortunately, I find in my own organisation that HR gets least priority/time and so communication of HR objectives and organisational values is hampered. Mind you we are a small organisation employing less than 50. It is important for the top management to include HR in their focus and support the role HR plays across the organisation. HR issues should be discussed openly in periodic management meetings. HR is rather like the housewife who makes sure everything runs smoothly, everyone’s needs are taken care of, everyone is well fed, clothed and looked after, and yet is under appreciated! (From Pakistan.)

Susan about.com,i must commend you cos you are doing a great job.For me,I am just grooming myself as an HR person but to be candid HR is a very sentitive position because you are caught between satisfying employees and management which must one must ensure a balabce situation

Hi, I work for a company (in South Africa) that employs close to 160 people and we don’t have a HR department.Every line manager in the company is expected to fulfill the functions that would traditionally be perfomed by such a division. The managers are thoroughly trained in these functions, from recruitment to developing and rewarding staff through to dealing with how to release employees (e.g dismissals). This system works in an environment where all employees are encouraged (and trained) to effectively give and receive feedback. This setup works for all concerned because the line manager feels in control when it comes to hiring and managing staff (as opposed to relying on someone in HR to do it for you) and the employees feel that they can approach the relevant manager directly about issues affecting their performance. In the event that conflict arises between a manager and his/her team member, there is a grievance procedure in place for employees to report their issues and to have them dealt with, without feeling like noone is taking their side. I think the reason this system works is because of our company culture and the fact that we are a very values driven company. So, not having a HR division is not an altogether bad idea especially if you have alternative measures in place to still manage your company’s human capital requirements.

I am an HR Manager working in the field 15 years now. I’ve worked with some HR people who are good and some that shouldn’t be in HR. This job is not suited for everyone, and if you are not able to be objective, and fair, then it’s not the right position. It’s true, we are there to look out for the best interests of the company, but in doing so, we want to treat people right and fair. Any good company doesn’t want a reputation for tossing folks out the door when the going gets tough. A good HR Manager helps to educated and advise Department Managers in the art of good Management skills. My goal as an HR Manager is to make sure that all employees are treated with respect, given constructive feedback, and go home at the end of the day wanting to do a good job. When I’ve had to deal with big issues, I have often found, at least in my experience that it’s often the employee who will lie, or neglect to include pertinent facts when dealing with different types of cases. When I am dealing with a legitimate case, I make it a point to make sure that decisions are based on facts and that everyone is heard. I pride myself on trying to do the right thing based on the facts of the case no matter who that may work in favor of.

Wow – what a way to start my morning – hearing how much some employees hate HR! I have worked in HR 30 years. HR is only as good as the leadership and management of the company/firm. There are bad HR folks, bad bankers, bad doctors, etc. There are also good HR folks, good bankers – you get the picture.
And yes, we work for the firm – and guess what, so do you. If we all work toward the common goal of making our firms the best they can be, we all reap the benefits. That means accepting responsibility for our performance and our interactions with everyone in the workplace.
Unfortunately, all too often, HR is the messenger. Much of the “good” we do is done in private; the grapevine sees the policy changes, etc and looks for some one to blame.

Our success in the work place is a shared responsibility. If we all work toward a win-win, it is much more enjoyable for everyone.

Wish I could write more, but I have to deal with the co-workers arguing over the placement of the candy dish.

HR is mostly a sham to protect the corporate interests. My interactions with them in the past have been nonsensical and useless. They look you in the eye and try to put the positive spin on things that shouldn’t be regarded as positive, and they’re only there to help you if you’re a manager with a rock solid case for firing a “bad” employee.

I am a former business owner, labor union president and business agent with fifteen years of direct interaction with HR reps over various employee issues. As an employee advocate, I can agree on many of the issues that the previous commentors have disclosed. Whenever a new HR manager or HR rep came onto the work scene, it was my job to undo all the combat training they had received and instill common sense and basic employee respect into issues that varied far and away from anything they had ever been taught — teaching them that theirs was a people business. Reverse-training educated HR reps without people skills can be a frustrating thing to go through.

Wow! I have been in the H.R. field for many years. I have a board in my office with lots of thank you notes from staff members who were having difficulties with management and or other issues in the organization. No matter what company I work for, I know each employee by name, I know what they do, thier length of service and for most employees; I remember the names of their spouses and children.

I am usually hired when the prior HR department or manager has performed poorly. I am very upfront with management about the role I intend to have in the organization and confident about the changes I will bring. What makes me different from most HR professionals…. education and training!!! I have an MBA and a Masters in Org Management and Development. I was a recruiter and corporate trainer for years before becoming an HR Director.

Education plays a key role in how well your HR department does its job. Human Resources has been a department in which the office manager becomes the HR manager or someone has just been doing the job for a long time, or it can be the owners wife who has been helping out for years and has “grown” into the position.

Additionally, many HR professionals are still maintain the “service” mentality. Those who are there to serve the corporate entity, plan parties and provide empathy to employees without being upfront about their motives.

These are the HR managers and directors who are hoping that the corporate big wigs will automatically accept them as equals at the table. It reminds me of the woman who waits years for her live-in boyfriend to pop the question. Today, HR must arrive at the table with metrics in hand, confidence, statisics, industry trends and solutions demonstrating how they ARE a strategic partner.

There is a very fine line between being pro corporation and pro employee, straddling that fence is very difficult. HR professionals know that they must follow the law and be fair. There are times that either or both sides won’t like the decision, but it is important that both sides understand that the decision was fair and you can dempnstrate that by using the tools of the profession.

I work for a small start up company as the HR Administrator and while I can appreciate that there are many jaded and inept HR people working, there are also those of us, who are trying to give a new face to HR. I do work very hard to be a mediator between the executive team and the employees at our company, often times I am not heard or ignored, but employees still lump HR in as the bad guy. Companies and their management teams set the tone for your company culture and I believe that culture will also guide what type of HR department the company will have. So don’t blame HR for something that may really go beyond them and be somewhat out of their control.

The challenge is that HR has the responsibility of executing policy and procedures, so even when you are someone who wants to be “pro-employee” it is very difficult. The type of people hired for HR positions are rewarded for those qualities that favor rule dispensing and attention to detail, so when it comes to tapping into HR for big picture, disputes with gray areas, finding HR employees with those skills is challenging. So HR gets a bad rap. They are hired for one thing and often required and rewarded to do another.

I am at my HR best when I am caring and honest with the employees. I stake my reputation on being sincere and fair and following through, trying desperately to protect the best interests of the employee and the company. If I don’t have an answer or need to do research on something, I will admit it 100% of the time; I think our employees trust me because of that. There was a time when I would walk in a branch office and people would whisper, wondering who’s getting fired. Now I show up to pleasant greetings b/c they have learned over time that I come for good reasons as well as bad reasons. One portion of my job is to have a sympathetic ear to employee concerns and complaints while agreeing to do what I can as their advocate; another portion of my job is to counsel management when a particular course of action/inaction could land us in trouble. Not all HR departments are fronts for an inflexible corporate attitude and I apologize on behalf of the good folks in my profession for any unfortunate encounters any of you have had in the past with a poor HR rep. Please don’t stereotype HR staff in general b/c of a few bad apples.

Joshua needs to remember that he is employed by the company, and the ultimate goal of HR or any department or division (including his own) is to work for the best interests of that company. In good companies, those interests more easily (ethically, legally, etc.) coincide with those of the employees and vice versa, but to expect an HR department to simply “take the side” of an employee is ludicrous. Joshua, imagine yourself as the head of your own small company. Your one employee disagrees with you on a point that can make or break you. Whose side would YOU take?

I believe that employees and managers alike need to realize that the HR function exists for the best interests of the company. Period.

Before everyone gets upset by that statement, I also have to remind you that it’s in the best of interest of the company for its employees to be motivated and do their jobs well. That’s why HR people pay attention to pay levels and benefits and employee relations and training and the list goes on.

Remembering that HR’s job is to protect the interests of the company, answer these questions … Should an HR person be concerned about keeping the company out of legal harm’s way? absolutely! Should an HR person be courteous and helpful? Without a doubt. Should they be a skilled professional? Yes.

If you want to an employee advocate who is not focused on the company, then you should turn to your union steward.

HR is the marriage/family councillor in the relationship between the Employer and the Employees. We can sympathize, empathize, inform about legal and illegal aspects of the relationship. We can make recommendations about how the relationship can be healed, or if it needs to end before it gets even worse. Or if the parties need to start seeing other people. Or stop that. Some relationships need us more. Some need us less. Sometimes there are kids – subordinates – to deal with. Sometimes there are the crazy aunts and uncles (like that nosy supervisor down the hall) who insist on getting involved. And sometimes there are people who have no idea we exist because they don’t need us. Until they do need us. Yeah, there’s paperwork. Yeah, some of it is just plain stupid. Common sense would take care of a lot of these issues. And, if sense were common, more people would have it. There’s paperwork because someone somewhere did something that needed to be documented. Think of it as filling out the insurance forms to see the councillor. It’s dumb and some of it doesn’t apply to YOU, but it has to be given to everybody. We have a policy that says you can’t bring explosives to work. Duh. But it’s there for a reason. I put candy in my office so staff can come in and “get candy” – instead of talk to the HR guy. I help a lot of people that way.

Or, to look at it a different way, my job in HR would be a lot easier if it wasn’t for all these darned people!

HR has been a place of ruin and misuse of power. Most people get into these positions by internal default and know nothing about business management, solving employee problems, or mediation issues. They become trained robots who answer to management and sell out their employees when someone comes to them with a complaint. I have learned to keep my mouth shut and undo no circumstances EVER TELL HR anything. It WILL come back to haunt you…guaranteed!

i totally agree. the funny thing is i use to work for HR a few years ago now i work for the same place in a different dept. well when i worked in HR the “Boss” didnt act the way she does now how sad it is to see good people trained into selling out there employees..

14 years as an engineer in various manufacturing industries…

Short version: The buck stops at the corner office.

I have never had any dispute with an employer, and yet I’ve not had any trust whatsoever in any of the HR directors I’ve come across simply as a result of observing their actions. Please note I say *HR directors*, not the departments.

BUT… as with anything and everything in business, responsibility has to be placed at the very top.

NC

Susan, Great post about a great article. Your comments and the Fast Company piece resonate big time with my own mantra about Truths HR People Never Say. Great job.

I work for a large corporate organisation in South Africa that has a fairly large HR department. I find that most of the HR people are approachable, but that is where it stops. Once the issue at hand results in a meeting they become patronising, condescending and can not understand the views of the staff concerned as they have no experience with the specific job at hand.I do believe that HR could offer a far better service if they took some time to move around the organisation, get to know the staff and understand what they are doing instead of sticking to themselves or relating mostly to management. Listening to concerns of staff has saved many companies over the years. Concerns create an awareness and should never be
confused with winging or moaning.

ok ….here goes i went for a job interview …sat through 3 interviews ended up getting the ”offer”
asked HR for the whole employee benefit package to look over , HR responded that my supervisor would go over them ,after i signed the employee / employer
agreement form . is that normal practice ???? i ended up not taking the job …plus there were other red flags ….

Good morning: I’ve got a question that is burning a hole in my sense of common sense and for the life of me, I can’t figure it out, so any input from the greater populous would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
I want to change careers, and move myself into an office, a regular 8 to 5, instead of being in the field of inconsistent and on again, off again work schedule of being self employed.
However, I can’t seem to get past the H.R. person.
I’m terribly secure with who I am and they aren’t.
I have 3 years of formal education and 7 years of informal education, (though I don’t put down this informal), am a quick learner, meet all obstacles head on and find learning an adventure to becoming a better person.
Yet, in most cases I feel like I’m having a conversation with a kindergartner, (H.R.) and can’t for the life of me figure out how to get past them.
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you again,
Lora

I’ve had terrific HR departments in previous organizations and now am in a smaller company – 500 employees and don’t have that luxury any longer. I went to HR with a concern only to be advised after I shared the concern that she tells the CEO everything. It was an employee relations problem and nothing to do with management yet still the CEO was updated on it. We have all now been told that either directly by her or by the others who have experienced it. She is not an employee advocate, but rather is so far up the CEO’s and VP’s butt, she should check for polyps.

It is great to read all your well written and thought out input. I am currently a grad student in HR. It is just as fuzzy in here. Some prof’s are tired, you can tell that their HR career took the life right out of them, and can only teach the stuff. Some love their job, and teach at night. The problem is, they all want us to learn the strategic end of HR, so we will be invited to sit at the table, and I am not getting the impression that HR people sit at the table much. Are the graduate programs preparing us for a pie in the sky kind of career, and then when we get out there, it is paper pushing and head complaint dept. There are so many people in the career that do not have a HR degree, is this the problem. I am learning about a lot of bad managers that we have to look out for, and about a lot of employee problems that we ourselves could be sued over if we are not careful. We are learning all the laws, so to treat everyone fairly, but the common answer for most situations is… “it depends” pick your poison, each solution is going up against someone’s rights.. who do you want to tick off more, management or employee’s or the law. It is all very confusing, and I wonder what the real job is acturally like. Is it stressfull, or do you have nice people mostly, or is the top managers trying telling you one thing and asking for something else.. or does “it depend”.
Any comments are helpful.

I believe that the field is hampered by those who call themselves “HR” and do not have formal education or training to do the job. I’ve dealt with these people and hate when they claim to be “HR”, when they are really an administrative assistant who is trying to do HR. I have a BS in HR Managment and a MBA, I rely on my education and my 12 years of experience.
I go home every day worrying about situations at work. I put my heart and mind into this job and take immense pride in what I do. My toughest challenge: managers and employees who come to me for advice and then they don’t do what I’ve recommended. They always come back later wanting me to clean things up. In my role as Director of Human Resources I deal with craziness that would send most managers running after a week. A large part of my job is just keeping people calm.
With that said, I wouldn’t change careers for anything and I know this is what I was meant to do.

I have been at companies where there were “bad” HR representatives and companies where there were “good” HR representatives. I believe one poster said it all – “Your HR department can only be as good as the executive management.” Yes, employees need to understand that ultimately your HR rep works for the company as do you. However, it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t feel comfortable going to your HR department with an issue and expect it to be handled fairly. I have worked for companies with hatchet HR reps. Everyone dreaded seeing them and they really weren’t advocates for anyone but the company. You couldn’t expect to be treated fairly or your situation handled humanely. It was all about the company’s legal protection.

Now, I am with a company who put the Human in Human Resources. Since changing directions in my career, my HR Director took me under her wing and has mentored me. She explained the processes of our company, which I’ve always believed are fair. First, she says when a manager comes to her asking to let someone go, she has a checklist they must complete to ensure it is not just someone pissed off at an employee. Every effort is made to ensure there is no other alternative to letting an employee go. Additionally, if an employee has a complaint about a manager, then information is compiled discreetly before any steps are further taken. The ultimate goal is to have a happy, productive staff all around. Of course, not all situations have a happy ending but what I appreciate is that every recourse is utilized before a decision is made.

Although we are not a large company, with less than 400 employees, our HR department pretty much knows each person and whether they have a family, are married, etc. Employees understand that when they approach our HR department with personal or company issues, it remains confidential.

When issues arise of which they question, do they contact our legal counsel? Of course. They want to ensure they are not only protecting the company, but the employee as well. That is one reason why counsel is retained.

It is very unfortunate that many HR representatives are unable to do their jobs effectively. I think it is because a lot of them cannot distinguish between personal and business. They get defensive when confronted with issues and take it as a personal affront.

I am pleased to be associated with such a caring company. And one day when I grow up, I want to be just like my HR Director!

Eh…I have to agree with the article. I have never, ever, not once in my entire career, had a positive experience with HR.

In one example, I was in the darkroom at work when a male employee came up behind me and ground himself against my back. I told HR, who then called the male employee in and asked him about it right in front of me. Then I started getting micromanaged to death and getting called in until I looked at each new workday with dread and finally left.

In another example, our VP wanted to make budget cuts and decided my position was no longer fiscally justifiable. Instead of being fair about it and working out a way for me to leave gracefully, he put me on probation without any basis for doing so. There were outright false claims of acting out in the workplace. My manager who sat in the initial HR review with me even whispered “I’ve never witnessed any of this behavior from you”. I was told I had to sign the write up anyway.

I don’t know about anyone in HR, but I was always told that the burden of proof is on the accuser. If HR is going to be effective in this scenario, they have to learn that there are 2 sides and be savvy enough to read between the lines and make sure all are treated fairly. I was completely confident that my VP was lying (he has since been fired) in order to circumnavigate the process of laying someone off and save the company some dough.

When the probation didn’t provide the results he wanted, he told my boss that he “didn’t do it right” and to put me on probation again. HR acted as an extension of him and enabled his harassment by allowing this behavior without any documented instance for why it was a valid course of action.

THIS I KNOW FOR CERTAIN:
You will never be treated “fairly” by HR. If you are being mistreated or harassed, you’ll be making waves by saying a peep. All going to HR does is flag yourself as someone who needs to be swimming with the fishies, not helped out.

Try it. Go to HR and let them know that there is anything slightly out of the desired norm and watch how fast you get on the radar and drummed out of town.

Human Resources – even the name HR give themselves hints at their biggest problem. This function used to be called Personnel, if you remember, which is good, implies I am valued as a PERSON. Human Resources – is an utterly impersonal term which confirms the large majority of peoples’ experiences of this function, namely it is also utterly impersonal, we are not people, we are resources to be milked like cows on a farm, or moved around like unwated furntiure.

I am not suggesting that we workers felt like we were treated any differently before the rebranding of personnel into the hateful HR than we are treated now, far from it, however the new name HR merely confirms what we all knew already – this function is present to protect the company, not the worker, and the new name shows us just what employers really think of their workers – not people, but merely “a resource”.

I say to all workers reading this, just remember this truth, your employer is NOT interested in you as a person, in your needs, desires or ambitions, they are only interested in you as long as you toe the line, keep your mouth shut and work hard, and it is this purpose that HR is there to fulfill, so do not be fooled by the platitudes and propaganda from those representatives of this so called “profession” above.

I realise not all people in that profession are as cynical and awful as I make out above, however those that are not are very much in the minority, and it is the rest of your profession who give you a bad name – change profession into one less hated, say politics, journalism or a lawyer.

i have never had a good experience with HR. I find they are either incompetent, or power hungry. I had an HR person so completely mess up my exit paperwork that I had to wait over 40 days for my final paycheck. I called every business day to resolve the issue. My complaints were either met with more imcompetency or false sympathy and no action. It was maddening as no one could help me but HR and there was no one to complain to or get help from as HR seems to be an entity unto itself with no checks or balances and no accountability.

I also had an HR person threaten and bully me after an incident on the job for which I easily could have sued the company. My boss as intoxicated and was verbally abusive to me in front of several people, some of them clients. It was frightening. HR saw me as a threat and intimated me with emails and pestering phone calls, even late at night and early in the morning while I was on disability leave. The HR director told me several times that she was going to have my disability payments stopped because I was faking illness. She said that she won’t be happy until I am forced to go back where I came from which is out of state. They then realized that I was not protected by family leave act and fired me while I was still on disability. I was so glad to be away from them.

I have always thought they were giving me a bad reference also because For several months after I was okay to go back to work I was getting interviews that seemed promising but then the doors were slammed in my face. I took that job off my resume and as soon as I did I was hired at my new job where I’ve now been for 4 years with no problems.

I will never trust an HR person ever. They are no their for the employees. They are there for their big fat bonuses they get from the company. That’s all they care about is themselves and no one else. They have too much power in companies and no one keeps an eye on them. It creates a perfect situation for corruption and I think it’s to the detriment of the company.

HR is like a hospital’s marketing department – a place for suckups, incompetents, the lazy, the power hungry, and the well overpaid and generally useless – my last corp. employer hired HR staff and managers who had less education and less experience than I and paid them 3 times as much – Think that’s shallow or shortsighted, I also temped in a HR office. I’ve also experienced interactions similar to those of previous commenters. What’s really funny is when HR interviews someone and insinuates the applicant is a jobhopper and quite often the HR interviewer has held more jobs in a shorter time frame. Oh, if you meet with a female HR person, she’s probably anti-male and/or anti-white. I’m college educated, very good experience, white, male, and a vet so I’m first on their “nope, he just won’t do” list. I wonder if today’s HR staffs are the children who loved to tattle?

I personally don’t trust nor do I sympathize with HR, I’ve never had any positive experiences with them and see them as an active impediment in the work world.

The problem here is that HR used to be strictly the personnel department, as such it’s function was strictly limited to managing the payroll and benefits for the company’s employees. However, when HR was born in the 1980s with a greater emphasis on organizational issues and management they got carried away. Many HR departments today are fiefdoms and semi independent states within the corporation. They have absolute police powers and in quite a few instances act as the Gestapo for management.

The problems I’ve recently had with HR is in the area of hiring, especially in the technical fields such as Oil and Gas. HR doesn’t know or care about the background of the applicant, all they know about is their “mandate” to hire whom they think fits with the organization. So they apply simplistic measures when screening candidates but take these measures to an extreme.

One such measure is the graduation GPA of the candidate for an entry level position, most companies look at GPA as one measure and most technical managers understand not to overweight this qualification. In many instances I’ve seen this abused to the point of being absolutely ridiculous. I’ve had discussions with inside technical managers who mention off the record that they would be happy to hire good workers who only had a 3.0/4.0 GPA(ie B average).

However, when HR becomes involved in setting the qualifications they get GPA inflated to extremes. One midsized Oil and Gas Company had an unwritten GPA cutoff of 3.6/4.0 which is considered first class honours or cum laude, this cuts down the pool of qualified candidates to maybe 5/100 applicants. The problem here is that more isn’t better, sometimes very high GPA students are not the best suited for the job but HR insists they know what is best for the company. Tech manager complain that sometimes these types of candidates don’t workout well because these people are too bright, the get bored of the entry level work and are too ambitious for the position they’re in, but HR doesn’t consider this to be a problem.

This applies to other measures such as technical certifications and personality profiles, these types of screenings don’t do anything but leave the impression that HR doesn’t know what it’s doing but simply sets the bar as high as possible.

As for other comments about trusting HR in one word: Don’t, they are not and have never been advocates of the employee, their function is akin to that of the secret police in totalitarian societies. They are there to monitor the behavior and compliance of the employee with company rules and regulations; they are there to protect the company from any potential liability and to dispose of the apparent troublemakers or those who would cost the company significant amounts of money.

They are not employee advocates and are therefore not to be trusted. I treat HR the way I would treat a nosy cop, I mind my business and keep my mouth shut around them. I don’t squeal on fellow employees nor do I share information with HR under any circumstances. I’ve seen what happens to people who are only suspected of doing something which infringes on the corporation rules. Summary judgment followed by dismissal; HR make good executioners and you can bet the type of person who gravitates to HR like the power they have over other employees.

Remember, they’re the enemy and should be treated as such.

HR departments are invariably populated by vacuous windbags (almost always women) who’ve never done a day of real work in their lives, and probably never will. They do nothing other than create impediments to the real business of actually running the business. Besides that, they spend their time doing ridiculous nonsensical tasks that achieve nothing – they need to occupy their time to justify their existence. I work for a company with over 1000 employees – number of HR staff? Zero. It’s pure bliss.

I think one problem is the name itself. How did something that used to be called the Personnel Department acquire a name as utterly dehumanizing as “Human Resources?” It amazes me that the term has become so widely accepted. Might as well call employees “labor units.”

After having a bad experience with HR at one company and being unjustly fired I have learn’t never to go to HR with any kind of complaint regarding workplace relations or management. Best rule: if it can’t be resolved with your immediate manager, change departments or leave the company.

Joshua’s opinion of HR is an unfortunate one in that he had a bad experience . The HR clarifies issues to balance the people and the management. HR look at why things happened and not only how they happened. As Hershey says, HR truthfully help to navigate the politics of the organisation but documentation is necessary with the thought that the person who need the assistance could have other intentions. The HR must be on guard.
The truth is that, the HR built people to get the best out for mankind. DON’T HATE HR

I want to suggest that SPOCKSDISCIPLE should have a rethink of his opinion or view that the HR should not be sympathised with nor be trusted . If I may ask, is it wrong for the HR to “monitor the behaviour and compliance of the employees with company’s rules and regulation”?
That the HR protects the company from any potential liability is credit that can not be overemphasised . If I may ask SPOCKSDISCIPLE; Who is the COMPANY? It is only disloyal and greedy staff that THINKS THIS WAY.

In some companies you might be right, but when you have a HR manager that is constantly telling employees ( Its work or school, and If you are not available to have a flexible work schedule then maybe you should find another Job) is not just wrong but in most states its illegal. To sleep with the Director of Ops to get the HR job, and then term them over it once they have it is just “BAD” ( there is no way you can tell me that HR isn’t BAD “It is only disloyal and greedy staff that THINKS THIS WAY” )

Some HR staff think that they are Gods in the work place, and they need to be sent back to earth in a blaze some times. It never good when the HR Manager goes to the VP and says “they can not approve anything without the HR managers approval”. One more thing, don’t tell me that this is not true, this is my HR manager and she is a total nightmare and every one is afraid of her.

The only thing that will save HR from this harassment is to have a standard professional ethics to regulate its operations just like other professional bodies.We have a lot of people who are in,but not qualified to be in or head the HR department.

Thaddeus,

“As Hershey says, HR truthfully help to navigate the Uu>politics of the organisation but documentation is necessary with the thought that the person who need the assistance could have other intentions.”

“If I may ask SPOCKSDISCIPLE; Who is the COMPANY? It is only disloyal and greedy staff that THINKS THIS WAY.”

“The HR must be on guard.

Spoken like a true believer and gatekeeper, HR believes itself to be the ultimate arbiters and guardians of an organization. When in fact most of the time they do not and will understand why HR is viewed in such a dim light.

So anyone who speaks out against modern HR and corporate practices are disloyal and greedy? Now we know how you think and this illustrates precisely the point I’m trying to make about HR.

Loyalty as judged by HR? Sounds more like what the thought police would sound say.
And no it isn’t wrong for a company to address disciplinary and other problems which happen with employees. The issue here is that HR wants to be proactive, so they come up with criteria they try and match to employee performance appraisals and reports.

One matching keyword is all it takes to trigger an investigation of an employee.
If things don’t “smell” right HR has the power to summarily dismiss an employee without right of appeal and employees are almost never told why (they’re not owed an explanation unless it’s a protected union position).

Disloyal and greedy are terms used by HR types who think they’re the sacred guardians of an organization, who knows whats best for everyone.

My statements stand, precisely because of your statements above, don’t trust HR no matter what. They are not your friends, you are viewed with suspicion if you bring up any problems and are viewed as a liability to the organization (ie potential troublemaker).

HR are the police enforcers of management, in a perfect and fair world the definition of a company would include all employees, in today’s world the definition of a company are the shareholders and the executive management, but not the rest of the employees, who are viewed with suspicion.

Thank you Thaddeus for illustrating why HR has as bad a reputation as it does.

HR?!? I am president of a recruiting/ head hunting agency, and work with HR on a daily basis when I acting in a recruiting role myself.

Fortunately I get to see all sides, from managers, to employeesto HR.

I have never seen HR act in any capacity other than to prevent the company from being sued or protect the company against liability. HR would not exist as a profession if the government did not have laws and regulaiobs on the books that require require internal oversight.

In other words, they will never generate money for the company, and if the government deregulated the employment market, they would all be out of jobs.

On the recruiting end, 90% of HR professionals are grossly incompetent and most managers I speak with complain about them ad nauseum. They just can’t say so publicly because of office politics.

Just my years of experience.

As we can see by all these comments, HR employees are considered to be the pig swill of the workplace. They are morally corrupt, spend most of their day in the coffee shop or shoe shopping and the rest of the day teasing senior managers in an attempt to justify their inflated wages. The few minutes each week that they work on recruitment consists of throwing a pile of CVs down the stairs and choosing for interview the CVs that land closest to the bottom of the stairs (closest to the storage area for all the shoes handbags they buy with their inflated wageswhen abusing flexitime/lunch breaks).

As a union representative, and as an employee I have only ever met women who work in HR. I wish incompetent, morally corrupt men of low intelligence had an identifiable department like women to where we could identify and mock them.

Sadly the HR industry reflects extremly badly upon businesswomen, which is very unfair. HR damages business women’s reputation.

I NEVER thought I would experience the sort of fraud, harrasment, collusion, manipulation of figures and pure, overt incompetence that HR departments I have worked with deal in.

You can get a degree in HR now, and can get chartered! Chartered in HR!!! A disgrace to chartership I would say.

I am a HR Manager and let me tell you this job is not fun. I hate it more often than not and here is why . ..

I try very hard to champion the cause of the employees I support but doing so in the face of immature HR minded business leaders is extremely difficult. Dave Ulrich’s model advocates a strategic HR function but in reality it is the very same immature HR minded leaders who profess to agree with Mr Ulrich that expect HR to arrange fun days, run endless statistical reports to monitor compliance to company policies and make pretty flowery posters to make the office look festive. One can only champion the HR crusade for legitimacy as a contributor to business success for so long before you yourself loose your will to continue and revert to a mere administrator. Employees expect HR to know everything and to “look after them” but who looks after the battle weary HR professional who listens to everybody’s problems and tries their best to offer support and guidance, engages in a continuous battle with business leadership to do right by employees and who very often don’t agree with the very same company policies that they have to enforce because like you, dear HR haters, they are also employees of the very same organisation. If people out there hate HR, I suspect that their expectation of what HR should be doing is distorted. Do you know that an employee once asked me in my capacity at HR what colour he should paint his apartment!

Lauren, I share your sentiments exactly as you have it. I am an HR Manager myself and there are days when I wished that I had chosen another career. There are days when I feel that I am more of a Psychiatrist than a HR Manager. I am drained to the capacity having to deal with the coporate managers who feels that HR should always be working for the benefit of the company even though you are trying to prove to them that everything has to be coordinated effectively so that alll can benefit including HR.

Lauren I have been in HR for 25 years and I like my job for the most part…and I absolutely agree with everything you have stated…I beleive its employees misconception of the duties of HR as well as the executives…they also refuse to see that part of our job is to ensure that employees rights are not violated…not make things fair…who said things must be fair…?

In my first interactions with HR, it was as a Computer Science major just out of college. What I gathered was having non-technical people in a technical company’s HR can be somewhat problematic.

However, it wasn’t until I was put on the evil that is known as PIP did I come to not like interacting with HR. Not to rehash what is all throughout the post on Performance Improvement Plans, but I pretty much knew I was toast. And as everyone said, HR isn’t there to help you but to help the company.

Is that true? I don’t know what was going on behind the scenes. I have no idea if they were trying to help me. But at the end of the day, you don’t like dealing with HR.

What would help would be some honesty. They should tell us “when push comes to shove we will side with the company.” We both know it. I think people would like HR a lot more.

When I was at a defense contractor, they would come out and say “don’t blame this on us” in regards to benefits changes. I liked them.

I hate HR because it’s so discriminatory when it comes to hiring for HR professional positions. I have a Masters in HR and in the ensuing 9 years since I earned that degree I have not had one single interview for a C-Suite level HR position. When you see the staff directories that are posted online they are almost 80% or higher female.
That’s why I hate HR, women discriminate against men when it comes to hiring for HR positions.

I Hate Hate Hate HR. they know nothing and they pretend as knows everything. they always has “Commanding and Controlling Attitude” and then they will grade other’s attitude (Funny ha). i feel like $#$$@ if someone talk about my attitude…

In my experience, i believe females are not fit for HR and I work for a company, where there is no HR team. its all managed by Managers and Administrative Office. if something related to legal issues, we have a legal dept. tho I’m a Sr.Manager i see there is no need of HR for a company.

Well …..I am an HR Manager, and I can’t honestly say I dont agree with some of the comments. But I think what people are forgetting is the HR department is a resource, not necessarily to make all wrongs right or make things fair, where is it written things must be fair? Also consider your expectations when you go to HR are they realistic? HR is not your parents. HR’s purpose is to hire, train, encourage and create a means for career growth which will ultimately impact both the employee and the company positively. But lets get real for a minute…HR people are employed by the same employer and it is part of our job to minimize litigation when at all possible. The best way to accomplish that goal is to COMMUNICATE, clear concise and truthfully. Unfortunately some if not many HR people feel they should sugar coat the message. I beleive this is when employees lose confidence in HR.

I have to say that everything that was said about the TRUTH about HR I have to 100% agree. Any HR that is hired by the company always sides with the managers, supervisors or directors of that company and all others basically is ignored. You either have to look for another job or transfer to a different department. Which now leads to me ask this question, cant the state that you live in pass a law that an HR is outsourced and now hired by the company so there will be equality in the workplace?

HR in my experience do nothing except screen CV’s based upon a checklist. They seem to lack any knowledge in the actual required skill-set. Within IT, ‘paper-based’ qualifications such as degrees, or other academic qualifications serve no purpose in an IT environment where knowledge becomes obsolete within 6 months.

As an IT manager, I have had to ‘educate’ many HR personnel on how to screen CV’s. So much so, that I might as well do it myself.

I attend many IT conferences and seminars on the latest technological advances and required skill-set for IT departments, yet have never once met an HR rep there.

It seems, through a general lack of pro activeness, or interest, they have relegated themselves into ‘admin’ staff.

The best HR dept ever came across was for Motorola. They had the best people. So kind and friendly. Always seemed like an open door policy. Great benefits office too. Took them for grantit. Never come across anything like it since. The place I work now you have to make an appointment to meet with someone.

No serious company really needed an hr.

Wow! I have been working as an HR Manager for about 5 years and I am looking to back into Payroll only. Once I was told by my pool guy (HR) is a fake position, because no matter what we think is right or wrong the owners are always going to have the last word. Sorry to say but it is true. I once had an owner tell me (I don’t mind paying a couple of fines – this is my company and the employees will do what I say.) I left that company soon after! The company I am at now has been the best company so far when it comes to pay, and benefits, however as far has making you feel at home, not exactly. HR can only be right when it comes to federal and state law/compliance, but when it comes to fairness, nothing we can do. Owners are going to do what they want. Unless the company is in out name! Can’t wait not to be HR no more!

I agree with most of the disgust about HR. Honestly, one of the biggest impediments to getting hired is the department itself. I’ve never gotten a job going through the HR department, only through networking and finding a manager directly who was interested in me.

There’s a study that proves that we tend to associate and hire people who are like us. What that means for the rest of us is that mostly incompetent, poorly trained, poorly educated, young people a year or two out of college are inclined to hire others like themselves.

I also agree that HR is no friend to the employee. There is no way in hell any HR person will actually assist in resolving an issue that might damage the company. Anyone who works in HR and tells you otherwise is a liar. I tell friends constantly that when facing a work issue they need to document everything, contact a lawyer, then contact HR. They’ll still lose their job in the long run but they’ll have built a foundation for a legal settlement.

I’ve also hired people not directly using the HR department. I find them useless at spotting true talent. As a manager, I despise them and find they uselessly muddy the hiring process. I also find it interesting that when there are layoffs, HR never seems to shrink, it just grows bigger and bigger like the monster in “The Thing”. Every feasible chance I get, I try to discuss with senior management about downsizing the HR department’s responsibilities and staff.

My husband works for a large, multi-national company and has for over a decade. He works with a woman who has demonstrated that she is clearly unstable: sobs at work over issues at home and issues with anyone who criticizes her. She stomps into HR to complain about people. Initially, she befriended my husband who was her supervisor. He noticed she was making a huge amount of errors and had to point that out to her. She went ballistic and wrote emails to everyone in the department about him being cruel to her. Months later, she was still fuming about my husband. She then told someone that she wanted to kill him and described how she would do it. He told my husband what she said. My husband went to HR and said this is a safety issue. They treated him like HE had done something wrong – total cross examination, asking him what he did to cause her to say this. They refused to move this woman away from him, so he had to endure her wrath on a daily basis. Now the company is laying some people off. My husband is being laid off after getting the highest performance reviews for the past 10 years. Lesson learned: HR is NOT there for the employee.

HR are an internal anti-union basically designed to protect the company from its employees.

I’m trying not to be sexist here, but in my experience it’s basically a dumping ground for female employees who aren’t good at the nuts and bolts of whatever the company actually does, but are good at err…. sending emails and talking about people behind their backs.
Useless male employees don’t have such a safe haven available to them. They just get fired.

HR is the ultimate soft option: “Which would you rather do, weld this girder/crunch these numbers/write this technical manual/move that big pile of boxes OR sit down and talk about other employees lives all day?”

The reality is, it’s a job that has a lot of women in it… because it has a lot of women in it. It’s self-perpetuating.

Stuart – Sorry man… totally sexist and wrong on so many levels. I know LOTS of men that fit into the same category of person that you are describing.

However, HR is useless at best in my opinion. At their worst, they are power hungry, demeaning, counter-productive, and sneaky. My advice is to nod and say hi when you interact with them. Put a smile on your face always. And never tell them anything. RUN!

We had a situation at my office where an entry-level employee gave a colorful exit interview. She was only at the company for a year and change. She was known as a gossip, and was an average employee who completed her work but didn’t go above and beyond her work. HR took the colorful commentary and brought it to two separate executives. Essentially halting production as the executive passed the information to their employees. A string of pissed off people. HR sucks. Whatever you do … tell them nothing.