#HumanResources #WorkplaceCulture #HRProfessionals
Hey everyone! 👋 Have you ever had a run-in with an HR person who left a bad taste in your mouth? I’ve personally never met or interacted with a decent HR person. It seems like they always have an ulterior motive or are just not genuine in their interactions.
I’ve encountered HR professionals who were downright scummy, talking behind people’s backs and displaying clear sociopathic tendencies. It’s not a fun experience, to say the least. I mean, I know the difference between a sociopath and a psychopath, and some of these HR folks come pretty close to the latter category.
Have your experiences with HR been similar? If so, I feel your pain. But fear not, there might be a solution to this ongoing issue:
Here are a few tips on how to deal with difficult HR professionals:
– Communicate openly and honestly about your concerns.
– Document everything in case you need to escalate the situation.
– Seek support from colleagues or managers who may have had similar experiences.
– Consider reaching out to a higher authority within the company for assistance.
Let’s share our stories and strategies so we can all benefit from each other’s experiences! 💬 #SupportEachOther #WorkplaceWellbeing
I don’t trust em but like anything or one I don’t trust, I stay far away. Just easier that way.
While working at a very large and well-known Fortune 500 company, I went to our HR person with an issue I was having.
Without knowing anything about me or my beliefs, she suggested prayer.
I walked out.
-rememeber whom they are responsible to..
Their ‘job’ is stopping problems, as cost effectively as possible..
I was married to one.
*Was*.
Had a gal I worked for, who was quite well off – I don’t know about “elite-rich” but was the upper end of middle class at the very least. She came through the corporate world.
Her description: “HR is a collection of the dumbest people in every company with an overinflated sense of self and a paycheck for no real skills or knowledge to back it up.”
And I’m not sure where the idea that HR is there to help you ever came from – HR is there to protect the COMPANY from YOU. Not the other way around.
I had a good one at my current job, SPECIFICALLY because they handled benefits and nothing else. She along with several others left. So for the last 8 months we haven’t had a dedicated benefits rep, and everyone is being told to call the insurance company for our questions.
At the same time they’re allowing a manager to harass against a pregnant, disabled person. Yes I know our rights. We’re in the process of reporting it to the proper entities.
Don’t trust HR.
Yes.
They have cop vibes
The man who is head of HR where I work is actually a decent guy. He’s older, probably late 50’s-early 60’s. Might just be him, or maybe he’s from the old school way of doing things. The head of HR at my last job was a real piece of work. She is one of the nastiest people I’ve ever met. Here’s the kicker: old job closed down, and HR lady is now working at my new place too. Fuck. I’m not looking forward to HR guy retiring.
My recently college grad niece went into HR at a contract house. One of those faceless HR firms that small and medium size businesses farm out HR services.
She is nice enough….I give it 3 years before she burns out.
They’re basically the police, so yeah. I do have a young friend who works in HR (not at my company) and he’s a true believer, he thinks his job is to help. He’ll devolve into a typical HR person I’m sure
I have also had this experience with those in HR. Some are legit fucking sociopaths. A few others are just incompetent asf
My worst HR experience was a poorly-managed redundancy process. It was all cost-driven, as opposed to for performance, just getting that bit out there.
Anyway, I had all but worked out I was losing my job and then on a Friday I had the ‘find out’ meeting put in for mid-morning the coming Monday.
So I had all weekend to stew on it, stress about what was coming etc. Then when I got in on the Monday, I found the meeting had been moved to Tuesday because ‘the VP isn’t available.’ They were in a different country to me, just FYI.
So I went straight to the HR Director, and basically said I’m not waiting another day to find out what I am pretty sure I already now. It’s so inappropriate and inconsiderate to move this meeting at late notice after I’ve been waiting months to find out. So, you either find a way to have this meeting today, or I won’t be here tomorrow, and any meeting you try and set with me about this, I won’t come to.
Miraculously, a way was found, and I got the answer I was expecting all along. Then I sat tight for three months, used my remaining working time to find my next job, and left with a big five-figure settlement.
Because of the nature of the business I worked for at the time I had access to some union representation and support, and they said they’d never seen a redundancy process managed as bad as this one.
I have found 2 types (and there are likely more) of HR peeps. Those who work for the benefit of the employee and those who work to benefit the employer.
The 1st ones knew morale mattered and were helpful, and if they couldn’t be, found someone who could. Examples of that were: given unlimited time off when my mom passed with assurance my job was safe; worked to make sure my health insurance covered the state I was moving to when I left the company; made sure to have severance and resources available during layoffs. The 2nd ones held to the letter of the handbook and made everything a hassle.
The best HR director I ever worked with had a degree in IT.
(He was legit good too)
I have known one decent HR person. She didn’t lie to protect the company. She didn’t hold back from telling you what she thought about their policies. And she honestly just had the best sense of humor, too.
The others I’ve had the misfortune of dealing with…? Yeah, they didn’t see you as a person. The company was the most important thing of all.
Narcissisme needs to be classified as a mental illness or society is doomed.
Yeah my last boss was an ex-HR person. How well she manipulated me to push me out the job was something out of a movie.
I’m married to a scary HR lady. She’s great.
My current HR lady at the small-ish company I work for (250 people) is pretty cool. Very enthusiastic and willing to push back on ownership to do the right things.
My last company they were a nightmare. It was a cabal of cackling hags that relished in talking down to people. They’d correct spelling and formatting mistakes in emails you sent them before actually replying to them. And god forbid you missed a single step in any one of their arcane processes, they wouldn’t even give you the courtesy of letting you know, they’d just delete or ignore the email and then when you followed up a day or two later after getting no reply they’d shoot back some snide remark about re-reading X document and resubmitting. It was like figuring out puzzles in the Temple of Doom to get anything done.
Power attracts the worst and corrupts the best
HR is the women equivalent of douchebag guys who become cops so they can impose their will on people. It just happens in corporate America.
Knew one who got the boot for lying to an employee (read got caught and couldn’t wriggle out of it). So she became the sacrificial corporate lamb. Very satisfying
My favorite HR experience was during my exit interview. I told her that Infelt pigeonholed into the position (& location) and was given no opportunity for growth.
Her response was, ” well we have this position opened. You could apply for that”. I knew what position it was and it required a degree which wasn’t what I have. I told her about that. She goes, “oh? What about this other position?” – which required 2 years experience. I had 4 years experience in the company but not in that position because…it was at another location which was not at my (now former) location. “Oh.” Is all she could say.
She proceeds to look up all the available position and I successfully explained why I wasn’t a amiable candidate. Not that I was shooting myself in the foot but – I had once applied to several positions within the same company only to be told I lacked this and that.
After 5 mins of this she FINALLY says, “I guess we really failed you then?”
I remember saying, “yep” and thinking like Red Forman -“dumbass”
It isn’t even HR that baffles me.
The more I go on in companies I genuinely observe and can’t believe how absolutely terrible people are at what they do and how they even remotely made it to the level they are.
It’s all just some BS inflated ego and I don’t take anyone seriously any longer. I don’t care what the job title is.
Even doctors seem to just not give a shit. This whole system is just a big joke to me.
There are two hr people at a job I had before I left the state that I really liked. They had my back when anyone treated me poorly.
I became close friends with a woman who was my company’s HR person. She is the unicorn you’re asking about. She left that job when they asked her to lie about something on some form. She also never discussed/gossiped about anyone. She ended up as a DEI person at a big tech company’s recruiting department. She quit that (over 6 figure) job because she didn’t believe that they actually took that role seriously and was tired of stringing along potential hires that never went anywhere.
HR tried to turn general misconduct (basically said a manager was heartless.. which is more like an observation imo) into sexual harassment in order for a warning write-up to become a final warning. The write-up was very strangely worded. I refused to sign without her explaining the policy in the write-up and never heard back.
Later, she came to me expecting me to badmouth a coworker going through some medical issues and was visually disappointed when I raved about him.
And you never will! HR isn’t there to help or protect employees. They only exist to keep you from hurting the company
Ex HR here ( I don’t work anymore since 2018). Let me tell you why HR is the scum of the corporate –
1. HR is a redundant function in corporate. It’s three primary jobs are – processing payroll, recruit, and compliance with labor laws (or how to safely violate labor laws)
2. HR’s main job is to extract the most out of humans at the least amount of cost. It’s never pro employee, it’s pro business. In fact, HR is an anti-employee.
3. Everyone hates HR. Even the CEOs don’t want HR function in their companies. It’s one of the functions in a company that doesn’t earn money, it costs money.
4. In pursuant to the point #3, HR folks are always trying to validate their importance. So, if you’re the most disposable guy in the company, you’ll always resort to back-stabbing behaviors to validate your existence or to show your importance.
5. All HR folks are overpaid, except the ones that work on the fields. These are the ones who work in coal mines, factories, etc. They’re not typically HR, they’re admin guys.
6. HR professionals, don’t have any employable skills except diplomacy, chicanery, and managing conflict. That’s the reason why HR pros are the biggest dick suckers of business unit chiefs and CEOs.
7. We were paid to be backstabbers for employees. Our hidden code of conduct was, and it’s still is, enabling profit at the cost of human decency and dignity.
Working in HR was the worst period of my planetary existence. I had to fire people, or was ordered to fire people who showed up late at office because their kids are in the hospital.
I equate HR with those Nazi concentration camp guards who executed exterminations without any thought or using their conscience just because they’re paid to do so.